Asian-Americans Say Concerns Go Unanswered

Representatives of the Asian-American community complained Wednesday that Vice President Dan Quayle failed to answer their questions about Vietnam and Laos during his visit.

They said Quayle did not address their specific concerns about what the United States will do to stop the forced repatriation of Vietnamese refugees. The vice president also did not take up the issue of making human rights a condition for normalizing U.S. relations with Vietnam and Laos.

Nevertheless, they described Quayle’s visit to Little Saigon as an honor while acknowledging that it had the trappings of a Republican campaign event.

About 400 people from the Laotian, Hmong, Cambodian, Chinese and Vietnamese communities--some in traditional garments--showed up in front of Asian Garden Mall. About 30 people were holding banners and signs protesting the forced repatriation of Vietnamese refugees living in camps throughout Southeast Asia.

“I don’t understand what he’s saying, but I came to let him know that refugees can’t go back to Vietnam,” Kim-Hoa Tran, 56, said as she helped hold up a white-and-red banner. “We want them to be able to go to another country, if possible.”

Many in the audience were overheard exclaiming to each other over Quayle’s resemblance to the late President John F. Kennedy.

Before the public speech outside at noon, Quayle talked to 40 community leaders in the Dynasty Chinese Seafood Restaurant in the mall.

Several of the participants at the private session expressed concern that the U.S. government is becoming diplomatically more friendly to Vietnam and Laos though those countries continue to violate human rights. Normalization of diplomatic ties and economic or humanitarian aid should not be given, they said, until democracy prevails over communism in the two countries.

Quayle’s answer apparently left many dissatisfied. Quayle told them that Washington will not normalize relations with Hanoi before Vietnam has resolved the issue of prisoners of war and those missing in action and withdrawn from Cambodia. When pressed about Laos, the vice president said America is an advocate of human rights throughout Southeast Asia.

Afterward, the president of the Hmong American Republican Assn., Tou Yer Moua, said Quayle failed to address the specific concern about Laos, where the Hmong tribes have lived.

“We need political reforms in Laos, and we need the U.S. to stress that to” the Laotian government, Moua said.

Co Pham, president of the Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce, also said he was not happy that Quayle did not mention human rights as a condition for normalizing ties with Vietnam.

As Quayle was leaving the meeting, Thuy Nguyen, representing the Union of the Vietnamese Students Assns. of Southern California, asked him again about U.S. policy toward Vietnamese refugees but again got an oblique answer.

Despite the mixed reception by some at the private talk, those at the mall simply were happy to see Quayle in person.

As he walked out of the restaurant on the second floor of the mall, jewelry shop owners lined up beside their stalls to clap and cheer.

“We haven’t had any customers this morning” because entrances to the mall and parking lot were blocked, said Quang Le. “But it’s been fun. People have been standing around waiting for him, you know, because we’ve only been able to see him on TV.”

After Quayle’s 30-minute speech in the mall parking lot and a ceremonial departure to music from a high school band, many lingered to talk about the experience.

Dong Minh Luong, 55, said he was disappointed that the vice president did not discuss the forced repatriation issue in his speech.

“I guess that’s understandable,” the Westminster man said. “He came to campaign. I don’t understand much, but that much I can see and hear.”

Like many of the people who attended, Thai Tri, 57, of Laguna Hills does not speak English and therefore did not understand Quayle’s prepared speech. So he had a friend translate the vice president’s message.

“I guess freedom and racism are good topics for a speech,” Tri said afterward. “I wish he had further addressed the topic of refugees who are presently in camps.”