FED: Howard seeking stronger ties with Vietnam

AAP General News (Australia)
04-01-1999
FED: Howard seeking stronger ties with Vietnam

Prime Minister JOHN HOWARD says he hopes his meetings today with Vietnamese leader PHAN VAN
KHAI will forge closer ties between Australia and Vietnam.

But members of Australia's 140,000-strong Vietnamese community plan to mark the visit with
demonstrations outside Parliament House, where Mr KHAI will be feted at an official luncheon.

The Australian Vietnamese Community says they'll call for the release of political
dissidents and religious leaders.

It's the first visit by a senior Vietnamese official since 1995, when Mr HOWARD -- then
opposition leader -- snubbed visiting Vietnamese Communist party chief DO MUOI (pron: doh
moy.)







Mr HOWARD and his then foreign affairs spokesman -- now foreign minister ALEXANDER DOWNER
-- refused to attend a lunch for Mr MUOI.

Mr DOWNER held private talks, but later became embroiled in a row after the Vietnamese
delegation disputed his claim that he'd used the talks to raise human rights concerns.

Shortly after the change of government another row erupted when Mr DOWNER tried to cancel
aid finding for the Mekong Bridge -- Australia's single biggest aid project.

AAP RTV sc/rt/nd

KEYWORD: VIETNAM AUST (CANBERRA)

1999 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.