Hanoi's Push

Refugees for recognition ?

As if their international image were not tarred enough by the exodus of some 900,000 citizens over the past four years, Hanoi's Communist rulers have now suffered another blow: Hoang Van Hoan, deputy chairman of Viet Nam's National Assembly since 1976 and an old comrade of Ho Chi Minh's, fled to China, becoming the first high official known to have defected from what had always seemed a remarkably close-knit regime. In Peking last week, Hoan, 74, charged that his country's abuse of its ethnic Chinese minority was "even worse than Hitler's treatment of the Jews" and that Hanoi had become "subservient to a foreign power," meaning the Soviet Union.

Hoan's was not the only voice raised against Hanoi last week. Earlier the regime had been stung by a remark by a member of a delegation of nine U.S. Congressmen who were journeying to Viet Nam to discuss the refugee situation. Massachusetts Democrat Robert Drinan told reporters the refugee exodus proved that Viet Nam was guilty of "one of the most fundamental violations of human rights in this century." The Vietnamese canceled the Congressmen's visit and reinstated it only after pleas from Washington.

Once in Hanoi, the Congressmen were treated with great warmth by Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Nguyen Co Thach, who is pressing for U.S. recognition and an end to Washington's trade embargo against Viet Nam.

Hanoi's sense of isolation is particularly acute now because the peace talks with China have bogged down and fears are growing that the Chinese are preparing for a second invasion that might continue longer than last winter's month-long incursion. Said Thach, speaking of Peking's leaders: "We are dealing with foolish men. Anything could happen."

Thach claimed that Hanoi has been holding secret talks with American officials on diplomatic ties. Serious discussions were indeed held in 1978, but the talks went nowhere because of American objections to the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia and the repressive policies that caused the refugee problem.

Thach suggested that the U.S. might be more amenable to recognition now that Hanoi is moving to curb the refugee flow.

The emigration of Viet Nam's ethnic Chinese would continue, he said, but in a more "orderly" way. In fact, the exodus of the boat people, which totaled some 110,-000 during May and June alone, has all but stopped since July as a result of Hanoi's efforts to slow the flow. Indeed, Hanoi boasts that since June, it has prosecuted 4,000 people for running rackets to smuggle people out of the country. -

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.