Hundreds rally against Vietnamese prime minister

Phan Van Khai , the first Vietnamese prime minister to visit the United States since the Vietnam War, received an angry reception yesterday from hundreds of expatriates who, outside his hotel, yelled, cursed and sang patriotic songs from the defunct South Vietnam.

Chants of "Go home Khai" and "Down with communism" could even be heard at the prime minister's news conference inside the Fairmont Olympic Hotel in Seattle, where Khai urged his former countrymen to put the war behind them and join in forging a friendship between the United States and Vietnam.

But the conciliatory tone did little good. During the news conference, the prime minister appeared flustered when Binh Quoc Huynh, an Oregon Nazarene minister, asked several sharp questions about human-rights concerns and restrictions on religion. The Vietnamese delegation wanted the mediator to cut him off. When the activist began to call the prime minister a liar and murderer, he was removed. The incident upset many of the prime minister's delegation, which had billed this as a historic news conference.

The incident only encouraged the 400 protesters outside to get louder. The protests, though, remained peaceful. Protest organizers had anticipated a larger turnout, but many were caught in a traffic jam on Interstate 5. Some turned around while others were late for the morning protest in front of the hotel and the rally in front of the Federal Building on Second Avenue, several community leaders said.

In his address, the prime minister spoke of expanding the economic partnership between the former enemies but saved the details for his meeting with President Bush tomorrow in Washington, D.C.

Khai, who toured a Boeing plant in Renton yesterday, was scheduled to meet with Microsoft founder Bill Gates this morning before heading off to Washington, New York and Boston to promote trade. Protests are planned in those three cities.

"I am delighted to make the first stop during this trip to ... the beautiful city of Seattle," he said in Vietnamese. "This is a leading economic center of the United States and the West Coast," and an important one for Vietnam, he added.

His trip comes on the 10th anniversary of the restoration of diplomatic ties between the United States and Vietnam. "There are no more major disputes between the two countries," he said.

Three U.S. Navy ships have visited Vietnamese ports in the last two years. And the United States has become Vietnam's biggest trade partner, with two-way trade hitting a high of $6.4 billion last year.

Khai is expected to ask the Bush administration to lift the Jackson-Vanick amendment, which imposed trade restrictions on countries that limit emigration. Vietnam also wants Bush's backing on its bid to join the World Trade Organization by the end of the year.

The prime minister encouraged Vietnamese Americans to visit their homeland to see how much better it has become since its civil war ended 30 years ago.

Although Vietnam made the United States' list of countries of "particular concern," for restriction on religion, Khai said the country does not discriminate against religious leaders.

As he was speaking, protesters outside chanted anti-communism slogans, waved the old South Vietnamese flag and denounced the country's restriction on free speech and religion, its poor human-rights record and its lack of democracy.

Thanh Q. Tran, 40, of Tukwila, yelled out in Vietnamese, "How come my father and mother and sister and brother do not have the right to speak freely in Vietnam but the prime minister does?" pointing toward where the news conference was held.

Kim Pham, 54, of Seattle, said he is a former Vietnamese Navy officer who was imprisoned for three years and forced to give up his two houses after South Vietnam fell in 1975. Worse, his family members had to move their furniture into the homes of Communist Party members and clean their homes so Communist Party members could move in, he said.

"So you can understand my hatred for the communist regime," he said.

At the news conference, tension also brewed between the Vietnamese media and two Vietnamese-American reporters from the West Coast.

Chan Tran, an activist and radio talk-show host from Sacramento, Calif., defended the minister who was escorted out of the news conference. Huynh, the minister, writes for Vietnam News Network, a news service based in California.

Afterward, a handful of Vietnamese reporters the communist government cleared to cover the prime minister berated Tran for embarrassing the prime minister in public.

Tan Vinh: 206-515-5656 or tvinh@seattletimes.com