Clinton eyes Vietnam trade, rights as US pushes exports

11 July 2012
By Mu Sochua

Sec. Clinton will continue to put her firm believe in human rights and democracy in Cambodia. I am positive.

The message she carries with her at all high level meetings is her commitment to her constituency when she addressed the thousands of women who attended the 4th World Conference in Beijing in 1995. She was then, US First Lady. Her words that brought light to the women in beijing and the world over: Women's rights are human rights.

Her message to Vietnam yesterday is very clear and one does not even have to read between the lines: human rights first. Sustainable growth needs democracy.

Her call to Vietnam to open up comes not from just pressure, it comes from the global trend and from the US having learned from past mistake: supporting dictatorship in Egypt and other parts of the world is going against the real will of the people who want first a democratically elected government.

Vietnam needs to expand his growth through exports, with solid investments from the US. Sec. Clinton has come to the ASEAN meetings with a core group of high level US investors. What is her message?

We wish for nothing more than a sustainable Cambodia and that begins with the same story: human rights and democracy. Prime Minister Hun Sen has given our people and the region a taste of development with no respect to human rights, and still the strong man wants to set the scenario for the 2013 general elections by keeping away the main contender: Sam Rainsy.

Time has come for the international community to commit itself to the core values of democracy and human rights. Another five years of aid to Cambodia with the current status quo approach would be a serious failure of aid and development.

Sec. Clinton will have the same message of hope for the people of Cambodia. Sec. Clinton will have the same warning for the government of Cambodia: respect for human rights and free and fair elections. She said it when she met with Cambodia's foreign minister at her office last month. A strong ASEAN must be ASEAN with democracy.

With change, Cambodia has a chance.

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Clinton eyes Vietnam trade, rights as US pushes exports

11 July 2012

By Jo Biddle | AFP

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks in a press conference with Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh at the Government Guest House in Hanoi. Clinton met with Vietnam's top communist leaders Tuesday for talks aimed at boosting trade as the US seeks to shore up its stuttering economy with an Asia-focused export drive

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (L) and Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung shake hands at the Government Office in Hanoi. Clinton made a strong push for improved human rights

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (L) is greeted by Vietnam's Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh at the Government Guest House in Hanoi. Clinton witnessed the signing of two deals between General Electric and Vietnam's biggest state-owned telecoms group Vietnamese National Power Transmission Corporation, and a private Vietnamese company

Hillary Clinton met with Vietnam's top communist leaders Tuesday for talks aimed at boosting trade as the US seeks to shore up its stuttering economy with an Asia-focused export drive.

But the Secretary of State, who arrived from a trip to Mongolia, also made a strong push for improved human rights, arguing: "Democracy and prosperity go hand-in-hand. Political reform and economic growth are linked."

Clinton held talks with Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh and had a landmark meeting with communist party head Nguyen Phu Trong at which she pressed human rights concerns, US officials said.

She also witnessed the signing of two deals between US company General Electric and Vietnam's biggest state-owned telecoms group Vietnamese National Power Transmission Corporation, and a private Vietnamese company.

There have been "remarkable" changes in Vietnam and the cooperation between the two countries is "steadily growing", Clinton said, adding that they shared "important strategic interests" on issues like the South China Sea.

Vietnam has made clear it welcomes a closer relationship with its former wartime enemy amid territorial disputes with its historic rival China.

Minh said the two sides had held "interesting, open and constructive talks on several issues of bilateral relations and regional issues".

They agreed disputes in the South China Sea should be resolved through "peaceful measures" and Minh said he hoped the bilateral relationship would "grow rigorously" in years to come.

Later this week Clinton will host a meeting of American business leaders in the Cambodian city of Siem Reap, on boosting US exports to the region and taking advantage of the region's growing middle class.

At a forum in a Hanoi hotel she urged American and Vietnamese business leaders "let's get to work", adding, "there is so much untapped potential".

Since 2010 the US-Vietnam trade partnership has expanded 40 percent, Clinton told the gathering. Annual bilateral trade now stands at some $22 billion with the US being the seventh largest foreign investor in Vietnam, she said.

"The United States is now Vietnam's largest market for exports and we are very proud of that. And American companies are poised to help Vietnam take on many of its current challenges."

However, a US official confirmed that the relationship was lopsided, with US exports to Vietnam accounting for some $4.3 billion, while Vietnamese imports to the United States were worth $17.4 billion.

"There is no doubt that American business is eager to invest more in Asia," Clinton told the forum.

"Companies are taking advantage of an improving business climate and setting up shop to serve the needs of Asia's growing middle class."

Vietnam, where the pace of economic growth slowed to a three-year low of 4.38 percent in the first half of 2012, could benefit significantly if a regional Trans-Pacific Partnership is finalised by the end of the year, Clinton stressed earlier in the day at a joint press conference with Minh.

But the accord called for "higher standards", and Vietnam must "create more space for the free exchange of ideas, strengthen the rule of law and respect the universal rights of all its workers, including the right to unionise", she said.

Clinton has come under pressure to speak out more on human rights, with one US congressman Monday demanding the removal of Washington's ambassador to Vietnam, accusing him of failing to press the issue.

A top US official confirmed Tuesday that at Washington's request Clinton had met with party head Trong, saying that there were "elements within the politburo that are deeply wary about the relationship with the United States".

"Secretary Clinton made an incredibly clear, very firm case... with specific names and concerns... and underscored that we have been raising these cases now in some cases for years with little progress," the official said.

At the press conference Clinton stressed she had raised issues such as human rights and the lack of freedom of information and online freedoms.