LOS ANGELES (AFP) - A second California city dominated by Vietnamese exiles has declared itself a "no-communist zone" that opposes visits by officials from communist Vietnam, officials said.
The council of Westminster, population 90,000, late Wednesday passed a tough resolution by five votes to nothing that seeks to effectively ban Vietnamese cadres from its territory southeast of Los Angeles.
"The resolution is good news and an expression of the will of the overwhelming majority of the residents of this city," the measure's co-author, Councilman Andy Quach, told AFP.
"It means that we are exercising our First Amendment right to free speech by saying that commie cadres are not welcome and that if we do not get prior notice of their intention to visit, it will be very difficult for us to guarantee their safety."
The adoption of an identical measure eight days earlier by the nearby city of Garden Grove, which also forms part of California's Little Saigon area, prompted an angry protest from Hanoi while the US State Department also deplored the action.
Around 40,000 of Westminster's residents are ethnic Vietnamese, many of whose families fled the country after the city of Saigon fell to communist North Vietnamese forces at the end of the Vietnam War 31 years ago.
The Westminster resolution states that the city "does not condone, welcome or sanction stops, drive-bys or visits" by representatives of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, following public unrest in the area in 1999 in another row over Vietnamese officials.
The resolution also discourages city officials from encouraging such visits and request the US State Department to give the city at least 10 days' notice of an impending visit by Hanoi cadres.
In addition, it states that the city will not be liable for any damage caused by rioting sparked by a visit by Hanoi cadres.
"The State Department has asked us to do everything we can to rescind the resolution, saying that the US is working with Vietnam over terrorist issues and asking us to consider the role of US officials in Vietnam," Quach said.
"But it doesn't matter what the commies or the State Department say, we on the council are responsible to our constituents in Westminster."