8/9/2019 Thayer Vietnam Secretary Clinton's Visit and Human
Rights
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BackgroundBrief:
SecretaryClintonsVisitto
Vietnam:Human
Rights
CarlyleA.Thayer
July20,2010
[clientnamedeleted]RegardingthehumanrightssituationinVietnamandHillaryClinton'supcomingvisit
for
the
ASEAN
Regional
forum.
Have
there
been
any
developments
in
the
past
few
months,forgoodorill,thatwouldbeworthnoting?Isthereanyprospectthatshe'd
pressureHanoiatallontheirrightsproblems?
ANSWER:SecretaryClintonwillbeattendingtheASEANpostministerialconference
and theASEANRegionalForum.Butbefore thenshewill takepart
inmeetings to
commemorate15th
yearsofdiplomatic relationsandholddiscussionswith foreign
ministryofficials.
InrecentmonthsVietnamhas:
Dismissed theappealofLeCongDinh,a lawyer
(whodefendedBloc8406)andan
activist. He was charged with conducting propaganda against the
state and later
chargedwith
the
more
serious
offence
of
overthrowing
the
state.
He
was
not
given
themaximumpenaltydeathbyfiringsquad.
Reports continue to trickle out of continued repression against
ethnic minority
Protestants in theCentralHighlands.Theyconduct their services
inprivatehomes
anddonotacceptthestateregisteredEvangelicalChurchastheirchurch.Thereare
unconfirmedreportsofatleastonedeathincustody.
Vietnamese security officials have been implicated in targeted
denial of service
attacks on dissident internet sites and political chat rooms
(pp. 1516 attached
paper). Vietnam has instituted further measures to restrict the
internet and has
targetedbloggers(seeattachedpaper).Amilitary
intelligenceofficialshasrevealed
that security officials took down 200 bad web pages and
individual blogs. The
Vietnamese regime has fabricated messages to discredit bloggers
and political
activists.
Landdisputesbetween
theCatholicChurchandstate,highprofilecasesaswellas
somenotsohighprofilecases,hasresultedinrepressiveandintimidatoryactionby
securityofficials.]
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8/9/2019 Thayer Vietnam Secretary Clinton's Visit and Human
Rights
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TheVietnamesestatehascontinuedtoblocRadioFreeAsiasVietnameselanguage
service and erected firewalls against Facebook and the
BBCVietnamese language
site.
As a matter of course the Vietnamese regime lets up on
repression prior to a
meetingwithhighlevelUSofficials.
Onthe
other
side
of
the
ledger,
Vietnam
has
released
Bloc
8406
activist,
Le
Thi
Cong
Nhanontheexpirationofherprisonsentence.
QUESTION:IfSecretaryclintonweremindedtoraiserightsissues,whatanglescould
shemostfruitfullyattack?Forexample,wouldshehavethebestchanceofshaming
them into improvementson religious freedom?On Internet
freedom?On specific
caseslikeLeCongDinh's?
ANSWER: Regardinghuman rightsand religious freedom:
theStateDepartments
annualreportonhumanrightsmakesclearthattherehasbeenan
improvementin
the overall situation as a result of incremental change. The
Catholic Churchstate
dispute over land is not a religious freedom issue inmy opinion.
Themain issue
concernsthe
right
of
the
Degar
ethnic
minority
to
practice
their
brand
of
house
churchProtestantism.ThisissueiswrappedupwiththedemandbysomeDegarfor
political autonomy and their connections to the Montagnard
Foundation in the
UnitedStates.
At a minimum Secretary Clinton should raise differences over
human rights and
religious freedomwith herVietnamese counterparts and demonstrate
they are a
continuing concernof theUSgovernment,Congressand sectionsof
theAmerican
public.Thereisageneralprisoneramnestyonnationalday,2nd
September,andthe
Secretary shouldpress for the releaseofprisonersof conscienceat
this time.She
shouldnamespecificindividualssuchasLeCongDinh,NguyenVanLyetc.
Secretary
Clinton
should
reiterate
past
arguments
by
the
United
States,
that
Vietnam
cannothope to fullydevelopeconomicallyand integratewith
theglobaleconomy
without freeingupthe internetandendingrepressionofbloggers.
Ifshe isgivena
chancetospeakpubliclysheshouldraisetheseissuesdirectlywithheraudience.
Finally,Vietnamiskeentoadvancedefencesecuritycooperation.Theyarepressing
to gain access to US militaryrelated technology and equipment.
As Ambassador
MichaelMichalak hasmade clear in an interview given
toVietNamNet, Secretary
Clinton should underscore inprivate talks that there is a
linkage inUS legislation
betweenhumanrightsandaccesstomilitaryequipmentandtechnology.Secretary
Clintonshouldreiteratethatuntilthereisanimprovementinhumanrights/religious
freedomtheUSwillstillmaintainrestrictions.
Thebottom
line
is
that
human
rights/religious
freedom
issues
are
not
the
main
focal
point of a rapidly developing comprehensive bilateral
relationship. Vietnamese
conservativesfearthethreatofpeacefulevolution,SecretaryClintonshouldmake
clearthattheUSisnotseekingtheoverthrowofVietnamsocialistregimebutrather
itsadherencetouniversalstandards,standardsVietnamhasacceptedwhenitjoined
theUNandwhenitbecamesignatorytoanumberofhumanrightsconventions.
