[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 47 (Monday, November 27, 2000)]
[Pages 2915-2917]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Interview With Nguyen Bich and Dan Sutherland of Radio Free Asia 
International

November 19, 2000

    The President. Hello?
    Q. Yes. Good evening, Mr. President.
    The President. Yes. Good evening.

President's Visit to Vietnam

    Q. You must be very exhausted by now. [Laughter] That is why we are 
so grateful for you to grant RFA your very first post-Vietnam interview.
    My name is Nguyen Bich, or you can call me just Bich for short. And 
I am the director of the Vietnamese service at Radio Free Asia. And 
sitting by me in our studio is Dan Sutherland, who is vice president for 
programming.
    So, Mr. President, my first question to you is, how do you feel? Do 
you feel you have accomplished your goal by this first trip ever made by 
a President of the United States to a reunified Vietnam?
    The President. Yes, I think it was a very successful trip; first, 
because we were able to see and support the attempts that are being made 
there to recover the missing in action from the Vietnam conflict and to 
continue our cooperation with the Vietnamese Government in that regard.
    We also gave them several hundred thousand pages of documents to 
help them identify the--some 300,000 people still missing who are 
Vietnamese.
    Then, I think it was important because we contributed, I believe, to 
the continuing economic progress of the country which I think will lead 
to more openness.
    And thirdly, I think it was important because I was able to speak on 
television to the country about the kind of future I hope we will share 
with Vietnam and the fact that I hope there will be more openness and 
more freedom in it. And I also had, finally, some very good discussions 
and some constructive disagreements with the leadership of Vietnam.

President's Impressions of Vietnam

    Q. Your speech at Hanoi University certainly was very impressive. 
And so I think that made a really big impression on the country. As this 
was your first trip to Vietnam, could you give us a general impression 
of the country, at least what you saw of it, and of the people? Were 
they warm and welcoming?
    The President. They were very warm and very welcoming and clearly 
interested in the trip. And the young people with whom I talked were 
clearly interested in having closer ties with America. So I felt very 
good about that.
    I also was interested in all the changes that are occurring in the 
northern part of the country. I think there's clearly a lot of new 
investment going on in Hanoi, a lot of new businesses coming out, a lot 
of changes there that I think will tend to make the south and

[[Page 2916]]

the north perhaps less different in terms of the economic lives and 
maybe the political outlooks of the people at least in the cities. Now, 
the only village that I went to was the one where the search for the 
pilot was going on.

Economic Future of Vietnam

    Q. People say that, in Vietnam, it is still some distance between 
the potential and realization. Do you get a feeling that the people are 
impatient for progress, especially among the young, or do you think, as 
the Government says, that they are pretty satisfied with the present 
pace of things?
    The President. Well, I would say that they understand that the 
country is doing better, and they like that. But my impression is that 
they want to move forward as rapidly as they can. After all, 60 percent 
of the country now is under 30. And I think they have a keen awareness 
that they have to make a lot of changes in order to keep creating jobs. 
I think they need 1.4 million new jobs every year.
    On the morning of my last day there, I had an amazing roundtable 
discussion with a number of young Vietnamese men and women who ranged in 
age from early twenties to midthirties, and who did everything from 
working for Cargill, the big international grain company, to running the 
Vietnam office of Saachi and Saachi, which is a big London advertising 
agency--excuse me.
    Then there was one young man who had a job in the party and others 
who had other jobs. But what was interesting to me is, they were all 
thinking about the big questions, you know, how much personal freedom is 
needed in life, what kinds of decisions should be made by the 
individual, and what kind of decisions should be made by families or 
villages or the nation, the Government, and how much of the economy 
should be private and how much should be public.
    The man who runs the city government in Ho Chi Minh City was quite 
proud of the fact that they had done a remarkable job of creating jobs 
in the private sector, that he had downsized the government, that 
poverty had been reduced by 70 percent, and homelessness was reduced by 
70 percent. So I think there are a lot of people there who have this 
feeling that if they go more to a private economy and they have more 
entrepreneurial spirit, that there will also be more personal freedom 
associated with it.

First Lady's Discussion of Human Rights

    Q. Yes. I understand that the First Lady also had some strong words 
to recommend human rights at her talk in the morning of Sunday.
    The President. Yes. She met with a group of women there. It was 
something she tries to do in every country in the world she visits. 
She's been speaking about that, especially as human rights affect women 
and young girls, ever since she went to the Beijing Women's Conference 
several years ago.

U.S.-Vietnam Bilateral Trade Agreement

    Q. That's wonderful. Now, what is your reading of the progress so 
far made about the U.S.-Vietnam bilateral trade agreements? Did you get 
any indication while you were there as to when the Vietnamese National 
Assembly might get to ratify that?
    The President. I think they will ratify it pretty soon. I think--I 
had the feeling they want to make absolutely sure that we're going to 
ratify it. And they understand that the timing is not good for 
ratification now, but I think as soon as we ratify it, they will. And 
then I think that we told them that we would be spending a couple 
million dollars a year over the next 3 years to help ensure the rapid 
and thorough implementation of the agreement. And we told them that we 
would like to have a high-level meeting, at least annually, to plot a 
joint economic strategy for the future, and they agreed to that. So my 
instinct is that they do want to get the maximum benefits out of this 
trade agreement.
    Q. But then, what would be your impression as to when the U.S. 
Congress might ratify that?
    The President. I think they will do it as soon as they have a 
chance, probably early next year. You know, I wish I could do it now, 
but I just don't know if it's practical. So I think that--I don't think 
there is any shot that it won't be approved by the Congress. There is 
just too much support for it.
    Press Secretary Jake Siewert. Last question, please.

[[Page 2917]]

Discussions With Vietnamese Leaders

    Q. [Inaudible]--being very diplomatic in handling the question of 
human rights, religious, and other democratic freedoms in Vietnam. But 
Hanoi's sensitivity to this question is all too obvious. Did you make 
any headway in your talk with Secretary General Le Kha Phieu or Prime 
Minister Phan Van Khai on this front. Or, do you think the U.S. could 
work with Vietnam on this matter in a more open fashion?
    The President. I had very open conversations with all of them, with 
the Prime Minister, with the secretary general, and the President. And 
what I believe is that once they realize that we're not trying to tell 
Vietnam how to run every aspect of their lives and that we feel that 
we're going to be in a friendly relation, we have to be honest about our 
disagreements, and we have to say what we think human rights and 
religious rights and individual freedom have meant to our country.
    I think we will be in a dialog there, and I think that, plus the 
process of economic and social change which is going on in Vietnam will 
lead the country in a positive direction. That's what I believe. I think 
it will be very important for my successor to continue that dialog. I 
don't think we can drop human rights or religious freedom from our 
concerns anywhere in the world.
    Q. Can we ask you just one last quick question
    The President. Sure.

Musicians in Vietnam

    Q. Did you have a chance to play your saxophone while you were 
there?
    The President. No. [Laughter] But I love the music. I did--however, 
I heard a Vietnamese saxophone player at the entertainment after the 
state dinner, and he was really, really good. All the musicians were 
great. I was very impressed by the musical performances that were done 
after the state dinner.
    Q. You wouldn't allow us maybe just----
    Press Secretary Siewert. No, I think we have to wrap-up. Sorry.
    The President. We're in Alaska, and we have to get back on the plane 
to go home. I'm sorry. Thank you.
    Q. Thank you, Mr. President
    The President. Goodbye.

Note: The interview began at 6:20 p.m. and was taped for later 
broadcast. The President spoke via telephone from Elmendorf Air Force 
Base, Alaska. In his remarks, he referred to Le Kha Phieu, secretary 
general, Central Committee, Vietnamese Communist Party; and Prime 
Minister Phan Van Khai and President Tran Duc Luong of Vietnam. The 
transcript was released by the Office of the Press Secretary on November 
20. A tape was not available for verification of the content of this 
interview.