Washington, May 3, 2010

 Today, Congressman Anh “Joseph” Cao (LA-02) rejected the Vietnamese government's request for help arranging a meeting with the Vietnamese-American community.
Cao's decision came in a letter to Deputy Minister Nguyen Thanh Son.  Deputy Minister Son had written Cao,  requesting the Congressman's help facilitating the meeting so the Vietnamese government can provide "correct information" about Vietnam.  The Deputy Minister said he believed that miscommunication is the cause for the Vietnamese-American community's condemnation of the Vietnamese government.  (Click here to read Cao's response to Son in Vietnamese.)

In his reply letter, Congressman Cao says the premise for the proposed meeting is misguided.  Cao affirmed that the Vietnamese-Americans left their homeland not because of "misunderstanding" but because they rejected the tyranny of communism. Congressman Cao also stressed that until the government of Vietnam has demonstrated real changes related to freedom and human rights, calls for reconciliation will not be taken seriously by the Vietnamese-American community.

Congressman Cao outlines the specific steps the government of Vietnam can take to demonstrate its goodwill, such as: release all prisoners of conscience, respect for religious freedom, termination of oppression of democracy activists and demonstration of respect for the rule of law by paying the victims of the Daewoosa American Samoa human trafficking case as adjudicated by law.

Click here to read the letter from Deputy Minister Son to Cao.
Click here to read Cao's response to Deputy Minister Son (English).
Click here to read Cao's response to Deputy Minister Son (Vietnamese).

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