US lawmakers want greater focus on rights in Vietnam
WASHINGTON - Lawmakers in the US Congress are calling on the Bush administration to press Vietnam to respect human rights and religious freedoms, as the country's prime minister continues an historic US visit.
Prime Minister Phan Van Khai met congressional leaders on Tuesday, one day after landmark talks with
President George W. Bush that took a new step in burying animosity, 30 years after the end of the Vietnam War.
The talks also sought to bolster bilateral trade and advance Hanoi's case for admission to the
World Trade Organization.
But Republican Senator Sam Brownback was among a number of lawmakers who said that expanded bilateral trade should be closely linked with progress by Hanoi in honoring basic rights for its people.
"These are serious issues," Brownback told AFP.
"Vietnam is seeking to use our marketplace here to be able to expand. I don't have a problem with that. But I do have a problem with their denial of basic human rights and religious freedom," he said.
Brownback said he had hoped that the White House would make human rights a bigger part of bilateral discussions.
"I wrote to the White House asking them to raise the issue with the Vietnamese officials that are here, so that we don't just do trade without also addressing the human rights issues that are real," Brownback said.
Meanwhile, critics of Vietnam's human rights record in the House of Representatives planned to introduce a bill this week demanding greater political and religious freedom in the communist country.
The introduction of "The Vietnam Human Rights Act" in the House of Representatives was timed to coincide with Khai's Washington visit.
The legislation calls on the US administration to restrict non-humanitarian aid to Vietnam unless specific human rights provisions are met. The bill also provides funding to counter Hanoi's jamming of Radio Free Asia and financial support for groups promoting human rights and democratic change in Vietnam.
The House passed similar legislation in 2001 and 2004, but it stalled in the Senate.
Some lawmakers said they were especially disappointed that so little attention to human rights was included in the Bush-Khai summit because the US State Department last year designated Vietnam a country of concern over alleged violations of religious freedom.
Lawmakers reaffirmed their concerns during a House hearing this week on human rights in Vietnam.
"All over the world, people from Vietnam are prospering wherever there is freedom," said Representative Ed Royce (news, bio, voting record). "But in communist-controlled Vietnam, there is a lack of freedom and a lack of prosperity."
He said: "Progress on human rights in Vietnam has been stagnant -- if not taking a step backwards."
Royce highlighted tight control of the media in Vietnam, where even news of protests around Khai's US visit has been blacked out.
"Newspapers, television and radio stations remain under strict government control. There is a crackdown on the Internet with young Vietnamese serving long, long terms in prison because they attempt free speech," said Royce, who is the author of legislation to increase Radio Free Asia broadcasts to Vietnam.
"The human rights situation in Vietnam is abysmal," he said.
Condemnation of Vietnam's human rights record has been less evident during official stops in Khai's visit, which comes 10 years after Washington and Hanoi established diplomatic relations.
During the trip Khai met with Microsoft chairman
Bill Gates, and is to ring the opening bell at the
New York Stock Exchange on Thursday.
"An outside observer looking at all of this activity would in all likelihood ... deduce that Vietnam must also share the core values of the United States that make our country great," said Representative Chris Smith, author of the Vietnam Human Rights Act, at Monday's hearing.
But he said "Vietnam needs to come out of the dark ages of repression, brutality and abuse and embrace freedom, the rule of law, and respect for fundamental human rights."
Khai has rejected claims of excessive human rights abuses. But on Tuesday, as he met Bush at the White House, hundreds of demonstrators protested outside.
Agence France Presse - June 23, 2005.
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