The Acts of Convention

Resolved, That the 70th General Convention of the Episcopal Church commend the President of the United States for actions over the recent past that suggest ending the understandable and long-held refusal to establish any economic or diplomatic relations with Vietnam, in particular:

1. meetings between our Secretary of State and the Foreign Minister of the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam;
2. granting of export permits for certain selected medical supplies, including humanitarian action of allowing significant amounts of prosthetic aids to be sent;
3. agreements allowing the children of U.S. Servicemen to leave Vietnam;

and be it further

Resolved, That the General Convention, while noting the past and current repressive practices and violations of human rights by the Vietnamese government, register its conviction that full, unconditional diplomatic relations, if not possible now, can still be fostered through many different levels of economic, cultural, diplomatic, and political contact, as bilateral conversation, negotiation, and action go forward on matters that divide and separate our two countries; and be it further

Resolved, That the Convention record its conviction that the U.S. trade embargo, so long enforced, should now be lifted; and be it further

Resolved, That the Secretary of the General Convention be requested to send copies of this resolution to the President of the United States, the Secretary of State, to the Council of State of the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, to Episcopalians and other appropriate Members of Congress, to the Anglican Observer to the United Nations, and to the appropriate program units of the Episcopal Church Center.