[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 111 (Tuesday, July 11, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9648-S9649]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                NORMALIZATION OF RELATIONS WITH VIETNAM

  Mr. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, it is my intention to speak on two 
subjects this morning. One is a very timely subject relative to an 
announcement that we anticipate will be made today by the President 
with regard to relations between the United States and Vietnam.
  I want to commend our President. By moving to establish full 
diplomatic relations with the Government of Vietnam, the two-decade-
long campaign to obtain the fullest possible accounting of our MIA's in 
Southeast Asia really now enters a new and more positive phase.
  I support the President's decision because I continue to believe, and 
the evidence supports, that increased access to Vietnam leads to 
increased progress on the accounting issue. Resolving the fate of our 
MIA's has been and will remain the highest priority of our Government. 
This Nation owes that to the men and the families of the men who made 
the ultimate sacrifice for their country and for freedom.
  In pursuit of that goal, I have personally traveled to Vietnam on 
three occasions. I held over 40 hours of hearings on that subject as 
chairman of the Veterans' Committee back in 1986. I think the 
comparison between the situation in 1986 and today is truly a dramatic 
one.
 In 1986, I was appalled to learn that we had no first-hand information 


[[Page S 9649]]
about the fate of POW/MIA's because we had no access to the Vietnamese 
Government, to its military archives or to its prisons. We could not 
travel to crash sites. We had no opportunity to interview Vietnamese 
individuals or officials.

  All of this has now changed. American Joint Task Force-Full 
Accounting (JTF-FA) personnel located in Hanoi now have access to 
Vietnam's Government, to its military archives, and to its prisons. 
They now travel freely to crash sites and interview Vietnamese citizens 
and individuals. The extent of United States access is illustrated by 
an excavation last month that involved overturning a Vietnamese 
gravesite.
  As a result of these developments, the overall number of MIA's in 
Vietnam has been reduced to 1,621 through a painstaking identification 
process. Most of the missing involve men lost over water or in other 
circumstances where survival was doubtful and where recovery of remains 
is difficult or unlikely. Significantly, the number of discrepancy 
cases--the cases of those servicemen where the available information 
indicated that either the individual survived or could have survived--
has been reduced from 196 to 55. The remaining 55 cases have been 
investigated at least once, and some several times.
  Much, if not most, of this progress has come since 1991 when 
President Bush established an office in Hanoi devoted to resolving the 
fate of our MIA's. Opening this office ended almost two decades of 
isolation, a policy which failed to achieve America's goals.
  It is an understatement to say that our efforts to resolve the fates 
of our MIA's from the Vietnam war have constituted the most extensive 
such accounting in the history of human warfare.
  There are over 8,000 remaining MIA's from the Korean war. A large 
number of those are believed to have perished in North Korea, and we 
have had little cooperation from the Government of North Korea on that 
issue. There are over 78,000 remaining MIA's from World War II. These 
are wars where we were victorious and controlled the battlefield. So I 
find it ironic that we have already moved to set up liaison offices in 
North Korea when that Government has not agreed to the joint operation 
teams that have been used successfully in Vietnam. Nor has North Korea 
granted access to archives, gravesites, or former POW camps. Vietnam, 
on the other hand, has worked steadily over the last 4 years to meet 
the vigorous goal posts laid down by successive United States 
administrations.
  In 1993, opponents of ending our isolationist policy argued that 
lifting the trade embargo would mean an end to Vietnamese cooperation. 
This is distinctly not the case. As the Pentagon assessment from the 
Presidential delegation's recent trip to Vietnam notes, the records 
offered are ``the most detailed and informative reports'' provided so 
far by the Government of Vietnam on missing Americans.
  During the post-embargo period, the Vietnamese Government cooperated 
on other issues as well, including resolving millions of dollars of 
diplomatic property and private claims of Americans who lost property 
at the end of the war.
  While we have made progress, Americans should not be satisfied by any 
means. But there are limits to the results we can obtain by continuing 
a policy which, even though modified, remains rooted in the past and is 
still dominated by the principle of isolation. I think we have reached 
that limit, Mr. President. It is time to try a policy of full 
engagement.
  Recognizing Vietnam does not mean forgetting our MIA's, by any means. 
Recognizing Vietnam does not mean that we agree with the policies of 
the Government of Vietnam. But recognizing Vietnam does help us promote 
basic American values, such as freedom, democracy, human rights, and 
the marketplace. When Americans go abroad or export their products, we 
export an idea, a philosophy, and a government. We export the very 
ideals that Americans went to fight for in Vietnam.
  We justify most-favored-nation status for China for many reasons, one 
of which is that it allows us a means to interact and to communicate 
with the Chinese in an attempt to bring about change in China. The same 
application is appropriate for Vietnam.
  Moreover, diplomatic relations give us greater latitude to use the 
carrot and stick approach. Diplomatic, economic, and cultural relations 
should flourish, but we retain leverage because Vietnam still seeks 
most-favored-nation status and other trading privileges which the 
United States controls.
  Establishing diplomatic relations should also advance other important 
U.S. goals. A prosperous, stable, and friendly Vietnam integrated into 
the international community will serve as an important impediment to 
Chinese expansionism. Normalization should offer new opportunities for 
the United States to promote respect for human rights in Vietnam. 
Finally, competitive United States businesses which have entered the 
Vietnamese market after the lifting of the trade embargo will have 
greater success with the full faith and confidence of the United States 
Government behind them.
  Mr. President, let me conclude by saying that I hope this step will 
continue this country's healing process. I think the time has come to 
treat Vietnam as a country and not as a war.

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