Humankind is approaching the 21^st century with many hopeful prospects. The world is forming a new order, in which progress is developing in all areas, from economics to many other aspects of human lives. In this setting, democratic countries have utilized all the advantages of their political system to support the globalization of their economies. Top priorities are given to the education of the population and the expansion of public access to information.

Those underdeveloped countries without a democratic system to effectively utilize all of their national resources can only play subordinate roles to the rest of the world. Vietnam is among the countries currently in this situation. The need to democratize and develop Vietnam, therefore, is not only the aspiration of the people, but also the requirement for this nation's survival.

A - Reality of Vietnam:

Ten years of the command economy and dictatorial political system from 1975 to 1985, in couple with the destructive wars with Cambodia and China, left Vietnam exhausted in both physical and human capital. This nation quickly sank to the bottom and resided among the poorest nations in the world.

After ten years of "doi moi" started in 1986, a few signs of improvement have surfaced in Vietnam. These scattered results, however, did not come from the Vietnamese Communist Party's governing skills, but rather from foreign aid and an early short burst of foreign investment and, more importantly, from the Vietnamese people's quick reaction to take advantage of the economic door temporarily left ajar by the Party. Nevertheless, all these superficial improvements cannot conceal the serious dangers that are leading Vietnam to a dead-end:

1. Vietnam will continue to suffer under the dictatorship as long as the leadership of the Vietnamese Communist Party continues to hold on to power. This is a prospect the Vietnamese people do not desire.
2. Vietnam will remain in the state of endless instability as long as the leadership of the Vietnamese Communist Party continues to suppress the population's demands for better living conditions and civil rights. This is a prospect the Vietnamese people do not desire.
3. Vietnam will continue to fall behind other countries as long as the leadership of the Vietnamese Communist Party continues to prevent the population from acquiring knowledge from and of the outside world, block access to information, and restrict the contribution of the overseas Vietnamese community. This is also a prospect the Vietnamese people do not desire.

The only solution for the Vietnamese people is to advance vigorously the process of democratization. That Vietnam will become a democratic country is but a matter of time. The democratization process, however, cannot be allowed to inflict massive losses in human lives and properties, or, alternatively, to take many decades to reach its goal. In either of such scenarios, the democracy, once achieved, would leave Vietnam unable to catch up with the rest of the world.

It is the duty of all Vietnamese today to remove the current dictatorship as early as possible and to build a pluralistic democracy in its place. This indeed is a major challenge for the Vietnamese, and also a matter of great concern to all countries that have vested interests in Vietnam and would like this nation to contribute to regional stability and development.

B - Five-Stage Process to Democratize Vietnam:

Any plan to dismantle the current totalitarian government to build a pluralistic democracy and develop the country requires three basic criteria:

1. it must depend on the Vietnamese people as its principal implementers;
2. it must be feasible; and
3. it must not devastate the nation's potential to recover.

Given the present condition in Vietnam, the Free Vietnam Alliance believes the democratization process must go through five fundamental stages:

Stage 1: Terminating all political suppression and state monopoly on the media
The leaders of the Vietnamese Communist Party must be pressured to:
- Release immediately those imprisoned for their political views, personal thoughts, or religious beliefs.
- Rescind all laws and regulations that authorize the government to detain citizens without trial.
- Respect freedom of the press and freedom of expression.
- Cease political censorship over public means of communication.
- Respect the freedom of individuals to express and disseminate their views on national matters.

Stage 2: Respecting individual liberties and ending social discrimination

The leaders of the Vietnamese Communist Party must be pressured to:

- Abolish all restrictions on fundamental human rights.
- Respect the right of citizens to assemble and form labor unions and other independent associations.
- Respect the right of citizens to hold peaceful labor strikes and demonstrations.
- End all forms of social discrimination based on the "class struggle", viewpoint or any political orientation.
- Abolish policies allowing communist party members and officials to be above the law.
- Respond satisfactorily to people's complaints in all areas of governing.

Stage 3: Recognizing the right of all grassroots organizations to operate openly and be treated fairly by the state.

The leaders of the Vietnamese Communist Party must be pressured to:
- Recognize all grassroots organizations' right to carry out their political and non-political activities freely and to be treated fairly by the government.
- Define clearly the responsibility of the armed forces and the police as being for national defense and maintaining social order. They must not serve as an apparatus of any political party.

Stage 4: Creating transitional institutions

All political forces and parties will discuss and identify the current condition of the country, the direction to solve the national problems, and the best transitional model to facilitate the changes. The result of this joint effort will be the formation of a transitional government to temporarily run the country and organize the nation's first general election. This election, under international monitoring, will select members to the first National Assembly that will draft the nation's Constitution.

Stage 5: Institutionalizing the foundations for pluralistic democracy

After passage by the National Assembly, the draft Constitution will be submitted to a national referendum for final approval. Based on the new Constitution, the Vietnamese people will exercise their democratic rights in establishing other fundamental institutions of the state. Thence, the entire people will together rebuild and develop the country.

To accomplish the five-stage plan to democratize Vietnam, the Free Vietnam Alliance proposes a concentration on the following tasks:

Task 1: Widening cooperation and solidarity among patriotic forces.
Task 2: Supporting popular demands for better living conditions and civil rights.
Task 3: Supporting dissident voices within the communist ranks.
Task 4: Developing and encouraging pluralistic activities.
Task 5: Campaigning for international attention to the absence of human rights and democracyin Vietnam.
Task 6: Pointing out the regime's harmful policies and planning for the rebuilding of Vietnam.

The major problems facing Vietnam today are direct consequences of the imposition of Marxism-Leninism over the country for the last several decades. These problems are top-priority issues to be solved right in the transitional period.

A - Priorities for the transitional period:

The transitional period begins when an agreement is reached among political forces and parties to form the transitional government, which, in turn, will organize the general election to select the Constitution-drafting National Assembly. The transitional period concludes when a government is democratically elected according to the new Constitution.

The transitional government will operate under four principles:

1. peaceful transformation to a democracy;
2. social harmony to overcome differences among political factions;
3. adherence to democratic practices and solving conflicts through dialog; and
4. respecting international treaties and contracts.

On these principles, the transitional government will implement a number of appropriate measures to serve people's short-term needs and create favorable long-term conditions for the transition to a democracy:

1. Preventing economic dislocation.
2. Fighting social vices and cleaning the government administration.
3. Encouraging pluralistic political activities in preparation for the free general elections.
4. Disseminating concepts of a civic society: human rights, civil rights, and how to exercise them in a democratic society.
5. Establishing independent planning institutions for national development.

B - Essential Guidelines for the Development of Vietnam:

The Free Vietnam Alliance holds the following ideals to be the foundation for the development of Vietnam:

1. Pluralistic democracy;
2. Freedom and human rights;
3. Social equality; and
4. Market economy.

The following major policies will be implemented:

1. Administrative Reform:

This policy is to set the foundation for the rule of law, consisting of five efforts to:

1. Increase the efficiency of the administration;
2. Decentralize authorities;
3. Professionalize administrators;
4. Decrease national defense spending; and
5. Establish independent central bank system.

2. Educational Reform

The new educational system will aim to provide the country with future generations of patriotic Vietnamese possessing adequate general knowledge, appreciation for democratic society, sense of responsibility, and aspiration to advance Vietnam into a humanistic and developed society. To achieve such a goal, at a minimum, the education policy must:

1. Eradicate illiteracy and require compulsory elementary education;
2. Provide adequate training and compensation for the corps of educators who truly love teaching;
3. Provide more opportunities for adult education;
4. Establish employment training programs;
5. Popularize the use of modern means of communication; and
6. Encourage the establishment of private research.

3. Cultural Development

The policy is to restore Vietnamese traditional values, consisting of three efforts to:

1. Respect artists' and writers' freedom of creativity;
2. Promote variety in Vietnamese culture by encouraging the formation of private foundations focusing on culture and heritage; and
3. Protect Vietnamese historical sites.

4. Public Health Development

The public health system will be geared toward providing medical care equally for all citizens through three efforts to:

1. Establish a national medical network;
2. Encourage the participation of private medical service providers and health insurance companies;
3. Modernize the current medical educational program.

5. Social Reform:

At a minimum, the government needs to:

1. Stimulate employment by giving incentives to the private sector to hire workers;
2. Establish a social welfare system; and
3. Respect religious freedoms for the sake of both individual spiritual development and social morality revival.

6. Economic Development

The new development model for Vietnam will balance social equality and economic development. In general, it will be necessary to:

1. Restore Vietnamese agriculture by recognizing private land ownership and encouraging mechanization;
2. Encourage and promote the private sector while discouraging all forms of state ownership;
3. Create a favorable environment for long-term foreign investment in Vietnam;
4. Develop domestic markets;
5. Emphasize investment in infrastructure; and
6. Educate and encourage the population to protect the environment.

7. Foreign Relations

Vietnam will establish relations with all nations on the basis of equality and respect for each nation's sovereignty. All conflicts must be resolved through peaceful negotiations.

The Vietnamese people have the ability to resolve the national problems of poverty and backwardness and help this nation take off in the coming century.

The Free Vietnam Alliance earnestly calls on peoples and governments of freedom-loving countries to lend their support to the Vietnamese people in pressuring the Vietnamese Communist Party to respect human and civil rights, to accept changes to the ruling system in order to advance the process of democratization in Vietnam. Only a democratic Vietnam can contribute effectively to regional development and stability.

The Vietnamese people deserve to live a life worth living. Vietnamese society shall be one of justice, compassion and progress. The nation of Vietnam shall have the opportunity to contribute to world's peace and prosperity by the dawn of the new century.

Berlin, December 13, 1997