6 March 2008

Visit to Ha Noi, Viet Nam by the RNZRSA and EVSA 25–28 February 2008

Who Went?

The Royal New Zealand Returned and Services' Association (RNZRSA) and Ex-Vietnam Services Association (EVSA) group were Robin Klitscher; John Campbell; Terry Culley; Rod Baldwin; Rusty Taylor; Henry Macown.

The remainder of the travellers from New Zealand were The Hon Rick Barker, Minister of Veterans' Affairs; his Press Secretary Adham Crichton; and Elaine Myers-Davies of VANZ. No bands, no long retinue of bureaucrats, minders, honour guards or others.

Those in place in Ha Noi (and most important to the visit) were our Ambassador Dr James Kember, his deputy Jeremy Clarke-Watson, the First Secretary and Consul Kosta Tashkoff, and Ms Bui Thanh Van, translator.

Why Did They Go?

It would be true of course to say that this journey began 40 years ago. But that would be an incomplete truth.

Fifteen months ago two things happened in two Capital Cities half the world apart. On 6 December 2006, in Wellington, the Memorandum of Understanding between the Crown and New Zealand veterans of the Viet Nam War was signed. On the same day in Kuala Lumpur, the RNZRSA delegate announced that same signing to the 25th General Assembly of the Word Veterans Federation (Federation Mondiale des Anciens Combattants), and gave a copy to the leader of the Vietnamese delegation, Lt Gen (Rtd) Dang Quan Thuy, then the President of the Veterans Association of Viet Nam (VAVN). The latter read it and said “We think you have done very well. You must come and visit us in Ha Noi.”

Then, during a visit to New Zealand in September 2007, the Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet issued an official invitation to a small group of veterans accompanied by the Minister.

And so it was done. And it was done against a background of rapidly developing diplomatic, trade and social relationships with Viet Nam in recent years. These include visits by New Zealand Ministers to Viet Nam and by very senior Vietnamese Ministers to New Zealand; a State visit by our Governor-General to Viet Nam; many trade and related missions; and visits by New Zealand military to Viet Nam including ships and visits by senior staffs.

There was a wider, veteran-specific background too. Various veterans' groups from the United States, Australia, Korea and elsewhere already had relationships of one sort or another with Vietnamese authorities, including the VAVN. We did not. Far from being in the forefront as some seemed to think, in having no contact at the veterans' organisation level we were actually dragging the chain. It was time to attend to that.

Finally, this visit by RNZRSA and EVSA was not, and was never intended to be, a visit to the battlefields of the past. Rather it took place in the context of higher-level bilateral foreign policy developments, through our respective veterans' organisations. Put plainly, the fabric of our relationship with Viet Nam would be stronger and more complete if the fact that we first met on the battlefield was faced, accommodated and dealt with, than if we continued to avoid the subject.

Where Did They Go?

The group came no closer to the operational area we knew as Phuoc Tuy Province (now Ba Ria – Vung Tau Province) than Auckland is from Invercargill. Most of the time was spent in Ha Noi, with a short overnight visit to the spectacular Ha Long Bay, three hours away by road through traffic you don't want to know about either in volume or in shut-your-eyes suicidal habit.

In Ha Noi the group visited a number of museums and cultural sites including war museums and the former French “Maison Centrale” prison in Hoa Lo St (aka the “Hanoi Hilton”), where among other things the flying suit worn by Senator John McCain when he was shot down over Ha Noi in 1967 is displayed. The photographic record of his return to the place after the peace is also there. (As it happens, the residence of our Ambassador in central Ha Noi overlooks the lake into which Senator McCain parachuted on the day.)

But two visits overshadowed all others. These were to the Friendship Village, and to the Mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh.

What Did They Do?

The Friendship Village was set up ten years ago by VAVN, principally in order to care for the children of veterans. It is a well-appointed and purposeful place; and successful. The children are certainly well cared-for. No effort is spared to realise their potential to live as normal a life as possible.

The Friendship Village has received funding from a number of international organisations and governments. Minister Barker added to this with a gift from the New Zealand Government direct to the Village of $US25,000 cash – which in the local scale of things is a significant sum. But on top of that he also announced the establishment of two scholarships for Vietnamese graduates to study in New Zealand in matters related to the rehabilitation of toxic environments. The value of those scholarships is estimated to be $US200,000.

The Minister laid a wreath at the Mausoleum, and the entire group then filed past Ho Chi Minh's body in solemn procession. Medals were worn for the occasion (as they were also for the closing official dinner at the residence of the New Zealand Ambassador).

Beyond all that, formal discussions were held between the Veterans Association of Viet Nam (VAVN) and the RNZRSA/EVSA group, held at the VAVN Headquarters. For these talks Minister Barker had made it clear that this was veterans' business in which he regarded himself as a “passenger” and unqualified to participate. This should be seen for what it was - a considerable and visible vote of confidence in the veterans' groups to accomplish the purposes well.

The VAVN has approximately 15,000 local chapters, and 2.2 million members across the country. Although it receives considerable government funding, unsurprisingly its objectives are very similar to those of the RNZRSA.

The VAVN and the RNZRSA signed a Memorandum of Agreement which contained the following four main points:

1. To share information with the objective of providing better understanding of the lives of the respective veterans. Nurturing friendship, enhanced relations and encouraging joint social activities in New Zealand and Vietnam.
2. To exchange visits and to share experiences, common interests and special assistance to veterans to improve their physical and spiritual lives and to protect the legitimate and legal rights for veterans.
3. To create an opportunity for joint ventures between the two enterprises suitable to each Participant.
4. To cooperate closely at an international level (for example, forums) with both countries acting appropriately and according to their policies, with the aim being to encourage peaceful relationships worldwide.

These heads of agreement align well with resolutions of the World Veterans Federation, including shared memory, remembrance, commemoration and reconciliation.

The task now will be to put substance to the above outline. As a part of that, New Zealand will invite a return visit by VAVN.

On several occasions protocol required the giving or exchange of gifts. The New Zealand group had come well prepared to leave small mementos to the children and staff of the Friendship village, for example. Otherwise, plaques and similar were given to organisations. Personal pendants carved in bone were presented to the more prominent individuals of VAVN (these had been acquired from Bill Rawiri, V5).

The RNZRSA also gave two rather more substantial gifts in exchange, however. One was to VAVN at the national level; the other to the Quang Ninh Provincial Chapter of the VAVN at Ha Long.

The first of these was a waka huia with a taki inside (both supplied by Bill Rawiri's enterprise). Carved in bone, the taki embodied a koru symbol, representing peace, tranquility, new beginnings, growth and harmony. The second was a rimu-framed greenstone fishhook representing strength, determination, peace, prosperity, good health and a safe journey over water – which latter seemed appropriate, given the ocean that lies between Viet Nam and New Zealand. These meanings were explained at the time, and seemed to be well-received.

(A travel advisory may be appropriate at this point. In the intervening 40 years it seems the Vietnamese have been working on a secret weapon. It takes the form of home-made sticky rice wine. And it's lethal. Especially so in the evening after an early but formal Vietnamese dinner involving too many toasts to count, each of them drunk bottoms-up in full-strength neat vodka, before getting anywhere near the rice wine.)

What Was Achieved?

This was the very first formal meeting – ever – between any New Zealand veterans' group and a Vietnamese veterans' group at the national level. For a number of obvious reasons its nature could only be exploratory. But what stood out clearly in the veteran-to-veteran context was enormous goodwill on both sides, based on a willingness to accept the past as past and to face the future having learned from shared experiences, although on opposing sides. There was no need at any stage to be coy or defensive about such things. They could be, and were, voiced openly and candidly.

Nevertheless it will be some time before battlefield visits and the associated protocols can be discussed in detail. That time will come, but not until further confidence has been built up. A similar reciprocal visit by the Vietnamese to New Zealand will be arranged as a start.

Meantime we can be well satisfied with the diplomatic dimension of this visit. It was not set up as a government-to-government visit, but as a veteran-to-veteran visit. And, through this, the veterans' movement in New Zealand has contributed positively to national diplomatic goals in our bilateral relationship with Viet Nam and beyond. The government has noted this. More importantly, since governments are transient, permanent officials at MFAT are now well acquainted with what the RNZRSA and its affiliates can still do for the country in appropriate circumstances. Indeed it is fair to say that our resident diplomats had not expected the visit to be as productive as it was in contributing to their daily round; they may even have been surprised by the results. And that is a pearl beyond price.

Finally, an answer to an unasked question. Yes; we did remember our duty to the fallen. In that regard we recited Binyon's lines twice, wearing our medals on each occasion. The first time was just with the six of us present, plus Elaine from VANZ. The second was at the concluding dinner given by the Ambassador, in the presence of many senior Vietnamese including a former Vice-President who visited New Zealand in 2006, and who is herself a veteran.