Việt Nam và Mĩ mới kỉ niệm 20 năm bình thường hoá
quan hệ ngoại giao. Tôi muốn tìm hiểu xem nhân dịp này các vị quan chức cao cấp
phía VN có lời hay ý đẹp nào để nói không thì chẳng thấy có phát ngôn nào đáng
để trích dẫn. Nhưng báo chí VN có trích một câu của ông Bill Clinton có thể xem
là hay. Ông nói “Khi những người bạn Việt
Nam chấp nhận chúng tôi và chúng tôi chấp nhận những người bạn Việt Nam, thì
chúng ta đã giải phóng chính mình” (1). Câu đó quả là đáng trích dẫn, và có vẻ mượn ý
của Jesus (“sự thật sẽ giải phóng cho bạn”).
Tuy nhiên, tôi tìm trong báo nước ngoài, như hãng
thông tấn Associated Press hay Washington Post thì không thấy câu đó. Chỉ thấy
câu ông nói rằng sự bình thường hoá quan hệ ngoại giao giúp hàn gắn vết thương
chiến tranh, xây dựng những mối quan hệ hữu nghị thật sự, và minh chứng cho thế
giới đang càng ngày càng chia rẽ thấy rằng hợp tác tốt hơn là xung đột (2).
Nói chung, so với các chính khách nước ngoài, các
quan chức và chính khách VN ít có những phát ngôn đáng trích dẫn (quotable
words). Tôi đoán một phần là do họ phải phát biểu trong khuôn khổ của đảng, và
một phần khác là thiếu tầm nhìn “worldly” như chính khách tự do. Vì thế, họ chỉ
nói theo những công thức chữ nghĩa của đảng.
Nói tóm lại là họ thiếu tự do để nói những câu văn
sâu sắc và bay bổng, những câu văn làm cho người ta phải suy nghĩ. Còn những
người như Clinton thì họ chẳng bị ràng buộc bởi ý thức hệ nào, nên ông có thể
nói những gì từ con tim. Cộng với trình độ học vấn cao và khả năng hùng biện,
Clinton có thể dùng những lời hay để diễn đạt những ý đẹp.
Bài
học rút ra từ sự khác biệt này là trong môi trường thiếu tự do thì người ta rất
khó phát huy cái tài, hay khó khai thác tiềm năng cá nhân.
------------
(1) Cựu TT Bill Clinton: “Chúng ta đã giải phóng chính mình” (TBKTSG).
(2) Bill Clinton visits Vietnam to mark 20th anniversary of ties (Washington
Post).
By GRANT PECK - AP
July 2, 2015 12:32 PM
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — For Bill Clinton, President
Barack Obama's announcement this week of plans to resume diplomatic relations
with Cuba must have stirred memories. It was 20 years ago this month that
Clinton pulled off a similar diplomatic and political success, normalizing
relations with Vietnam.
Not that Clinton needed a reminder — he was in
Vietnam on Thursday to commemorate his largely forgotten breakthrough. He spoke
as guest of honor at a reception hosted by the U.S. Embassy to celebrate
American Independence Day.
The former president, in a speech reviewing
U.S.-Vietnam cooperation, described normalization of relations as "one of
the most important achievements of my presidency," and said it helped lift
the burden that had been weighing down the American spirit since the Vietnam
War.
He said it helped "heal the wounds of war,
build bonds of genuine friendship and to provide proof in an increasingly
divided world that cooperation was far better than conflict."
Clinton has good reason to be fond of Vietnam. A
November 2000 visit to the country was the swan song of his tumultuous
presidency, and he received a rock star's welcome in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City
as he worked the crowds.
This visit is his fifth to the country, with his
efforts largely in support of his Clinton Foundation's work in fighting
HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton guestures during
a speech at an event celebrating 239th anniversa …
Former U.S.
President Bill Clinton guestures during a speech at an event celebrating 239th
anniversa …
Clinton was the first U.S. president to visit
Vietnam since Richard Nixon in 1969 visited South Vietnam, then at war with
Communist North Vietnam. American troops withdrew from the South in 1973, and
two years later North Vietnam defeated southern forces and unified the country.
Between 2 million and 3 million Vietnamese civilians and soldiers died in the
conflict, along with 58,000 U.S. soldiers.
America's pride was another victim of the war.
Washington imposed a trade embargo on Vietnam after the Communist victory, even
blocking aid from multilateral agencies such as the World Bank.
It was the politically volatile issue of resolving
the cases of more than 2,000 Americans missing in action in the war that
provided the opening for a new diplomatic approach. Vietnam, for its part, saw
U.S. trade and investment as a way to help restore its battered and limping
economy — an opportunity that the U.S. business community also warmed to.
Step by step, Clinton went down the path to
restoring relations, first lifting Washington's veto on multilateral aid, then
ending the U.S. trade embargo, and finally on July 11, 1995, announcing
normalization of relations.
Clinton on Thursday was philosophical about the move
to reconcile former enemies. He called the day he announced normalization
"a different form of independence day."
"Vietnam had captured our imagination and taken
up so much space in our spirit," he told a crowd of Vietnamese VIPs and
members of the foreign community in Vietnam.
"There were people who were wounded ... no
American my age didn't know someone who was killed there. There were raging
debates at home, people on both sides thought the others were crazy. And somehow, when our
Vietnamese friends finally said they would accept us, and we said we would
accept them, we were set free."
Clinton singled out for thanks four distinguished
Vietnam War veterans who as U.S. senators helped shepherd normalization.
Charles Robb, Max Cleland, John Kerry and John
McCain "were the wind beneath the wings of this movement," he said.
"They made what I was able to do as president possible."
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