VOICES

President Clinton’s decision to lift the trade embargo against Vietnam hit home with Vietnam war veterans, business leaders and members of Orange County’s Vietnamese community. The news brought anger, jubilation and hopeful talk of future cooperation. On Thursday, several people offered their thoughts on the decision.

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Trang Nguyen, 32, is an Anaheim resident who is a shareholder in Little Saigon Television and Little Saigon Radio. She was born in Nha Trang, a beach town in Vietnam, and fled to the United States in 1975.

“I think it’s important for the U.S. government to close the most painful chapter in U.S. history. But for many Vietnamese Americans I feel this wound will never be healed because Vietnam is still far away from being a democratic society, and I’m disappointed the President didn’t mention democracy and human rights in Vietnam. He lifted the embargo without any conditions and I’m so disappointed.

“It will benefit most of the business people, but pouring money into Vietnam without any plans or strategy--I’m sorry I’m getting so emotional--but this will not help Vietnam to reform. The people won’t benefit. Right now the people are not allowed to practice their own religion, they’re being oppressed in many ways. Most businesses in Vietnam are owned by the government so (lifting the embargo) will help the government obviously. It’s not going to do a whole lot of good for the country at all.

“I’m not against lifting the embargo; if lifted with conditions I’m all for it. But I’m so disappointed. The U.S. has always been for democracy, but why are we neglecting this issue in Vietnam? The President just touched on the POW/MIA issue. I think he lifted it because he’s under a lot of pressure, but there are more than 2,000 American soldiers unaccounted for. The Vietnam government has cooperated in the past year or so, but I don’t think the United States really got a straightforward answer. I mean, what happened to them? Did the Vietnam government send them to Russia? Did they torture them to death?

“(I went back to Vietnam) two years ago--Hanoi, Saigon, Nha Trang--for three weeks. I stayed with relatives and friends. I wanted to find out what really happened to my country, what communism was really like. I wanted to find out myself, not through books or propaganda, to hear for myself what’s going on. I was very disappointed because so many people go into Vietnam to do business, but they’re not concerned about welfare for the people there. Businesses just want cheap labor, but what about health care, contracts, minimum wage? There aren’t any unions to protect the workers. Lifting the embargo might torture our country even more than during the war.

“(When visiting Vietnam) I cried a lot. Two days before I left I cried even more because I was afraid Vietnam would be another Bangkok, prostitution-wise, not economic-wise. I attended different receptions, nightclubs, and I saw 14-year-old, 15-year-old girls who were prostitutes. I’m sorry I’m crying again. These are young beautiful girls, but they needed to make money. I asked this one girl, she said her father was in a re-education camp, her mom was selling in the market, and she was worried about her two younger brothers running around. She said she didn’t have any skills to do anything else. I felt sorry for them. I just see more of that coming and happening in Vietnam.”