Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, August 7, 1995 TAG: 9508070080
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: COX NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: HANOI LENGTH: Medium
He called on the nation's youth to nurture independent political voices in this one-party state and to reforge the principles of Vietnamese independence, even as they repair the lingering damage the country suffered to attain it.
``Each of you ought to have the right to help shape your country's destiny, as well as your own,'' he told about 300 university students and young professionals.
``The key to success in this rapidly changing world is the freedom to own, to buy and to sell; the freedom to participate in the decisions that affect our lives,'' he said.
A failure to recognize that, Christopher said, could short-circuit plans for improving U.S.-Vietnam trade and investment arrangements critical to the country's development.
``While further progress is possible, it is not guaranteed,'' Christopher said. Vietnam ``should move beyond just opening its doors.''
Vietnam, a one-party communist state with no free press, no independent judiciary and little tolerance for political dissent, has sought for the past eight years to adopt free-market economic principles without taking parallel steps toward democratic reform.
That path must be altered if Vietnam is to thrive, Christopher suggested. ``Repression entrenches poverty,'' he said.
Vietnam's shift away from a centrally planned economy has critics, however, among conservative party cadres. Still, Christopher said, those reforms must be accelerated.
``Look at economic reform as a passage over a ravine,'' he said. ``You cannot do it by taking several little steps. Only one giant leap will get you across.''
Christopher underscored Washington's hope in Vietnam's postwar generation - two out of three Vietnamese are age 25 or younger - to set aside the painful past and move forward into a more promising future.
``Vietnam is an old country, but a young nation,'' he told the youths. ``Its future, and its evolving place in the community of nations, are yours to shape.''
Christopher's comments capped a historic two-day visit in which he formally reopened U.S. diplomatic relations with Vietnam after a decade-long war followed by 20 years of diplomatic estrangement. Earlier Sunday, he watched the American flag raised over the new U.S. Embassy.
by CNB