Re: Vietnam-U.S. trade pact key for rights - dissident

[ThuanQ Tran <thuanqt@yahoo.com>]

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Vietnam-U.S. trade pact key for rights - dissident

10:45 p.m. Aug 25, 1999 Eastern

HANOI, Aug 26 (Reuters) - A top dissident in communist-ruled Vietnam
has called
on Hanoi and Washington
to quickly approve a landmark trade pact, saying the deal would help
weaken
tight political controls in the country.

Former political prisoner Nguyen Dan Que, 57, who has spent some 20 of
the last
23 years in jail for his political beliefs, also
said he wanted to meet U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
during her
visit to Vietnam from September 5-7.

``I would like to call on both sides to approve the trade deal as soon
as
possible...because I think this agreement...is favourable
to the Vietnamese people ,'' Que told Reuters by telephone from
southern Ho Chi
Minh City.

``It will help...because (the Communist Party) will lose economic
domination
over the Vietnamese people, it will be
good for human rights and democracy in Vietnam,'' he added.

Que, who was released from jail under an amnesty last September, is a
former
Nobel Peace Prize nominee and the
only member in Vietnam of rights group Amnesty International. His home
and
family remain under tight surveillance, he said.

Que appealed to anti-communist overseas Vietnamese, many of whom fled
the
country after the communist victory to end the
Vietnam War in 1975, not to oppose the trade pact.

``We need to push (aside) the communism of the past to open a  new
political
line. I want to speak out to support the trade
  agreement and make steps to lead Vietnamese opinions abroad,'' Que
said.

``While inside Vietnam we want to reunite the whole population and
forget about
old divisions based on nationalism or
communism.''

Former enemies Hanoi and Washington, after several years of talks,
reached
preliminary agreement on a comprehensive trade
deal last month. The pact would clear the way for Washington to grant
Hanoi
Normal Trade Relations, formerly called Most
Favoured Nation (MFN) status.

The deal is expected to be finalised in the next month, but will then
need to be
 approved by the U.S. Congress and Vietnam's
National Assembly.


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