Vu Van Thai Hails Saigon Democracy

Vu Van Thai, South Vietnamese ambassador to the United States, praised U.S. good intentions in Southeast Asia and predicted a strong democracy for South Vietnam in a speech last night at Emerson Hall.

"I feel sure that this is a period from which leadership will emerge. The people now are willing and ready to participate. They are no longer contented with being passed around from one dictatorship to another," Vu said.

Temptation Great

At the time of overthrow of former priemier Ngo Dinh Diem, Vu asserted, "the temptation was very great... to start a 'united-front' with he communists." But the Vietnamese people consciously chose not to," Vu said. "They would not easily forget the blood-stained experience of condition government with the communists in 1945-46," he added.

During the panel discussion following the speech, Steven Rosenthal, a graduate student in the School of Design and a member of Students for a Democratic Society, criticized the United States's role in Vietnam as a "colossal exploitation under the banner of pseudo-independence." Vu replied that the United States does not try to control Vietnamese politics. "Whatever government we have there, he United States jumps on the bandwagon," he said, adding, "This to me is a great compliment, not exploitation."

Vu predicted that, the South Vietnamese will eventually cause the transformation of the war into "political struggle." He added that "time and again the Communists have accepted peaceful coexistence when they find they cannot win."

Reunification

The ambassador also discussed the possibilities of eventual reunification of the country. According to Vu "the evolution of the Communist Party of Vietnam, and its ability to show a trend toward greater independence from the Communist Party of China" will determine the willingness of the South Vietnamese to discuss unity.

"No Vietnamese: Buddhist, Catholic, Northerner, or Southerner is concerned about the risk of satellization of their fatherland to Communist China," Vu asserted.