-Caveat Lector-
Translator Garbles Clinton Rights Remarks
Updated 8:22 AM ET November 17, 2000
HANOI (Reuters) - Communist Vietnam gave President Clinton the
unprecedented honor of addressing the nation live on television Friday, but
translation of his remarks became virtually unintelligible when he mentioned
sensitive rights issues.
In the televised speech to students at Hanoi's National University, Clinton
gently urged communist Vietnam to consider strengthening its respect for
human rights, opening up its political system and further liberalizing its
economy.
Simultaneous translation of the speech as broadcast on state-run Vietnam
Television largely drowned out the original English.
Most of Clinton's uncontroversial remarks were rendered clearly, but the
translation became hopelessly garbled when Clinton touched on human
rights.
For example, Clinton's words:
"In our experience, guaranteeing the right to religious worship and the right
to political dissent does not threaten the stability of the society; instead it
builds people's confidence in the fairness of the institution..."
Became the equivalent of:
"According to our experience, the issue of allowing worshipping, allowing,
(pause) that does not affect the regime but to improve our regime..."
And his comments:
"...only you can decide how to weave individual liberties and human rights
into the rich and strong fabric of Vietnamese national identity..."
Became:
"...only you can decide (pause) on how to live with the issue, um, (pause) in
the issue that human rights in Vietnam and in the society then you make a
decision on your own..."
Vietnamese who listened to the speech said the poor translation made
Clinton's remarks on rights totally incomprehensible.
Clinton was the first foreign head of state to give such an address. Earlier
in his speech, he acknowledged the huge suffering of the Vietnamese
people during the Vietnam War, but stopped short of offering any apology
for U.S. actions during the conflict.
U.S. officials had said Clinton, under pressure at home to raise the rights
issue, saw the speech as an opportunity to speak directly to the
Vietnamese people.
Diplomats say the Communist leadership, which tightly controls its media,
had been nervous about the prospect.
As it was, Clinton's comments on rights were expectedly low key, given the
main aims of his visit have been reconciliation and business promotion and
the fact that some rights improvements have been seen over the years.
Human rights groups and religious groups had urged Clinton to take a
strong stand on rights in Vietnam though.
Last week, Washington-based Human Rights Watch said that although
Vietnam had taken steps in recent years to address some violations, it
continued to seriously curtail fundamental political, religious and labor
rights and press freedom.
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