NOTE: External links to other Internet sites should not be construed as an endorsement of the views contained therein.
| The State Department web site below is a permanent electronic archive of information released prior to January 20, 2001. Please see www.state.gov for material released since President George W. Bush took office on that date. This site is not updated so external links may no longer function. Contact us with any questions about finding information. NOTE: External links to other Internet sites should not be construed as an endorsement of the views contained therein. |
|
 Vientiane One of Asia's Hidden Treasures
It is the dead of winter in Vientiane. The smoke of fires lit for warmth permeates the air. Babies are bundled and motorcyclists wear ski masks, their passengers huddled together against the cold. It's 7 a.m. and it's 81 degrees Fahrenheit.
Although the Lao People's Democratic Republic is a one-party state, and the Lao People's Revolutionary Party is the nucleus of the political system, the country has opened its doors to private commerce and foreign investment. The eyes of Lao officials twinkle when they remind visitors that the United States is the country's second-largest investor. Political institutions also are changing. In the early 1990s, the Communist Party adopted a constitution and established a National Assembly that started the slow, difficult process of creating a legal system based on written law. The obstacles to political and economic reform are daunting. The Lao PDR consistently ranks as one of the world's poorest countries, with a per capita income of less than $300 in 1998. The U.N. Development Program estimates that about 80 percent of the population engages in subsistence-level agriculture. There is great need for assistance, and some 44 percent of the national budget comes from foreign donor aid. The United States has contributed nearly $12 million in aid during the last year to support opium crop substitution, training for unexploded ordnance clearance and humanitarian assistance. The mission also is working to promote environmental protectionism and to reduce opium cultivation in Laos. The country's natural resources are largely untapped, though the combination of poverty, opium cultivation, wildlife poaching and commercial logging threatens to destroy one of the world's last pristine areas of biodiversity. Five of the last large mammal species discovered or rediscovered worldwide are found in Laos. The U.S. military is active in Laos, supporting the mission's highest priority of providing a full accounting for those missing in action from the war in Southeast Asia. According to Defense Department statistics, 442 of the 2,076 Americans that remain unaccounted for are believed to be in Laos. The military has sent 40 teams into Laos since 1992 seeking to recover human remains that may lead to the their identification. In addition, U.S. military members in Laos are supporting another key mission priority: ridding the country of unexploded ordnance. During the Vietnam War, more than 2 million tons of bombs and millions of anti-personnel bomblets were dropped on Laos, primarily in the southeastern border provinces where the Ho Chi Minh Trail snakes its way through the country. Although many unexploded ordnance-related accidents took place in the five years immediately after the war, the annual casualty rate remains at more than 200 deaths and injuries. In addition to training the Lao in mine-clearance techniques, U.S. troops are also building schools and renovating hospitals. Despite daunting challenges in development, education, health care and infrastructure, the quality of social and cultural life brings smiles to the Lao and their guests alike. Laos is a treasure trove of exotic silk and cotton and hand-worked silver. Luang Prabang, the former royal capital north of Vientiane, was established in 1353 at the confluence of the Mekong and Nam Khan Rivers. It now boasts status as a U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization World Heritage Site, with a former royal palace, historic Buddhist temples, golden stupas and French colonial mansions in a beautiful mountain setting. In Xieng Khouang Province, in a windy and isolated landscape, are the enigmatic stone urns that give the Plain of Jars its name. No one knows for sure who sculpted them from rock or how they hauled them to this barren plain, and that mystery only adds to the romance of a scene recently witnessed from a helicopter by a mission member--a herd of wild elephants traversing the plain at twilight. In keeping with the country's Buddhist heritage and agrarian traditions, many Lao festivals follow lunar and harvest cycles. Each April, the hottest month of the year, Lao and foreigners alike drench each other with purifying water to welcome the Lao New Year and a new planting season. In October, the Lao commemorate the end of Buddhist Lent with serene candle processions, lively temple fairs and longboat races on the Mekong River. The end of the Lenten period signals the onset of the dry season, the beginning of the harvest and the much-anticipated period of rest that follows before the cycle begins anew. Ambassador Wendy Cham-berlin contends that you never really get to know a place until you experience its dust on your feet. Given the dustiness of Vientiane's network of unpaved roads, it doesn't take long to get well acquainted with the city. Many of the paved roads have been subjected to reengineering for more than a year, with pavement removed and trenches dug, filled and redug in inexplicable ways. Laos presents challenges to those who live there. Western-quality health care is limited, the tap water needs treatment, and the country has an array of tropical diseases and poisonous snakes. Dr. Daniel Lu, who works for a U.S. nongovernmental organization in Vientiane, sums it up in An Overview of Health Issues in Laos: "Roads in Laos are not designed or maintained for safety, local driving habits are undisciplined, drunk driving is frequent at night and large vehicles have ineffective brakes," adding, "No adequate trauma care facility is available in Laos." Vientiane is, after all, a hardship post, and also a Special Embassy Program post. It has no commissary, no Marine security guard detachment and no medical unit. Members of the embassy community shop in Thailand more out of necessity than desire. So given these harsh realities, why do most people posted to Vientiane choose to extend their assignments? And why do they consider it one of the hidden treasures in Asia? To some degree it is the Lao people themselves, their gentle nature and their friendship despite differences over the war in Southeast Asia. The exotic setting and the pace of life in Laos are only wistful memories in most other Asian capitals. Morale in the mission is high and people work well together. Vientiane is a do-it-yourself post where each person assumes a greater share of the overall burden. Lines of responsibility blur and colleagues are always willing to help in these times of limited budgets and resources. The embassy staff is a team. Vientiane's dust is on everyone's feet--if not under their skin--and they like it. The author is the community liaison officer in Vientiane.
USIS Vientiane by Elizabeth McKay Unlike its neighbors in Vietnam and Cambodia, the U.S. Embassy in Vientiane has never closed its doors since its establishment in 1950. In the wake of the Pathet Lao victory in 1975, however, the embassy's presence was greatly reduced, and agencies such as the U.S. Information Service, the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Defense Attaché's Office ceased operations after the change in government. In 1992, USIS Vientiane reopened when full diplomatic relations were restored between the United States and Laos. Known in Laos as the embassy's public diplomacy section, USIS Vientiane directs its programs and products at the large government bureaucracy, controlled by the Lao People's Revolutionary Party, a powerful force in the country's decision-making process. Lao media are controlled by the Ministry of Information and Culture, and all Lao journalists are employees of the state, as are most academics and lawyers. Few Lao citizens can afford satellite dishes, and some foreign news publications are prohibited. As a consequence, many Lao bureaucrats rely on USIS for background information about U.S. policies. The USIS Washington File and publications such as Economic Reform Today are sought after by senior Lao officials. Cultural and educational exchange programs play an increasingly important role in Laos. In the years immediately following the takeover by the Lao People's Revolutionary Party, many of Laos' elite and educated classes fled and resettled in other countries. Their exodus left a tremendous void in the number of Lao officials with firsthand experience of the United States, a situation that existed of few exceptions until a full USIS program was reestablished. In 1997 the Lao accepted an invitation to send three provincial governors, all members of the party's central committee, to the United States as part of an international visitor program. This was the highest-ranking delegation of Lao leaders to visit on an exchange program since the war. Two of the three governors, already national leaders, later were promoted to minister. The Lao government is now eager to send its officials on U.S. government programs. The American Studies Summer Institutes have been particularly helpful in giving Lao academics and foreign policy officials a better understanding of American society, culture and institutions. The positive impact of programs such as Fulbright Scholarships and the Humphrey Fellowships are clearly visible in the faces and attitudes of returning grantees. Today, relations between the two countries are good, and there is growing cooperation by the Lao on issues most important to the United States. But building a foundation of trust in a country where until recently the leadership viewed the United States as an opposing force remains a challenge. The USIS Vientiane staff works with the country team to overcome the difficulties--building credibility, trust, friendship and understanding, one issue at a time. The author is the public affairs officer in Vientiane. |
|
he cold weather--and people in Vientiane do think 81 degrees is cold--doesn't alter the city's yin and yang. Monks in saffron-colored robes proceed past the People's Revolutionary Party headquarters, and while commerce doesn't exactly hum, it squeaks along as Laos searches for its place among its fellow Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
