I strongly support H.R. 2368, the Viet Nam Human Rights Act, and I want to thank and congratulate Representative Chris Smith, the Chairman of the House International Relations Committee, and the other co-sponsors of this comprehensive human rights legislation.

In September, the House is likely to approve the U.S.-Viet Nam Bilateral Trade Agreement. We are all hopeful that free trade will improve the lives of the Vietnamese people and that it will eventually create irresistible domestic pressure for human rights and democracy in Vietnam. In the meantime, however, the Vietnamese government remains one of the most repressive regimes on Earth. Religious persecution — especially of Buddhists and of evangelical Protestants — has taken a turn for the worst during the last year, and since February the government has been engaged in a brutal crackdown against members of the Montagnard ethnic minority groups who participated in peaceful demonstrations seeking the return of their traditional lands.

I think it is important, therefore, that in expanding trade relations we avoid sending a message of approval or complacency about Hanoi’s human rights record. This bill makes clear that progress toward freedom and democracy will continue to be a central theme of United States foreign policy toward Vietnam. It uses forms of leverage other than trade sanctions to promote this objective — such as conditions on nonhumanitarian foreign assistance, guarantees that U.S. educational and cultural exchange programs will be open to people who share our values, and serious efforts to overcome the jamming of Radio Free Asia.

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