Vietnam gives Milosevic rare voice of support
HANOI - Communist Vietnam gave Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic a voice of support Thursday, condemning Western demands
for him to stand down after elections he is widely accused of defrauding.
Hanoi rejected Western criticism of official results denying opposition candidate Vojislav Kostunica outright victory last
weekend and said the poll should go to a second run-off as called for by Yugoslavia's federal elections commission.
"We protest against foreign meddling in these elections as we do against interference in the internal affairs of any nation," said
foreign ministry spokeswoman Phan Thuy Thanh.
"The presidential elections in Yugoslavia should continue into a second-round run-off. We hope that the second round will take
place in a truly democratic manner, in conformity with Yugoslav law, and on the basis of respect for the choice and wishes of
the Yugoslav people," she said.
An official editorial in the armed forces daily Quan Doi Nhan Dan was even more critical of Western governments, accusing
them of "breaching the UN charter and international law" in their support for the Yugoslav opposition.
"Through their interference in the internal affairs of Yugoslavia, the United States and other Western countries are flagrantly
violating the principles of self-determination, independence and national sovereignty and trampling on its democratic freedoms,"
the editorial said.
Itself a frequent target of Western human rights criticism, Hanoi has always been a vigorous defender of the principle of
non-interference in other countries' domestic affairs.
Although its relations with Belgrade have never been well developed, it condemned last year's NATO bombing campaign
against Yugoslavia during the Kosovo crisis as a "flagrant violation of international law."
And as chairman of the Association of South East Asian Nations, Hanoi has opposed any regional action against the military
junta in Yangon, despite mounting Western criticism of its treatment of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Agence France Presse - September 28, 2000.
|