Vietnam-U.S. Phone Service

It’s disgusting to see that The Times is once again lobbying to help the Hanoi regime escape its inevitable collapse by urging Congress to allow AT&T; to set up telecommunications between America and Vietnam (“Reach Out and Touch Someone,” editorial, June 27).

In October, 1990, The Times loudly advocated abolishing the Trade Embargo Act and urged Washington to establish diplomatic relations with Communist Hanoi. By doing that, The Times urged America to recognize a bunch of thugs in Hanoi, who violently and forcefully took over South Vietnam on April 30, 1975. Establishing diplomatic relations with Hanoi would betray millions of those who fought and died in Vietnam, including 60,000 brave men and women of the U.S. armed forces.

Your editorial did not tell readers that 99.9% of Vietnam’s residents do not own a home telephone! Phone service at this time would only benefit a few money-laundering agents of Communist Hanoi and make it easier for the Hanoi Politburo to give orders to agents in America and for their agents to report information back to Hanoi faster and cheaper!

Hanoi has long been begging for diplomatic relations with the U.S. and for economic aid, foreign investments, technical developments, telephone service, access to the World Monetary Fund and so-called humanitarian aid. Granting any such benefits to the Hanoi regime would only lengthen the suffering of Vietnam’s population.

Hanoi should be isolated further until all human rights for the Vietnamese people are respected. Otherwise, Vietnam, my beloved motherland, can sit and rot!

CHUYEN V. NGUYEN

General Secretary, Vietnamese

Community of Southern California

Westminster