Activists Want Say in Talks With Vietnam : Diplomacy: The local community considers how to make its viewpoint known after the U.S. government says it intends to take steps toward reconciliation.

Activists in the county’s Vietnamese community scrambled Thursday to find ways to influence impending normalization talks between Washington and Hanoi.

Some prepared to travel to Washington to discuss their concerns with members of Congress. Others planned special weekend meetings within Vietnamese organizations. And still others talked about taking trips back to their homeland to gauge the political climate.

The flurry of activity was prompted by Secretary of State James A. Baker III’s announcement Thursday that the United States is ready to renew diplomatic and economic ties with Vietnam--if the POW/MIA dispute and other humanitarian issues can be worked out.

Chuyen Nguyen, general secretary of the Vietnamese Community of Southern California Council, said the group’s members will talk about the new development Saturday at their headquarters in Westminster.

“It’s the U.S. government’s business in wanting to discuss normalization with Vietnam, but now we somehow have to contribute our own concerns in the discussion,” he said. “So far James Baker mentioned the Cambodian and MIA issues as conditions but has not said anything about human rights for the people of Vietnam. That’s unfortunate.”

For Vietnamese residents in the United States, normalization could bring perks such as direct phone lines to loved ones in Vietnam and perhaps cheaper air fare if U.S. airlines are allowed to provide direct flights to Vietnam, local refugees said.

Telephone service between the two countries was disconnected in 1975, when Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, fell to the Communists. Shortly after that, the U.S. government imposed a trade embargo against the Southeast Asian country. Since then, U.S. residents who want to telephone Vietnam usually must contact a go-between service.

As for visits, it is estimated that 50,000 Vietnamese-Americans annually return to their native land by going through countries that do not restrict travel to Vietnam.

But the potential bonuses are not enough to satisfy some in the local community. They say that more important than trade or communications are guarantees of human rights for those left behind in Vietnam.

“I’m looking at the future of Vietnam and not benefits for individuals who return as tourists,” said Hung Le, chairman of the Vietnamese-American Republican Heritage Council. “I want to help Vietnam to become a powerful nation like Japan or Korea, and the time to start is right now. We need to get those people (in the current regime) out of there and put in talented people.”

He and other Vietnamese community leaders will raise the issue with government officials in Washington on Nov. 6. Members of Congress have been invited that evening to a reception hosted by the International Committee for a Free Vietnam, which will name Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) as the honorary chairman of its American chapter, an aide to Dornan said.

Thuy The Nguyen, member and former president of the Union of the Vietnamese Students Assns. of Southern California, said members are meeting today for what was supposed to have been a planning session for the New Year celebration. They will now also talk politics.

“How do we make the American government understand that they (the Communist government) can’t be trusted?” she said. “They accept forced repatriation of Vietnamese refugees from Hong Kong, and people believe those returning get money from the United Nations. They don’t get a dime. The money goes to the government.”

Instead, refugees who come back to Vietnam face job discrimination or political imprisonment, said Nguyen, whose group will hold a walk-a-thon for Rights of the Refugees on Nov. 30 at Mile Square Park in Fountain Valley.

“Normalization should not be granted until Vietnam resolves the MIA issue and releases political prisoners,” Nguyen said.