Vietnam warns that U.S. ties will be hurt if placed on list of religious violators
HANOI - Vietnam warned on Thursday that its relations with the
United States will deteriorate if the U.S. State Department places it on a list of
countries that restrict religious freedom.
"In Vietnam, freedom of religious belief, and freedom of non-belief, for all
citizens is stipulated in the constitution and observed in practice," Foreign
Ministry spokeswoman Phan Thuy Thanh said.
On Monday, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, an
independent agency that advises the government, recommended that the State
Department designate Vietnam and 11 other nations as "countries of particular
concern" under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998.
Under the law, countries on the list are guilty of severe violations of religious
freedom and are subject to possible economic sanctions and other actions.
"We ask the U.S. State Department not to accept this recommendation,"
Thanh said. "It would negatively affect relations between Vietnam and the
United States, which have seen favorable developments."
Vietnam's government officially recognizes six religions, but bans other religious
groups which do not accept Communist Party control.
It turned down a request last month from a delegation from the European
Parliament to meet with two religious dissidents.
In late August, scores of mostly Protestant ethnic minority group members
called Montagnards were arrested in the Central Highlands for planning an
anti-government protest, local officials said.
Last year, thousands of Montagnards fled from the Central Highlands into
neighboring Cambodia following a government crackdown on demonstrations
over religious restrictions and land grievances. Many have since been resettled
in the United States.
Thanh denied a report last week by Human Rights Watch, a New York-based
group, that Cambodia has recently deported hundreds of Montagnards back to
Vietnam.
But she said Vietnam and Cambodia "have and will closely cooperate to ensure
security along the border and to prevent illegal border crossings."
The Commission on International Religious Freedom also recommended that
China, India, Iran, Iraq, Laos, Myanmar, North Korea,
Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Turkmenistan be placed on the list of
countries that particularly restrict religious freedom.
The current list includes China, Iran, Iraq, Myanmar, North Korea and Sudan.
The Associated Press - October 3rd, 2002.
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