APOLOGY REQUIRED

Last April 25 the Vietnamese government executed a Canadian citizen,
Nguyen Thi Hiep, who had been sentenced to die for smuggling heroin.
Even by Vietnam's rough and ready standards, the execution was an outrage.

After pleas by Prime Minister Jean Chretien and others, Vietnamese
officials had promised to examine Canadian police evidence that the
Toronto-area woman and her mother Tran Thi Cam, arrested and jailed in
Hanoi in 1996, were innocent dupes of a drug gang. Indeed, even
without specific evidence there was ample doubt to warrant commutation
of any death sentence. Yet Nguyen was shot in prison on April 25.

That Vietnam has now freed her elderly mother Tran from her own life
sentence in a National Day amnesty of more than 10,000 prisoners, is
welcome news that will help improve relations. But it hardly makes
everything right.

Chretien should be in no great hurry to fully normalize relations,
barely four months after such a betrayal of confidence.

Canadians were appalled, and Ottawa's initial tough response reflected
that anger.

Canadian ambassador Cecile Latour was recalled in protest. Canada
cancelled a program to help Vietnam gain entry to the World Trade
Organization. We boycotted ceremonies on the 25th anniversary of the
Vietnam War, cut ministerial-level contacts, held up new aid, and
threatened to cut aid entirely unless Tran was freed.

These gestures got the Vietnamese officials' attention, and may have
helped free Tran.

But putting this mess fully behind us should require a formal apology
from Hanoi for Nguyen's hasty execution, and assurances that Hanoi
will in future honour its word when making deals with this country.
Otherwise, it will be hard to do business as usual.

Millions of Canadians travel each year. Chretien has an opportunity to
send Vietnam and the world a firm signal that this country isn't
inclined to look the other way when its citizens are mistreated abroad.
Let's use it.