Former Rep. Anh 'Joseph' Cao urges tougher line against Vietnam

Source: March 7,2012 By Jonathan Tilove, The Times-Picayune

WASHINGTON -- Former Rep. Anh "Joseph" Cao, R-New Orleans, was back on Capitol Hill Tuesday as part of the largest-ever lobbying day by Vietnamese Americans. Some 1,000 members of the Vietnamese community in the United States were in Washington Monday and Tuesday to seek a tougher line by the United States against Vietnam for human rights violations.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee today will mark up the Vietnam Human Rights Act of 2012, which would restrict U.S. aid to Vietnam until it makes progress in establishing democracy and promoting human rights.
In January, Cao, the first Vietnamese-American to serve in Congress, testified in favor of the legislation sponsored by Rep. Chris, Smith, R-N.J., at a hearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee's Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights, which Smith chairs.

The bill would stipulate that the United States can only increase its assistance to Vietnam above FY2011 levels when the president is able to certify progress on the human rights and democracy fronts, prohibiting any increase in non-humanitarian funding unless Vietnam releases all political and religious prisoners and protects the rights of freedom of assembly, religious expression and association.

On Monday, a delegation of Vietnamese Americans met with Obama administration officials at a White House meeting that was the result of a petition on the White House web site signed by nearly 140,000 people, asking the administration to "stop expanding trade with Vietnam at the expense of human rights."

Since the end of the trade embargo against Vietnam in 1994, trade with the United has grown dramatically, to more than $15 billion in 2009.

But Cao said that since gaining improved trade status, Vietnam has regressed in its treatment of its own citizens.

According to the text of the petition:

Since 2007, the Vietnamese government has continuously waged a brutal crackdown against human rights advocates, arresting and/or detaining notables such as: Rev. Nguyen Van Ly, Nobel Peace Prize nominees Ven.Thich Quang Do and Dr. Nguyen Dan Que, blogger Dieu Cay, and most recently songwriter Viet Khang, who merely expressed love for freedom and patriotism through songs he posted online.

Cao said that the administration officials agreed to open lines of communication with the Vietnamese-American community.

During his day on the Hill Tuesday, Cao met with a number of his former colleagues, including House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair leana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Florida.

He also met with Sens. David Vitter, R-La., and Mary Landrieu, D-La.

"I am more confident that the legislation we want to pass through the House and Senate will receive traction," said Cao, who had spearheaded efforts to crack down on human rights violations in Vietnam during his single term in office, and visited Vietnam to press his concerns.

Cao fled Vietnam at the age of 8 as Saigon was falling to the Communists. His father, an officer in the South Vietnamese military was held and tortured in a "re-education" camp for seven years. He died in 2010, on the eve of his son's defeat for re-election.