[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 72 (Friday, June 5, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1050]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   INTRODUCTION OF H.J. RES. 120: DISAPPROVING THE EXTENSION OF THE 
        PRESIDENT'S WAIVER OF JACKSON-VANIK CRITERIA FOR VIETNAM

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                         HON. DANA ROHRABACHER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                          Friday, June 5, 1998

  Mr. ROHRABACHER. Mr. Speaker, I have introduced a Joint Resolution, 
co-sponsored by my good friends, Ben Gilman, Chairman of the 
International Relations Committee and Chris Smith, Chairman of the 
Subcommittee on Human Rights, in partnership with Senator Bob Smith and 
Senator Jesse Helms, to require Vietnam to provide freedom of 
emigration for its people, under the provisions of the U.S. Trade Act 
of 1974, before tax dollars from American citizens are used to insure 
or otherwise further trade with the communist regime in Vietnam.
  Vietnam remains among the world's last Marxist-Leninist governments, 
where corrupt cronyism and an absence of credible courts have driven 
away foreign investors. The freedoms of speech, religion and assembly 
are denied to average citizens, as well as the freedom of emigration. 
As a result, Vietnam's economy is lagging, investor disenchantment is 
growing and, despite continued arrest and persecution of dissidents and 
religious leaders, protest movements have taken root in northern and 
southern provinces. It is both unconscionable and unsound for President 
Clinton to issue waivers in order to permit U.S. financing guarantees 
and credits to investors through the Overseas Private Investment 
Corporation and Export-Import Bank.
  In addition to H.J. Res. 120, I have also introduced H.R. 3158 to 
prevent the President from granting waivers for Ex-Im and OPIC credits 
and financing guarantees in the absence of true democratic reform, 
release of all political prisoners, humane working conditions, as well 
as the Jackson-Vanik emigration criteria.
  A critical lesson we should learn from the economic collapse of the 
so-called ``Asian Tigers'' such as Indonesia, South Korea and Thailand 
is that the U.S. Government should not put tax dollars at risk to 
subsidize unsound private business deals with corrupt regimes. The 
Heritage Foundation's 1998 Index of Economic Freedom ranks Vietnam 
among the six worst economic environments in the world. It would be 
appalling to make American taxpayers guarantee private business 
investments before real democratic political reform is in place. We 
should stand with the people of Vietnam who crave for freedom, and 
abide firmly by America's principles and laws to require the despotic 
regime in Hanoi to respect international standards of human rights and 
labor before giving the Vietnamese regime the benefit of our taxpayer-
backed institutions.

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