US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton yesterday became the first US secretary of state to visit Laos in 57 years, on a trip focused on the damaging legacy of the Vietnam War and a controversial dam project.
At Vientiane’s flag-bedecked Wattay International Airport, Clinton was given flowers by girls in traditional purple-silk costumes, as she began her brief but historic trip.
“It’s a pretty big deal for the Laotians, and we will underscore a number of areas that we’re working on together,” a senior US official said.
Photo: AFP
These include leftover ordnance from the war that ended in 1975, excavating the remains of US soldiers missing in action and the continuing effects of defoliant Agent Orange, used by the US to try to flush out communist forces.
Clinton, whose four-hour whirlwind trip has been front page news in Laos this week, met with Laotian Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong at his office in an elegant white-columned building with two large elephant statues outside.
The pair had “substantive discussions on the broadening bilateral cooperation,” a joint statement released after the meeting said.
The two “agreed to improve and further facilitate the accounting operations for American personnel still missing from the Indochina War era” and address the “remaining challenges” of unexploded ordnance, the statement said.
They also discussed the forthcoming entry of Laos into the WTO.
Clinton is only the second US secretary of state to visit Laos after John Foster Dulles, who spent a day in the then-monarchy in 1955. Experts say that all those years ago, they had to clear the water buffalo from the Vientiane airport runway so his plane could land.
Clinton was invited by Laotian Foreign Minister Thongloun Sisoulith in 2010, who was the first top Laotian official to visit Washington since the Soviet-backed communist rebels swept to power, ousting the monarchy, in 1975.
US relations with Laos, while never severed, were long tense, in part over its campaign against the Hmong hill people who assisted US forces during the Vietnam War.
However, the US established normal trade ties with Laos in 2004 and annual US aid to Laos will be around US$30 million in total this year, a US embassy official said.
Of that, US$9.2 million will be set aside this year for cleaning up unexploded ordnance (UXO). US forces dropped more than 2 million tonnes of ordnance on Laos between 1964 and 1973 in about 580,000 bombing missions to cut off North Vietnamese supply lines.
As a result, Laos is the most heavily bombed country, per capita, in history. About 30 percent of the ordnance failed to detonate and all 17 of the country’s provinces still suffer from UXO contamination.
Clinton, who also visited a US-funded orthotic and prosthetic center, discussed “ongoing bilateral cooperation to help resolve the challenges associated with UXO” with Thammavong.
Another of the main thrusts of the trip is talks on controversial plans by Laos to build a massive dam on the Mekong River.
During regional talks in Bali last year, Clinton called for a moratorium on dam building along the river. Activists say the dam projects could spell disaster for 60 million people who depend on the Mekong waterway.
See FOR on page 9
Australia has announced an agreement with the tiny Pacific nation Nauru enabling it to send hundreds of immigrants to the barren island. The deal affects more than 220 immigrants in Australia, including some convicted of serious crimes. Australian Minister of Home Affairs Tony Burke signed the memorandum of understanding on a visit to Nauru, the government said in a statement on Friday. “It contains undertakings for the proper treatment and long-term residence of people who have no legal right to stay in Australia, to be received in Nauru,” it said. “Australia will provide funding to underpin this arrangement and support Nauru’s long-term economic
ANGER: Unrest worsened after a taxi driver was killed by a police vehicle on Thursday, as protesters set alight government buildings across the nation Protests worsened overnight across major cities of Indonesia, far beyond the capital, Jakarta, as demonstrators defied Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s call for calm. The most serious unrest was seen in the eastern city of Makassar, while protests also unfolded in Bandung, Surabaya, Solo and Yogyakarta. By yesterday morning, crowds had dispersed in Jakarta. Troops patrolled the streets with tactical vehicles and helped civilians clear trash, although smoke was still rising in various protest sites. Three people died and five were injured in Makassar when protesters set fire to the regional parliament building during a plenary session on Friday evening, according to
‘NEO-NAZIS’: A minister described the rally as ‘spreading hate’ and ‘dividing our communities,’ adding that it had been organized and promoted by far-right groups Thousands of Australians joined anti-immigration rallies across the country yesterday that the center-left government condemned, saying they sought to spread hate and were linked to neo-Nazis. “March for Australia” rallies against immigration were held in Sydney, and other state capitals and regional centers, according to the group’s Web site. “Mass migration has torn at the bonds that held our communities together,” the Web site said. The group posted on X on Saturday that the rallies aimed to do “what the mainstream politicians never have the courage to do: demand an end to mass immigration.” The group also said it was concerned about culture,
CRACKDOWN: The Indonesian president vowed to clamp down on ‘treason and terrorism,’ while acceding to some protest demands to revoke lawmaker benefits Protests in Indonesia over rising living costs and inequality intensified overnight, prompting Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto to cancel a planned trip to China, while demonstrators reportedly targeted the homes of the finance minister and several lawmakers. Rioters entered Indonesian Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati’s residence near Jakarta early yesterday, but were repelled by armed forces personnel, Kompas reported. Items were taken from the homes of lawmaker Ahmad Sahroni and two others, according to Detik.com. The reports of looting could not be independently verified, and the finance ministry has not responded to requests for comment. The protests were sparked by outrage over
RSS