Remarks by Ambassador Michael W. Michalak

Ambassador Michael Michalak WebChat with Vietnam Net

April 21, 2008

Ambassador Michalak: Thank you very much. It’s a real pleasure for me to be here today on VietnamNet for this web chat with all the VietnamNet viewers and bloggers and people who are participating on the internet.

I look forward to a good discussion today, but before we start our discussion I’d like to give you a little bit of a brief introduction. It’s now been about seven months since I arrived here in Vietnam. As you know, and as I think I said at my last WebChat here, my three highest priorities in coming to Vietnam are to continue our human rights dialogue with the government of Vietnam, to strengthen and deepen our economic and commercial relationship with the government and the people of Vietnam, and to work on education issues and challenges. On all three issues we have made some solid progress and I look forward to making more progress as we go on.

On human rights, we have our next human rights dialogue with the government in May, and I believe that it is a good opportunity for us to continue the dialogue on increasing the citizen participation in the government here in Vietnam.

On the commercial side and economic side, I think we have broadened and deepened our relationship considerably. We had a visit by Secretary of Commerce Gutierrez who brought 22 companies into Vietnam, and since then the number of American companies that want to invest in Vietnam has continued to increase dramatically. We have signed a number of important deals including the Boeing 787 deal which I think is going to bring the best airplane in the world to Vietnam. And we have found a number of other good opportunities for American companies here in Vietnam.

On education, I held an education conference earlier this year through which we have begun to network among the American education providers and American companies with interests here in Vietnam. I look forward to working with the government to figure out how we might increase the number of students coming from Vietnam and going to the United States. Our issuance of student visas is already up significantly and we have done a number of other things that I believe will significantly improve our education relationship.

In this regard I just want to note that we have just opened an American Center at the American Embassy Annex in Hanoi, and I invite all of your viewers and readers to please come to the American Center and to take advantage of all of the resource materials that are there.

This year we are particularly focused, as you can imagine, on the US election and it’s been a very exciting time for all of us. In fact, just today we are launching a new web site on the elections and if I could just do a little commercial here, this is the web site which we’re going to be opening today. The URL is www.uselection08.us. So if you put that into your browser then you can go to our web site and you can participate in a dialogue on the election. You can’t yet vote for the candidate that you want, but soon we’ll put that up so we can see who the Vietnamese people would vote for if they had a chance to vote in the US election.

So with that, let’s take some questions.

Question: Mr. Ambassador, our Vietnamese audience and many people in the world are very interested in two major issues. They are the recession of the U.S. economy and the presidential election in the U.S. which is a fierce competition. When we announced this web chat we received many questions and I would like to read to you the first question that came from a reader in Thanh Hoa Province.

The question is, many economic experts in the world now say that the U.S. economy is going into a recession. What do you think?

Ambassador Michalak: That’s a very good question. There are many economists around the world that believe that the United States economy is slowing down this year and could possibly go into a recession as soon as the next quarter. I think we’ll actually have to wait for the numbers to come out before we know whether or not we have a recession, but that’s a technical issue. I think it’s clear that there will be a slowdown and the real question is how long it will last and how bad the slowdown will be.

The underlying economic fundamentals in the United States are still strong. We still have one of the most productive work forces in the world and we still have some of the largest industries in the world, and we have some of the most active economic actors in the world. So my own view is that while we will see a slowdown perhaps starting in the very near future and extending throughout much of this year, most experts to whom I have spoken believe that towards the end of this year we will see an upturn in the economic activity in the United States which will then continue into 2009. And I believe we should see a return to a more normal growth path for the United States in the first or second quarter of next year.

We should realize that many of the causes of the slowdown are rising commodity prices around the world and the financial difficulties that are occurring in the United States. I think that most of your readers are probably aware that the U.S. Congress and the President have enacted emergency measures which we hope will put more money into the hands of consumers and will help to bring us out of this slowdown.

In addition to the measures which the United States has taken already, there’s another factor which I think we need to consider. The United States, as many other countries in the world, is going through a process of globalization. Vietnam is also going through this process of globalization and it is going to be those countries that have a flexible and a transparent rule of law and regulatory system that will allow them to react best to the economic forces that are causing the global slowdown. I believe that history, particularly the recent history in the United States, has shown that the government can react quickly. And equally important is that companies and the workforce in the United States will respond to the change economic conditions, make the necessary adjustments, and thus be able to work our way out of the recession or slowdown, whichever you prefer.

I could talk about this for a long time. Why don’t you go to the next question?

Question: Contrary to your positive remarks, some of our viewers say that the U.S. economy generally experiences a recession after a period of economic growth lasting five or six years, and the reality is that the U.S. just had economic growth for five and six years. The measures introduced by President Bush to save the economy, especially those for the housing market, have been criticized. They say those measures only address the tip of the iceberg. What do you think of that?

Ambassador Michalak: Well of course I disagree.

There has been debate in the United States about the effectiveness of the measures which President Bush and the Congress have introduced. I think there is more evidence to indicate, to me anyway, that these measures will have a positive effect on the economy than to say they will have a negative effect on the economy. Furthermore, these are temporary measures and they should not be looked at in isolation.

The measures which President Bush has introduced should be a stopgap measure which will help to get people through the worst part of the housing issue. But at the same time Congress is looking at the regulatory system that allows mortgages to be granted and what needs to be changed in that system in order to ensure that this kind of problem does not reoccur.

In addition to that we also have what I mentioned earlier, and that is the inherent flexibility and the inherent adaptability of the economy in terms of the private sector, the labor sector and the government sector to adapt to a changing economic situation. I think the combination of all those factors will in the end have a positive effect on the American economy.

Please don’t think that I’m trying to make light or be overly positive. I see the smile on your face there. Six months of economic slowdown is still going to have a negative effect on the U.S. economy, on certain parts of the U.S. economy as well as the global economy. I also believe there is going to be a lot of arguing back and forth over which regulatory changes are better. But the fact that we can do this in a transparent and open manner means that everybody in the United States will take part in deciding what it is that is best for our economy as we move forward. And in the past this has worked out before, so I’m confident that the past will repeat itself insofar as we will be able to work our way out of this and the U.S. economy will be stronger because of it.

Question: We all want the U.S. economy to get out of the slowdown and the whole world is waiting to see how the U.S. will get out of it. The U.S. economy is seen as the locomotive of the economic train of the whole world. So once the U.S. economy has flu, then the rest of the world gets sick and Vietnam is being affected too.

We’ve have a question from Mr. Nguyen Duy Hau in Ho Chi Minh City. The question is, Vietnamese often complain because of their government’s intervention in the economy. On the other hand the U.S. is also criticized because its government usually interferes in the economy too slowly, too late. For example, the U.S. Treasury instructs banks to adjust interest rates too late. So when should a government interfere in the economy and how, and if somebody should be responsible, should take the responsibility for the U.S. economic slowdown, who will that be? The Feds, or the companies or the U.S. citizens themselves?

Ambassador Michalak: That’s a very complicated question. [Laughter].

Let me say that I believe, and certainly the U.S. government believes that the less government intervention the better. We believe that the market economy knows best itself how to resolve the various issues that confront the economy. There are certain issues which because of their complexity and the broad scope of the problem, or specific sectors, whether the banking sector or the manufacturing sector or whoever, cannot simply be resolved individually or by themselves. At that point it may be necessary for the government to step in, particularly if there are solutions which require changes in regulation, changes in fiscal policy, or changes in monetary policy.

I think you’ll find that even after we work our way out of this slowdown that economists will be debating for many years whether the Feds should have acted sooner or later, or whether government fiscal policy should have been changed sooner, or whether the private sector should have done something sooner or later. That’s going to be an argument that the economists and the historians will have to settle.

I still believe that less government intervention is better. In terms of the government of Vietnam, I would like to see the government of Vietnam act a little bit more quickly to fully privatize the state-owned enterprises and to fully enact some of the regulatory reforms that are underway right now. One of them is Project 30 which is a huge project to enact regulatory reform at the Central government level and at the provincial government level. It has the approval of the Prime Minister, it’s a fantastic program, and the sooner that the government of Vietnam puts that into effect I think the more smoothly the economy of Vietnam will operate.

Question: I think this year is not a good year, for both the U.S. and for Vietnam. And the Vietnamese economy is also going through many difficulties. The biggest one everyone can see is high inflation which affects people’s lives. People often say that this is due to a decline in the U.S. economy. Do you think this is true?

Ambassador Michalak: Well, not yet. Certainly as you said earlier, when the U.S. economy does slow down it does have an affect on economies all over the world, but I think there have been some other factors contributing to this slowdown. The biggest one, of course, being the high price of oil and the rising prices of food and other commodities around the world. I don’t believe that is caused by the United States.

I think there is huge demand for natural resources from other emerging economies all around the world. So no, I don’t think it’s the U.S. that is to blame for this. In terms of the Vietnamese economy, I think that Vietnam is still in many ways a developing economy and it is still developing the kind of economic monitoring systems, a kind of central bank as well as stock market and other economic institutions that it needs to be able to allow the free market to operate correctly. So I think there is still a little ways to go, and I think that in some ways because it’s still developing it hasn’t been able to react quickly enough to some of the changing market signals. I believe that will change over time. But first we’ll have to get through this rough patch that we’re going through now.

Question: People say that the turmoil in the world affects Vietnam because Vietnam has integrated into the world and joined the globalization. But Vietnam does not have the capability to react quickly enough. Recently the Vietnamese government introduced a package of measures which include the two most important items – the first, reducing public spending and the second is tightening public investment. Do you think these measures will be feasible and will be effective?

Ambassador Michalak: I think that a general tightening, whether it’s raising interest rates or whether it’s through tightening fiscal policy is probably necessary. Will they be effective or not? Only time will tell.

I think one of the other points mentioned by the Prime Minister in his eight-point program, is talking to state-owned enterprises and telling them not to borrow money to set up businesses that are not connected to their core business. I think that is an excellent policy because one of the things we have seen is very high credit creation, very high lending rates by brand new banks that don’t have the experience of some of the more established banks. There is a question as to whether these loans are really good loans, whether they are productive loans. So I believe that is another aspect of the Prime Minister’s policy that’s probably a good one.

Question: Earlier you made an interesting point which is that the less the government interferes in the economy the better, and that is also a hot debate in Vietnam now. Right now as Vietnam is going through this tough time some people argue that Vietnam should take some shock measures, some strong administrative measures. But others warn that if the government takes stringent measures then it can back fire. What do you think about that debate?

Ambassador Michalak: I’m glad you asked that question. I was just thinking about that, actually. Of course that is a question for the government and the people of Vietnam to decide for themselves. About all I can say is that for instance in the United States when we had very strong inflation during the ‘70s, people tried price controls and they tried putting price ceilings on an awful lot of commodities.

In the end this turned out to make the situation worse rather than to make it better. All I can say is that as Vietnam has done in the past with other issues, you should look around and see what everybody else has done in these situations and learn from the mistakes of others and then decide your own policy.

I guess there are two other things I would say about this. Once in talking with a group of economists about the economic situation in the United States, Vietnam and the world, one thing they pointed out was that governments need to be very careful when they act because sometimes they overshoot in trying to achieve something when they don’t really know what that something should be.

The second thing is to try to make sure you distinguish between short term measures that are only temporary and medium to long term measures which will have a larger effect. So interest rates moving up and down should probably not be long term measures but should merely be temporary measures to adjust to different circumstances. But longer term measures like Project 30 to streamline and make more efficient the overall economy will in the long run have a much more positive effect on economic activity here.

Question: Do you think the difficulties in the Vietnamese economy now also give us a chance to reform the economy and make it more sound?

Ambassador Michalak: I do. I think that’s a very good observation on your part. I think making some reforms on how SOEs operate, but more importantly making longer term reforms on transparency, rule of law, and in particular regulatory reform, will in the long run be much more beneficial for the Vietnamese economy.

But remember, I’m not a politician, and politicians have to satisfy the demands of their people now as well as the longer term health of the people. They have to balance those things. That’s what you pay the politicians for.

Question: Thank you for your very good advice.

Let’s come back to the health of the U.S. economy. Mr. Nguyen Trong Vang from Bac Ninh Province asked, if the U.S. economy is in a slowdown, does that mean the U.S. economy is getting weaker?

Ambassador Michalak: No, I don’t think the U.S. economy is getting weaker. I think as I was saying earlier, the measures that we take to counteract the current slowdown will, over time, make our economy even stronger than it has been.

It’s true that our economy will slow down. That I think everybody recognizes. But it’s also true that economies all over the world are slowing down. So this is a bad year not only for the U.S. but for the global economy. I would hope that when we are through this period you will see that the U.S. economy slowed down less than many other economies around the world because of the underlying strength that exists in the United States.

Question: Mr. Dao Anh asked this question which is interesting. Do you think that the U.S. economic slowdown will be an opportunity for other opponents of the U.S. to rise up, for example China? Or do you think that in some decades to come, China will replace the U.S., and why? He asked these questions because the U.S. is not only in economic slowdown but also it is losing its political credit, political reputation because it is getting bogged down in the war against terrorism. What will the U.S. do to correct this situation? What will the U.S. do to adjust its policy so that it can save its political reputation again?

Ambassador Michalak: My goodness. Now that’s a big question. [Laughter].

In the first place, I wouldn’t characterize China as an opponent of the United States. The global economy is becoming more and more integrated so it is not a zero sum game. By that I mean that if one country is benefiting, that does not mean another country is not benefiting. The general idea here is that as the global economy gets bigger then all economies benefit because all economies have more economic activity, they have more trade, they have more exchange of people, and the world becomes a better place.

So even now the slowdown, as I said, is having some effect on countries all around the world. And as the United States economy strengthens my hope is that all other economies around the world will also strengthen so that we all get better together.

In terms of the other question, I think I’d have to disagree in that I don’t think that the United States is losing influence or losing its reputation overseas because of getting bogged down, as he says, in the global war on terrorism. I think the situations in various places in the world like Iraq, are better now than they were a year go. They are still very serious and we still have a lot of work to do. But we have not had another serious incident since 9/11. I think that the networks of cooperation that have formed since 9/11 among all nations of the world to battle terrorism have shown that it’s not just the United States that is in this war. Everybody is working together to fight global terrorism. That’s a positive thing for the reputation of the United States.

If you look around the regions of the world you’ll see the United States has spent more money on trying to combat HIV/AIDS than all other nations in the world combined. I think the nations of Africa have shown a great deal of appreciation to the United States for this.

In Vietnam I think we have had a wonderful partnership with the Vietnamese government and the Vietnamese people working together on economic development across the board. We’ve worked on health issues, we’ve worked on economic issues, we’ve worked on judicial issues, and we’ve worked on information issues.

Given the bilateral history between our two countries, I think we have made tremendous progress on becoming partners working together economically, socially and politically to help Vietnam further integrate into the global economy and this has been to the benefit of both our peoples. So just because other nations in the world become economically developed and become more powerful in their own right does not mean that the United States becomes less powerful.

One more thing. Because this was a big question I have to give a big answer. [Laughter].

The last thing I wanted to say is that this is one of the reasons why we work so closely with the government of Vietnam, with the people of Vietnam. We want to see Vietnam become a strong and powerful nation that can take its place among all the nations of the world. I think you’re doing a great job and we find that it’s to our benefit to be able to work with countries like Vietnam, because in the end everybody is going to benefit.

Sorry for such a long answer.

Question: I have another question that you might find pessimistic. Some analysts say that the world is no longer mono-polar in that the U.S. is the only one that rules the world. Now the world is becoming non-polar. The power is disbursed. It is not concentrated. The influence of nation states is going down and instead there are new actors who are not nation states and these actors are emerging. They say that it is not a good thing for the world. So what do you think?

Ambassador Michalak: Boy, that’s a really theoretical question.

Well, in the first place, I don’t think the U.S. has ever wanted to rule the world. Speaking as a U.S. diplomat, we don’t want to rule the world. [Laughter].

Is the world developing into a multi-polar world? I think it seems to be. There does seem to be development taking place all over the world - the European Union is becoming a stronger economy; China’s becoming a stronger economy; Vietnam is becoming a stronger economy. All these things are happening. So I would say that we welcome that development, particularly in the economic field. We have long tried working with China, working with Japan. We have told them that we want more than just one economic engine. An airplane that tries to go across the ocean on just one engine has a possibility of falling into the ocean.

We believe that we operate within this world based on mutual respect among nations for their own sovereignty. When you talk about non-sovereign state actors, if you mean terrorist groups then I think we do have to unite and fight against them. On the other hand I think there are very responsible non-governmental organizations, international organizations who do have opinions on world affairs and on world situations. I think it’s to the betterment of the world as a whole that we listen to all of the different voices and then make up our own minds depending on our own conditions.

Question: We have many questions about the U.S. economy but I think your answers have addressed most of what they want to learn about so now we would like to spend time on another issue which also attracts a lot of attention from our readers. Tomorrow the Democratic party will have a very important event in which Hillary Clinton will have the last chance to ensure that she could continue her presidential race through the vote in Pennsylvania. One of our readers, Ms. Nguyen Thanh Binh from Hanoi asked these questions.

I don’t believe that it is time for the U.S. to have a colored President or a female President. So as the Democratic party has only introduced Hillary Clinton and Obama they are ensuring that the Republican party will win the presidential election. What do you say to that?

Ambassador Michalak: A couple of things. First of all, I don’t think you should ever count the Clintons out of any race, no matter what the timing is.

I also think that within the United States it certainly seems as though the vast majority of people believe that it is time for either an African-American as President or a woman or even an old white guy. [Laughter].

Also, if you look at the polls I think that whoever wins on the Democratic side, whoever is the Democratic nominee, it’s going to be a very close race. I think it’s going to be a close race going down into November. As you know, we diplomats sometimes try to wiggle out of answers to questions. But I’m just being honest when I say we still have a long way to go to November, and anything can happen between now and then.

So what I’d say to your reader is let’s wait and see. I think it’s going to be a fun six months.

Question: We have a woman reader who is a big fan of Hillary and she said that the U.S. had Bill Clinton as U.S. President and he was a very successful President, so I very much wish that Hillary will win. And if that happens then the U.S. will have two Presidents who came from the same family. What do you think of that?

Ambassador Michalak: Well, I think you are being very even-handed. You had one who likes Republicans and now you have one who likes Democrats.

I think that within the United States there has been some discussion on this. There was some discussion when President Bush was elected. People said this was too much like a dynasty, and most American’s don’t seem to like dynasties, and yet we elected a second President Bush.

So if Hillary Clinton is elected then that will be another sort of a dynasty. But people in the United States are talking about this. They are thinking about it. And they will make their decision after having taken that into account.

All of these factors are being discussed throughout America. They’re being discussed by the politicians. They’re being discussed by voters over the dinner table. And they’re being discussed in bars and restaurants everywhere. We also have another saying in American politics, and that is that people get the government they deserve. So we have all the facts, we’re talking about them, and whoever we elect, no one can say oh, I didn’t know something, because it’s all out there for everybody to see.

Question: Mr. Tran Minh Son in Hanoi asks, Mr. Ambassador, personally who would you like to be the next U.S. President?

Ambassador Michalak: That’s not really a fair question. [Laughter].

As a diplomat, I don’t belong to any political party and I will wait until November to decide who I want to choose. Right now all of the three people that are being talked about are all very fine people. They all have very good ideas, but I think I want to wait until the Democrats choose and then I want to see the two, the Republican and the Democrat debating each other and talking about what policies they’re going to propose before I make up my mind.

Question: What kind of President do you and America want to have?

Ambassador Michalak: Oh, my. That’s an easy one. We want to have the best possible person who knows everything, takes care of everybody, and makes decisions very quickly.

I’m not sure that person exists.

Question: Who do you personally, I mean which party do you personally think more suitable for rescuing the U.S. economy?

Ambassador Michalak: Now think about that. If I say the Democrats, then the Republicans are going to be angry with me. If I say Republicans, the Democrats are going to be angry with me. I work for whatever party is in power, so I’m sorry, I can’t -- [Laughter].

Question: A hard question for a diplomat.

Ambassador Michalak: Oftentimes it is, when you vote for the President you’re voting for a man or a woman and how well that person can govern. It makes a big difference, no matter what party they come from. So I’m going to wait and see what the policies are. Talk to me again in December and then we can see what happens.

Question: We’ve got some questions from people who express their support for John McCain. They argue that John McCain is a Vietnam war veteran and he has personal connection to Vietnam, and they would like to ask you if Mr. McCain is elected, then will that have an effect on Vietnam-U.S. relations?

Ambassador Michalak: That’s a very good question. I think you should ask Senator McCain. I have heard from many Vietnamese that they believe that Senator McCain has very positive feelings towards Vietnam and he was very active in support of the Bilateral Trade Agreement and in support of Vietnam’s entering the World Trade Organization.

I have not heard Senator Obama or Senator Clinton’s views on Vietnam, but it would seem to me that if Senator McCain is elected, having someone as President who has good feelings about Vietnam cannot be a bad thing.

Question: Mr. Tuan Anh from Haiphong asks this question. Why are U.S. presidential elections so prolonged and costly? Can they not be simplified and made less expensive?

Ambassador Michalak: You know, I think that’s an excellent question and it’s a question that many Americans ask as well. Personally speaking, yes, I think they probably can be made shorter and less costly. But that’s a decision that has to be made by each one of the political parties. It has to be made by each one of the candidates. The candidates in the U.S., even if they don’t belong to any party, can start campaigning whenever they want to, and subject to certain campaign spending laws, they can spend as much money as they want to.

I think many people believe that this particular election has been very very long and there is a debate which happens every four years, the debate over how long and how much money to spend. There might be even more of a debate after this year’s election and people may decide it’s time to do something about it. But so far there’s been no large movement to limit the time or the expense except of course for, certain campaign spending laws.

Question: I would like to ask one more question about the election. What do you predict regarding the election tomorrow in Pennsylvania? Do you think that tomorrow will be a decisive day in choosing the final candidate of the Democratic party?

Ambassador Michalak: My prediction is that it will not be a decisive day. I think that after tomorrow you will still have two Democratic candidates for the nomination. What I have read in the papers is that people say Clinton has to win by a very large margin. Well, you don’t know what that means. What is a very large margin in this case?

So I have a feeling they’re both very strong competitors. I don’t think either one, no matter what the outcome of tomorrow’s primary is going to say oh, okay, I’m going to drop out. I just don’t see them doing that.

Question: I think the longer this race continues the more interesting it is for the general public in the U.S., as well as for the public in other countries.

Ambassador Michalak: I agree.

Question: I would like to spend the rest of our time for questions about U.S.-Vietnam relations.

You have been here for six months and the relationship between the two countries have seen several successful milestones. So what is the next major achievement we should look for? What are you looking for?

Ambassador Michalak: Oh, my. Good question, but I think there are many milestones that we can look forward to. One of them would be that we are very hopeful that Prime Minister Dung will visit the United States later on this year.

Another milestone is that I hope we will reach my goal of doubling the number of Vietnamese students that are studying in the United States.

I hope to see a Vietnam Airline 787 flying between Hanoi and Washington, DC.

I hope to see foreign news companies able to open offices in Ho Chi Minh City.

I hope that Project 30 will come to a wonderful conclusion under the leadership of the Prime Minister.

I hope there will be public debates on economics and politics and all different kinds of subjects in Vietnam.

I have a big long list if you want more. [Laughter].

Question: Ms. Xuan Linh from Hanoi asked this question. A diplomat said that there are no permanent enemies, only national interests are permanent. We have already had one decade to build trust. What should we do next, what opportunities do we have to boost the relationship between our two countries?

Ambassador Michalak: I think that we already are building on many of our shared interests. Our shared interests and strong economies. We’re working together to help Vietnam develop its economy.

We’re working on people to people relations, trying to increase the number of students going to the United States, trying to start other programs that will improve education here in Vietnam. I think across the board we’re trying to work on people being more free to express their ideas on everything.

So I think we have taken advantage of many of the opportunities that have existed and we’re moving forward on a broad variety of fronts in almost every category that you can name.

Question: Vietnam and the U.S. now are both in the UN Security Council. They are both being responsible for the security of the world and the region.

So what advantages does Vietnam have from membership in the Security Council?

Ambassador Michalak: Well, I’m not sure advantage is quite the right word. I think this is another step in Vietnam’s process of integration into the global community. Being on the UN Security Council means that Vietnam - like other members - is asked has to pay more attention to issues which are oftentimes very far away from its borders. Vietnam voted with the United States on a very important resolution on Iran and nuclear weapons. This is probably not a subject that Vietnam has thought about every regularly day since its independence.

So it means that Vietnam has to broaden its outlook and deepen its understanding of the world situation and how Vietnam fits into it.

I suppose you could say that the experience that Vietnam gains by working so closely together on global issues is going to prepare Vietnam better for attacking similar issues if they ever come up closer to home.

Question: There is I think a tough question from Mr. Nguyen Hoang in Canada. He asks this question. Please tell me about the major tasks of a U.S. Ambassador because I read in newspapers both in Vietnam and international newspapers that the U.S. Ambassador is always talking about human rights and pressing the host country about the arrests of certain lawbreakers. Do you think that by doing so those U.S. Ambassadors will have a negative impact on bilateral relations, especially in the case of Vietnam and the U.S.? They have already had a very tragic war. Is the U.S. Ambassador naïve to listen to very one-sided comments from their citizens? I wish you have a very successful term in Vietnam.

Ambassador Michalak: [Laughter]. An excellent question.

Actually I have heard this question before in various different forms. I would say that no, the promotion of human rights and discussions of human rights with the government of Vietnam or any other country that a U.S. diplomat has is part of our duty and part of what we believe to be representing America and American values. When we are argue for freedom for those Mr. Hoang calls lawbreakers, we recognize that people who break the law need to be punished according to the laws of each individual country. But we may disagree with those laws. Many countries, for instance, argue with the U.S. should change our laws on capital punishment. We don’t think they’re being naïve, we don’t think they’re having a negative effect on our relationship with them. In the same way when I talk to representatives of the government of Vietnam about freedom of expression I do not think it has a negative effect on our relationship. We believe that improving freedom of expression in Vietnam will have a positive affect on Vietnam and it is in Vietnam’s interest to do so.

The United States does not support the use of violence, we do not support violent overthrow of governments, and we do not support organizations that advocate those kinds of things. In fact I want to be clear about this. We do not support any political organization of any kind. What we so support is people’s rights to express their views in a peaceful manner, wherever they are - whether it’s in Vietnam or the United States or anywhere else. We don’t believe that people should be put in jail for expressing themselves peacefully, and we would like to see people who are in jail for freedom of expression be released.

As to being naïve, I do confess that I tend to be a little bit optimistic about things, but I believe that in Vietnam there are good reasons to be optimistic. I think one of the reasons that I’m optimistic about Vietnam is that the Vietnamese government has been willing to allow diplomats to have access to a number of different people who have different views from the government. I do make every effort to meet with representatives of the government of Vietnam so that I hear both sides of the story.

So I don’t think my discussions have a negative affect on our relationship. I would prefer to call myself a realist rather than a naïve person. And I can assure you that as long as there is a spirit of goodwill and mutual respect on both sides, I think eventually we will come to some resolution of all issues where we have differing views. But thanks for your question.

Question: We are almost running out of time but I would like to ask you just two more questions.

Ambassador Michalak: Two more.

Question: A lot of questions from the audience.

If Prime Minister Dung visits the U.S. this year, then we can say that every year in the last three years there is a top leader from Vietnam visiting the U.S. So what is the implication of that? And should we maintain such a high level of exchange?

Ambassador Michalak: Absolutely. I think you should maintain and even do more if possible. We find that it is beneficial to a relationship when the highest level visitors possible visit each other’s country. Earlier in my tour here we had the visit of some very high level congressmen from the United States and I can tell you they were just amazed at what they saw here.

Having high level policymakers understand what is going on in Vietnam, or having high level policymakers from Vietnam see with their own eyes what’s going on in the U.S. gives them a much better background to use when they are making decisions about the U.S., or when our leaders are making decisions about Vietnam.

Furthermore, having such high level visitors, as you well know as a reporter, these visitors want to be able to sign things, want to be able to show concrete progress in the relationship. So we see these visits as great opportunities to resolve issues and to make progress in the relationship in general.

I can just tell you that I know that President Bush is very much looking forward to welcoming Prime Minister Dung. The President has very very good memories of his trip here in ’06 and he still talks about it with his friends.

Question: Vietnamese people still remember a statement made by President Bush at the stock exchange in Ho Chi Minh City, that if he were still young he would come to Vietnam to do business. Do you agree with that remark? What do you think about the opportunities for doing business in Vietnam?

Ambassador Michalak: Oh, I absolutely agree with his statement and I think you ought to talk to him after next January because he’ll have more free time then. [Laughter]. I think that the opportunities here in Vietnam are tremendous. I think there are a lot of investment opportunities, there are opportunities for trade in just about every sector, whether in energy or transportation, finance, or tourism, you name it. There are plenty of opportunities here and we are encouraging many many American firms to come here.

As you may know, during the first three months of this year America was the top foreign investor in Vietnam.

Question: It’s an impressive achievement.

We would like to thank you for spending time with us, VietnamNet and with our readers. You’ve given us very excellent answers and on behalf of VietnamNet and our viewers we would like to wish you a very successful term in Vietnam and a very good time for you and your family.

Ambassador Michalak: Thank you very much, and come and see us at the American Center at the Embassy Annex in Hanoi.

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