UpFront News Briefs
December 5, 2003
OVERHEARD
“Mrs. Mink would turn over twice if she found out I left the U.S. House [without voting]. … She would have not forgiven me for missing the vote.”
—The late Rep. Patsy Mink’s successor, Ed Case, told the Maui News that he nearly missed the Nov. 24 dedication of the Patsy Takemoto Mink Post Office Building in Mink’s hometown of Paia, Hawai ‘i. He was in Washington that weekend to vote against significant changes to the federal Medicare program.
Hmong Cease-fire Signal
Leader supports reconciliation
Hmong leader Gen. Vang Pao said in Oakdale, Minn., that he would support normalized U.S. trade relations with Laos if the communist government substantially improves its human rights practices and meets other conditions.
The general, who led CIA-backed soldiers from the hill tribe during the Vietnam War, also called for a cease-fire with his former adversaries in Laos and Vietnam, 28 years after the communists prevailed.
His conditional support for better U.S.-Laotian relations and his desire to reconcile with old enemies marked a significant shift for Pao, 73, who was a general in the Royal Lao Army and led Hmong anticommunist forces from 1961 to 1975. Like many Hmong, he fled and settled in the United States.
California’s San Joaquin Valley is home to thousands of Hmong, many of them farmers, as they were in the mountains of their homeland.
Pao made his comments Nov. 26 as he issued a sweeping “Doctrine on Laos and Southeast Asia” at a conference of Hmong and Lao leaders from across the country in this St. Paul suburb. St. Paul has the largest Hmong American population of any U.S. city — more than 24,000 according to the 2000 census.
The issue of whether to engage the Laotian government and how to bring about change has been the subject of a long-running debate among the Hmong.
“For this plan to work, it will take cooperation from the communist Lao leaders in Vientiane. I ask these leaders to be courageous and join us in this most important endeavor of the country and the people. Let us put aside our differences from the past and build a brighter future for the people of Laos,” Pao said in translated remarks.
But he demanded a cease-fire and an end to the Lao government’s alleged tactic of using starvation as a way to exterminate minority Hmong and Lao who had fled to the jungles of northern Laos. He asked for the United Nations to take the lead in creating safe zones for those in the mountains and providing humanitarian aid. If necessary, he said, work should begin on resettling them in other countries.
Vang met with Vietnamese representatives in Holland this month to discuss improving their relationships, said his son, Cha Vang, who also is his spokesman. He said his father will continue to talk with Vietnamese officials but that no further meetings have been scheduled.
“This is a new beginning,” said Pobzeb Vang, executive director of the Lao Human Rights Council of Eau Claire, Wis. “It’s time to end the fighting and forget the past.”
— Associated Press
U.S.-VIETNAM LANDMARK DEAL
Ho Chi Minh-S.F. Route to Begin
Vietnam and the United States are scheduled to sign a landmark aviation agreement in December to allow passenger and cargo flights between the two countries for the first time since the end of the Vietnam War.
Vietnam Deputy Prime Minister Vu Khoan will officially sign the agreement during his Dec. 2-12 trip to Washington, the official Vietnam News Agency reported Nov. 29.
The deal was initialed in Hanoi in October by Pham Vu Hien, deputy director of Vietnam’s Civil Aviation Administration, and Laura Faux-Gable, deputy director of the U.S. State Department’s Office of Aviation Negotiations.
Under the pact, only two U.S. and two Vietnamese passenger airlines can fly between the countries for the first two years, with a third added on each side the following year. Governments will select the airlines.
Representatives from some U.S. airlines said services could start early next year. State-owned Vietnam Airlines has said it would likely take longer to initiate flights to the United States, but that San Francisco was expected to be its first choice of destinations from Ho Chi Minh City.
The United States is home to more than one million Vietnamese, many of whom fled Vietnam after the communists defeated the U.S.-backed government of South Vietnam in 1975. Many overseas Vietnamese have begun traveling back to their homeland, creating a big market for passenger traffic.
In an unusual move, U.S. negotiators agreed to a five-year deal restricting U.S. airlines from picking up passengers in Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and France. Hong Kong will be off limits for the first two years.
Vietnam insisted on the restrictions, fearing competition would badly undercut its only national carrier.
Cargo carriers have the same destination restrictions, except they are permitted to pick up freight in South Korea.
Vietnam-U.S. relations are expanding since a bilateral trade deal went into effect in December 2001.
Limited flights were offered between the United States and former South Vietnam during the war.
— A.P.
WU BILL APPROVED
Nanotechnology bill approved
Nanotechnology funding legislation drafted by Sen. Ron Wyden and Rep. David Wu has been approved by Congress and is expected to be signed by President Bush.
The Oregon Democrats have been pushing development of nanotechnology nationally and in Oregon to increase the U.S. role in what is expected to be a $1 trillion industry.
The House approved a version of the bill Nov. 21 after the Senate gave its approval.
“This legislation once again reaffirms our commitment to promoting high tech research as an engine for the American economy,” Wu said.
Nanotechnology is a hybrid science that blends chemistry and engineering to create tiny devices or systems that operate on the atomic and molecular scale with many potential applications, including health care, manufacturing, and agriculture.
Wyden said the funding will help promote commercial applications for nanotechnology developed by the University of Oregon, Oregon State University and Portland State University, which have formed a research partnership with Oregon Health & Science University and the Oregon Graduate Institute of Science and Technology.
“It is key to the future economic vitality of Oregon,” said Portland State President Daniel Bernstine.
The bill creates a national nanotechnology research program to support development and promote effective education and training for the next generation of researchers and professionals.
The House version authorized $2.1 billion for nanotechnology research and development over the next three years, reducing the amount the Senate had approved by $1.6 billion. The legislation includes support for programs at the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, NASA, National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department Agriculture, among others.
One familiar nanotechnology product already on the market is an improved version of stain-resistant clothing.
A nanometer is a billionth of a meter, a distance so small it can be measured with individual atoms.
— William McCall, A.P.
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