tonight on "worldfocus" -- >> tonig from japan, growing outrage ov the presen of amican troops on the isld of inawa. will the u. marinesbased ere be forced to lve? fromhaiti, the bizar story of a group of american churchgoers who have been arrested they say they we simply trying to save the haitian chilen, but the haitian goverent says that they had oth plans. from vietnam, tonight's signature story. more than 30 years after the end of the vietnam war, that coury is beginng to look a lot like, well, america. d from australia, the story of a group of proud mothers and their crop of babi helping one species comeback om the brink. >> announcer: from theifferent perspectives of reporters and alysts from around theglobe, this iit worldfocus you". major support has been provided byoslyn p. walter and the pete g. peterson fountion, dedicated promotin fiscal responsibilitynd facing k onomic challees faci america's future and additional fuing is provided by the following supporters -- > good evening. welce to "rldfocus." we gin tonight in asia wth o long, simmering foreign policy challenges confronng the obama administrati. america's relationship with taiw an the presence of american troopsnjapan. this weend both issues came to a head firs japan. onsaturday, age rally took place in tokyo, at which many called for an end to the american milary presence the island of okinawa. behind the scenes, americ diplats were working feverishly to preserve an agreement which would allow the trps to remain by moving th to aless-pulated part of the island. but, as tom metcalf reports, the future of thatdeal seems incrsinglyuncertain. >> reporter: thoands of demonstrators in tokyo this weeken protesting plans to relocate theain u.s. mitary base in japan. th rallyas led by left-wing grps, many who want to stee e u.s. militarycompletely out of japan. for now, the oppositiono the base h set its sights on one issue, a plan to mov the airbase in okinawa to a less crowded part of the iand. >> translator: the capil has pl to make a decisn on the relocation of the u.s. be in may. wi that in mind, it is really important fous to eert all efforts, including through demonstratns, to make sure thate win on this issue. >> reporter: u. forces have beentationed on okinawa since the end of wod war ii. today more than half of the 47,000 troops in japan are statiod there. residents mplain of noi, pollution and crime arod more than a dozen u.s. bases the island. o years ago, the u.s. agreed with japan's govnment to move the airse to the nago region, but voters in that regi have shown theyon't want it. a ek ago they elected a new mayor who don't wantthe ve. w newspaper poles in japan indica the dispute is started to dermine the polarity of the current prime minister. he sayshe's committed to the u.s.apanese serity pact, but he is saying he wants to reconsider theplan from scratch. >> tralator: regarding the recation of the mbase, we woul likeo work arou the alliance with the u.s., which is at the ce of the issue. while maintaing the peace in asia, including our countryand reliing the longlasting burden of the peoe in okinawa. reporter: the u.s. hos it can persuade theprime minister to stick to t existing plan, sayingit' the only feasible wato maintain military strength in the region. so just how likelys it that american troopswill be foed to leave okinawa? for mor we turn to an adjunct fellow witthe undation in waington, d.c. ank you very much for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> w does the united stes feel that iteeds to keep such a large military pesence in japan? >> the.s. military presence in japaserves two main puoses. e first is to oensively protec japan from outside regional threats. and, secondarily, it is to give the united states a strategic presence in northeast asia, very y region for the united states stratecally. >> and whyo you think that the presence of the bases has come such a contentious issue, justrecely. it's an ise that's been go on for quite some time,ut are the things going on in japan politilly or inerms oits foreign relations? well, the new government in tokyo led by the primeminister came to per last ear, campaiing on a pmise reviewhe u.s./japan security relationship, including t plan relocate the.s. marine air station outse of okinawa, and this review process s put on hold the progress that was made between the united state and japan in 2006, worki on a pl to relocate u.s. basesn okinawa. >> and how do you think th the issue has been affected u.s./japan retions? and how do you thik that this issue is going to get resolve >> wel the obama administration camin waing to move forward on the base relocati process, an this -- the delay has caused a considerable degree of tensn betweewashington and tokyo. it's unclear yet how this will be resolv. ere's some ggestion thathe futemah air base may -- the status quo on okinawa may be sustained ov timend that thisroblem will not go away very easily. t we'll have to see coming this may how the new govnment wants toework this isue. >>o what do youthink isoing to happen in the near to medium term? where do you s this going? >> i think that, for nowboth sides will work behind the sces on a way in which th two governmes can come up wi a face saving way to ma some progss on this sue. the u.s. side don't want to se the status quo maintained. ihink the pentagoneels that thu.s. y the u.s. presence in okina is unsustainabl they want to rede the u.s. footprint on inawa, but i think 's a very tric situion right now. theutcome is still very uncertain. >> thank you very much for joining us. >> thank y. > and that brings us to tonight's how you see it. r question is, do you think that it's essential to american securi that u.s. troops st in japa tell us what youhink by visiting the h you see it section of or wb site. now turning to the other big news fro asia, te announcement by american officials lte friday that th united states intends to sell over $6 billion of advanced weapry taiwan. erica's relationship with iwan has long been a thorn i the side of the chinese, and some have interpreted the u.s. ve as a beginning of new stance towards china. today the chinese government fired back, blasting the sale d treatening to boycott companies invoed in the sale. over thewekend, chinalso suspended some military cooperation effortwith the united states. an etorial in today edition of the state-run chinese newspaper "china dly" had this to say, entitled on sale sours ties. it cled the sale a gross interference in china's intern affairs. it went on to say that the sale undermines china's national rl security a thus inevitly causes probms. a story of great concern to many o yo todayhe janese carmaker toyota says the dealers should get the parts necessary to fix the sticky g pal problems at the of this week. aftemany reports ofars going out of control, toyota recalled over 7 million oits cars and suspended the producti and sale ofany of i most popular models. >>in iraq today, members of th country's shiite sect again found themselves on the receiving end of auicide bombing as thousands of shiite pilgrims made their wa to t holy cty for religious holiday, a bomberretending to be a pilim snucknto the group. more than 50 people were lled inthe blast and some 100 wounded. despe an overal decline in violence in iraq oer the past year, extremis have continued to target shiite grou there i an effort to create sectaria strife. >> israel has provided its official response tohe united nationsegarding its conduct during the gaza war of janua of 2009. may remember a united naons commission accused israel ofommitting war crimes during thatconflict. acrding to the associated press, the israeli military has reprimanded two seni officers for firing artillery shells at united nations compou where palestinian civilians we taking efuge. that attackestroyed an aid warehouse, which w rt of the compound. the u.n. commissio had threatened t laun war crime proceedings if israel d not carry out its o independent investigation ofthe gaza war. the white hoe has said that it will resume flying injured haitians to flidaor medical treatment. both flightsere you suspended last wednesday aft florida officials complained the hospitals wereeing overelmed by earthquake victims. and here's another storyut of haiti th is making headlines. a group of americ churchgoers is being accused of illegally trafficking chilen after attempting take 33aitian youngsters out of the country. the group says that they were only trying to savthe children, bu others cim their motis were more sinister. here's the rert. >> reporter:hese are some of the 33 supposed ohans when an american group tedto take them frohaiti to the dominic republic. many may actually havefamily. attempts are under way to fi them as well a finding out how the children were taken fr them. this3-year-old isthe name sticker he was wearing when he was und. tryi to find parent of the older chdren isnot so fficult, but how difficult will it be to unite a baby like is? when the cldren were brough here, they were distressed, hungry a thirsty. the youngest, -month-old girl, who had oy been breastfed by her mother. when ty were sepated, no provision was made forfeeding her. she'being treated for severe dehydration. >> they were supposed toe brought over the border the dominican republic. as far as we know, the they would have been -- would say cleay sold for$10,000each. that's one of the policeman told us. the children -- every child wa deerate, hungry, thirsty. ey were all in bad conditions yesterday afternoon. >> reporter: they've been argug aut carefully ting caref children sce the earthqua. >> 1 of the girls said, m not anorphan. i still have myparents. she thought shwas going on a summ holiday vacatio given r by friendly people fm america d the dominican republic. reporter: these are the scenes on the bordelast night when the bapti group from ido were detained. they insist they work with humanirian and deny any suggestion of childrafficking or improper care >> i rlly don't know any more than ihave confidence inur people that we, that would not do anything knowily illegal. so to the best of my knowledge th were doinwhat they believed was t right thg to do bause these ds were indeedrphans. >> repter: as the authorities try toeunite children an rents, those taking them are facing charges of child trafficking. now to tonight's signature segment. it's the story of the country being called the new asian tiger. nowe're not tking about china t vietnam. only 30 srt years after the end of the vietnam war, that untry has emer as a catalist powerhouse. here is the eye-opening tale of just how they did it. >> repter: if there's one image that bt sums uphe vietnase economy, it's a vietmese rush hour. imagine the day whenll these scooters are fily cars. with the curre economic slowdown, may take a little loer, but that day will come. which is whyford, yes, america'ford, nowhas a plant right oside the vietnamese catal hanoi. bringing t vehicles to a fast-risin vtnam middle class. >> it really is the asi tiger. it's got 85 million people, a ung, energetic, well-educed work fce. it's got desire, a drive to succeed. >> reporter: and what a drive. the decades afterthe communist victory, vinam is well on t roadto capitalist poweouse. driven in large part by ambitiou entrepreneurs like this n. desperaty poor whe the war ended, he survived by selling traditional handy crafts on the street. is is what you did when y were young. >>es, when i was young. >> reporter: todayhe runs her ow$3 million a ye business, named forvietnam's national dress. >> everybody, they work in eight-hour day, six-hour day. i work in 15-hour day. >> reporter: small wonr companies fromll over the globe have flocked here, cluding many u.s. big firms from nike and coke to intel a exxon. llowing an histori u.s. you/vietnam agreement, trade between the twoormer enemies have grownrom 1.5 billion to $10 billio a year. and this in a hardline communist state on the brink of fine in the 1980s. whatade this tiger finally sit up and roar? we asked u.s. ambassador michael holland. >> what made it roar so much w the fact that the goverent figured out tt communism didn't work. people were dyingf sarvation and mine because of the communsystem. >> reporter: slike its bigger communist ighbor china,hey began to ease the reins with more jobs, re money, more opportunities, the vetnamese peopleouldn't be held ck and the economy exploded. ju as in ina, the cra is bein called the new natnal rd new homes and suburb are sproing in what were once war-tornice fields. the icons of cmmunism areow overadowed by the eye of luxury brandeds and the stock market. >> the vietnamese are trepreneurial. they want toetter their fami, send their kids to hool. >> reporter: rick o's been here almost nger than any otheamerican since the war runs a majornvestment and prerty firm. from his office, he anowledges there e still probms to overcome. vietnam has been widely criticizedor its weak legal system, the absence of a free press, and endemiccorruption. will still, the image of vietnam the war iseing elipsed by vietnam the economy. on most day especially here, this coury does have the look andeel of a place that might never run out of gas. but vietnam's transition to a market ecomy has hit its sre of road bumps. vietnam is in despere need of betterroads, ports, del communications, electricity and water supplies. building a modern infrastructure has been one of the government's greatest faings. athe same time, the red-hot ecomy triggered double-dig flation this year and the investor cla is reeling. >> translator: having lowed thmarket economy to flourish, ficials admit they face new challenges ting t nage the economy through cky ties. still, they ar't turning bk the clock to cmunism orthodoxy. in fact, they're sking advice from the world bank and even theirld eny, the united states. >> t government has shown, i think, an extraordinar llingness to listen advice om the ouide world. >> reporter: but the.s. you ambassor says what will really get vtnamgh economic timesill be the nation's amang sense of optimism. >> you've got to rememr this is the first peace genetion that vietnam has had for probably hundreds of years, and they had lare ving it. ey're being consumers, thinkers i think tis country has an extremelbright future. reporter: and, yes, there could very well a t of fos in that future > as you just heard, vietnam has made a lot of progress economically but there are still ncerns that it has a long way to go olitically. tonight's beyond t adlines, we want to bring you some ne that hasn't been widely rorted. over e past few weeks, vietname courts ha convicd several dissidents of bversion sentenng them to prisonerms of up to6 years. this latest govnment cracown has ny human rights groups worried that there is more to come. for some insight on what's happening, we're joined by elneearson, the deputy director at man rights watch. thanyou for joing us. >>ood afternoon. >> so who areome of the most promint people that have had this crackdown carried out against em? wh exactly are they being accused of >> well, last week wesaw the ial and sentenci of one of the female dissides, msms. pham, who is a long-term wrir. she's beenriticizing vtnam's policy with regard to china. she was sentenc to a prison term of four years. also in recentweeks we sawhe sentencing of a prominent lyer who was sentced to five years, so for publicizing material considered to be anti-governmen so we've seen bloggers, cyber dissidents, hun rights lawyers, writs all rested in the last few years and senteed quite lengthy pris terms. >> what you think is promptg the crackdown? ishere something veryort of specific inerms of an event, or isthis just a general crackdown at's to be expected because these are opposition groups and dissenters who are opposed to wha the government is doin >> political rression is nothing new in vietnam. there are 400 polical prisoners serng sentences for expressing political views or religious view opposing th government. hover, we do know that there will be a vietnam commist party congre next year, and i think thisis a way of cleang the decks of anyone who expresses any viewspposing the government. so t vinamese government is sending a strongessage to the people of vietnam. >> when mostesterners think of vietnam, they think oft as a holidaydestination, a at's very open and welcoming to westerner what doou think these arrests and this type of rackdown tells us about the opness of vietnam's socty? >> wl, clearly they're not really seeing the real vietnam. this aociety that is tremely closed. the inteet, for inance, is very tightly controlled by the government. state media is also very much controlled. you see blgers who are really only permitted b the government to publish blogs tha exprs eir personal views. they're not meant to post thgs that oppe the govnment. we see a lot of web sites bng cled down and walso see a lack of tolerance forolitical demonstrations, any kind of activi that's seen to be proming views againsthe government. >> right. just vy briefly, at do you think th democratic governments and other human rights groups, apart om your what kinds of things do you thi that they can do to hlp jailed dissiden? ina strong message to the government of vietnam that this is -- these actionshat they're taking are cona veining vietnas own constitution and also teaties vietn has signed. i think looking aheadhis year, vietnam will be taking over the chair ofasean. so it' particularly imrtant that asa n statesare senng a message that vietnam should really b leadi othersean countries in proting human rights. >> oka thank yovery much for joining us, elaine peaon. >> thank you there's an old saying that while failure isn often, a succs has many mother tonight' final rept, that is undeniably true. recently, a group of proud mothersathered on the bches of australia to helpsave their spies, the result, a bumper cropf babies th has delighted tourts and environmentalists alike. >> reporter: tiny trickers are leaving big impreson. the consertion park in southet queensland annually attrac tourists. but this year, rine researchers ar taking a clo terest. it's bn a landma nesting season for the loggerhead turt earlies all along the coast. >> wetill have a fair way to go, t it'sreally enouraging to see the populationust bouncing back so readily. reporter: nestled cfortably without e threat of daytime predators like birds, the nit shift workers are having their busiest summer in 26years. but a few decades ago there we gloomy pdictions for e species. >> unfortunately,e lost 86% of our nestingloggerhead as a result of drowning toughout northe east australia. >> reporter: chang to the industry eight yrs ago are proving efctive. >> it wa't until 2000 at we had the regulations reqring the use of -- so the puturtles di't drow >> reporter: aut 400 females have arrived he since november. a loggerhead ture will lay on average about 7eggs. the hatchlings will sim nonsop for thnext three days to reach the eastern australian current up to 100 kilometersway. it will be at least another0 years before th suiving females return here to nest, justs their mothers did. and that is "worldfus" for this mony eving. but don't forget you can find more information a perspective on o web site at rldfocus.org. fome and the rest of the team, thanks for jning us. fome and the rest of the team, thanks for jning us. good nig. -- ptions by vitac -- www.vitac.com major support has been ovided by roslyn p. walter and th peter p peterson foundation. and additional funng is ovi providedy the following supporrs --