[Vacets-local-dc] [Tran vs. Tran ...]

[Hai Tran]

FYI, this Consul General is son of Vietnam's current State President Tran Duc Luong, who is notoriously corrupt for appropriating houses and plantations in Vietnam. According to several people from Hanoi, with a salary of $250 dollars a month, he is the owner of 3 hotels, 5 villas, and partner in golf course. The renovation of his house cost 3 billion VN dong, equivalent to about 200,000 US dollars.
 
When asked, he claims to always have been a revolutionary and servant of the people.
 
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March 31, 2005 
Tran Tuan Anh, Ph.D.
Consul General
Consulate General of Vietnam
1700 California Street, Suite 430
San Francisco, CA 94109 
Dear Dr. Tran, 
I write in response to your March 23rd letter regarding a matter being considered before the California State Legislature, Senate Concurrent Resolution (SCR) 17, authored by State Senator Denise Ducheny (D-San Diego). SCR 17 would urge the State of California to formally recognize the flag of the former Republic of Vietnam, displaying “three-red stripes on a field of gold,” as the symbol of the Vietnamese-American community in California. SCR 17 has already received broad bi-partisan support in both houses of the Legislature as manifest by the diverse co-authors signed onto the resolution. 
I categorically reject your government’s contention that the resolution violates international conventions and practices. As an independent elected body, the California Legislature does not answer to the U.S. federal government, or to Hanoi, on an issue that involves the wishes and desires of our constituents. The Vietnamese-American community in our state has the right to select and display its own political symbol, on state-owned property, as requested by the resolution. Under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the right of an American citizen or a community to disavow the Vietnamese communist flag, by way of favoring the nationalist flag, trumps any contravening laws or diplomatic conventions. 
Surely the State of California has the legal authority to permit the Vietnamese-American community to display its own political symbol at any community functions and events on any state-owned property and facility. The passage of this resolution is a formal reflection of the wishes of our Vietnamese-American constituents and residents, who have established substantial communities throughout California. 
This issue is of particular concern to the over 450,000 Vietnamese-Americans who make California their home. Most Vietnamese-Americans, having fled persecution from your nation, find the display of the “yellow star on red background” flag to be insulting, offensive and culturally insensitive. You will note that support for the nationalist flag is not without precedent in America: it is proudly hoisted at the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C. on Memorial Day and the Fourth of July, and has been formally recognized by over 80 local jurisdictions and eight states across this country. 
Also, your assertion that the flag resolution obstructs diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Vietnam is without merit. As prescribed by the U.S. Constitution, only the federal government has the authority to establish foreign policy with other nations. In this case, the resolution as introduced does not in any form or content, interfere or inhibit the constitutional authority of Washington, D.C. to conduct foreign policy with Hanoi. The chronic and ongoing obstruction to the improvement of ties between the two countries is due to your government’s systematic and continuing violation of human and civil rights. The U.S. government and various independent human rights organizations such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Asia Watch, have annually reported and condemned your government for numerous cases of human rights abuses. 
In order to create better ties with the U.S., I suggest that Hanoi immediately release all political and religious prisoners and respects the right of its own citizens to freely associate and to elect their own representatives. Only when Vietnam decides to join the international community as a truly free and democratic nation could it begin to establish normal relations with the U.S. The spirit of friendship and cooperation you have extolled will only be fully developed when your government ceases to wage war on its own citizens. 
Sincerely, 
VAN TRAN
Assemblyman, 68th District 
Cc:Condoleezza Rice, U.S. Secretary of State
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, State of California
Members, California State Legislature




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