US shouldn't criticize others over Human Rights
HANOI - The U.S. should feel chastened by the loss of its seat on the U.N. Human Rights Commission and stop
criticizing other countries' human rights records, Vietnam said Tuesday.
But Vietnam is still willing to discuss human rights if Washington doesn't attempt to interfere in its internal affairs, Foreign
Ministry Spokeswoman Phan Thuy Thanh said.
"The United States should feel deeply about the international community's assessment of U.S. human rights," Thanh said. "What
they should do is to stop criticizing other countries."
Vietnam says the U.N. vote last week that deprived the U.S. of its seat on the human rights commission was a judgment on
America's domestic human rights situation. The loss has also been attributed to displeasure over U.S. criticism of human rights
abuses in other nations.
Relations between the U.S. and Vietnam have cooled in recent months over criticism by U.S. groups of religious restrictions in
Vietnam and Hanoi's claim that a U.S.-based exile group instigated recent protests by ethnic minorities in its Central Highlands.
The Bush administration also has delayed congressional ratification of a wide-ranging trade agreement that would complete the
normalization of relations between the two former foes.
"Vietnam is willing to have a dialogue with the United States on issues of mutual concerns, including human rights, on the basis
of equality, mutual respect, respect for independence, sovereignty, non-imposition of ideas and noninterference in each other's
internal affairs aimed at enhancing mutual understanding," Thanh said.
She denied a report Monday by a U.S.-based group, Human Rights Watch, of the arrest of a Vietnamese dissident, Vu Cao
Quan, and the possible arrests of other democracy activists.
"According to the competent authorities, the information provided by the so-called Human Rights Watch is a sheer fabrication,"
she said.
Human Rights Watch said Quan, aged 68, was arrested April 24 on his way home from meetings with other democracy
activists. His family was told that he was arrested for writing and possessing anti-socialist documents, it said.
Quan began a hunger strike after his arrest and his present location is unknown, the group said.
The Associated Press - May 8, 2001.
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