President. events over the past several weeks in Southeast Asia have exposed all of the weaknesses of our current foreign policy there. and the most unlikely and unwelcome of outcomes looms possible: a weakening in the friendly. important relationship between the United States and Thailand. I rise today to discuss these events. to state my hope that no damage will be done to our relationship with Thailand. and to discuss a strategy that would avoid a recurrence of such problems in the future. The point of confrontation involves the fourfold increase in Vietnamese boat refugee arrivals in the Trat Province of Thailand. the majority of these refugees being escorted across Cambodia and to a coastal area only an hour or two boat ride from Thai shores. It is a big cash business in Vietnam and it has led to tens of thousands of refugees paying their way out of Vietnam. perhaps more accurately. bribing their way out of Vietnam because of the corruption of the whole system. In January. the Ministry of Interior in Thailand attempted to stop this wave of refugee migration by pushing the boats back. These pushbacks led to scores of deaths. and now hundreds of refugees are marooned on little islands off the coast of Trat Province in Thai territory. Some of these refugees went days without food and water. and all of them are living in danger this very moment. I do not suggest that I have a solution to the problems of first asylum. But the United States and Thailand have Joined hands for a decade in dealing with the Indochinese refugee problem. and today we must renew our vow to be compassionate and humanitarian when people reach out to us from countries that are mired in hellish economic and political conditions. We have stuck together for 10 years in this unprecedented response to the misery and suffering pouring out of Cambodia. Vietnam. and Laos. and we cannot walk away from the problem now. It appears that the worst is over. and the Thai National Security Council announced last Friday that it does not endorse a policy of pushbacks. They do want the world to know that the Thai cannot bear the refugee burden alone. and the United States must be the leader in the international effort to mitigate the suffering of Indochinese refugees and to assist the Thai Government. I have been assured that food and water will be given to -the refugees. that sick refugees will be evacuated to the shore. and that soon the refugees will be moved to a more secure location. I met with the Thai Ambassador and expressed my grave concern over the disturbing events of the last month and affirmed the Senates clear position of opposition to pushbacks at any place: on the coastal shores. up in the north along the Mekong. or anywhere else in the area. In light of Thailands extraordinary record in providing asylum to refugees and its loyal forbearance with vacillating U.S. policies. I am confident that the worst is over. When the Thai see thousands of refugees arriving at a time when resettlement countries are becoming increasingly reluctant. they become concerned that no one cares. That is why the United States must live up to its commitment to maintain a humane and generous refugee resettlement and protection policy in Southeast Asia. That very issue was debated and voted upon last October and passed the Senate by a 2to1 margin. and became part of the continuing resolution adopted 2 months ago. But today there are three major problems which must be addressed if the United States is to honor its commitment to Thailand. Malaysia. and Hong Kong and the regions refugees. First. the United States must maintain an active embassy operation that processes refugees smoothly and monitors protection problems vigorously. The Appropriations Committee last year put report language in the Foreign Operations Appropriations bill mandating a vigilant protection effort at the several refugee camps in Thailand. This language stemmed from a hearing chaired by Senators INOUYE and KASTEN a year ago when the committee lambasted the Department of State for the slack monitoring efforts in northern Thailand when scores of Hmong were pushed back across the Mekong. many presumably to their deaths. So It. is nothing less than disgraceful that after the first reports of interdiction and death surfaced January 25. and after hundreds of refugees were stranded on the 50 little islands in that area. with no food or water. that it was not until February 10 that the first American embassy protection officer took the 5hour car ride to Trat province to see firsthand what was happening. And this took place the day after I personally called the Department to ask what our people had learned on site. It took 2 weeks for the Department to Judge the situation serious enough to send one of the nine refugee office personnel to the scene. Mr. President. we targeted moneys in that budget. in that appropriation. to provide additional refugee officers in the first place to deal with pushbacks and other inhumane actions. Mr. President. the Congress is being left with no choice but to set up an earmarked account for refugee protection in Thailand like we did with our successful antipiracy projectthat appears to be the only way the Department of State will respond to the very clear outcry from Congress for enhanced refugee protection monitoring. At a time when trained eyes were needed to report on the developments endangering first asylum. again our refugee office was sound asleep. That has to change. My second concern is best presented by a New York Times editorial published last week. Somehow the Department of State is toying with "reallocation." the idea of pitting Southeast Asian refugees and Iranian refugees against Soviet Jews and Armenians. The mere suggestion of transferring from Southeast Asia numbers. particularly at this volatile moment when the Thai have grown weary of conflicting signals from the United States. is not only an affront to the twothirds of the Senate. it is a breach of promise to the Thai. The emergency powers of the Refugee Act can be exercised. and Congress can work with the administration to fund new refugee numbers from the Soviet Union this year or next year. So it is not an either/or. it is not pitting one against the other so that we have to make a choice. Now is not the time to be nickel and diming Thailand on numbers. Mr. President. my final point goes to the heart of the problem. and that involves our overall U.S. foreign policy in Southeast Asia. My friend ALAN SIMPSON articulates this point bestthe refugee problem will not be solved until we deal with the "source" of the problem and that is the Vietnam Government and its pursuit of the war in Cambodia and its pursuit of other policies. Last February. I met with President Reagan and Secretary Shultz and suggested technical offices be established in Hanoi and Washington to facilitate progress on the settlement of the humanitarian problems separating our two governments. such as the MIA and the POW and other such humanitarian problems.
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Refugee refugee refugees