Protesters Greet Vietnamese Prime Minister in Australia
By Phil Mercer
Sydney
14 October
2008
Human rights
protesters have greeted Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on his arrival
in Australia. He is in Australia for talks on trade with his counterpart, Kevin
Rudd. From Sydney, Phil Mercer reports.
A small but noisy crowd of about 300 human rights demonstrators gathered in
Canberra Monday at the start of Nguyen Tan Dung's official visit to Australia.
They demanded that Vietnamese authorities release political prisoners and allow
democracy.
The Vietnamese prime minister is in Australia for a two-day visit to mark 35
years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
To honor the occasion, Vietnam is granting clemency to two Australians facing
execution in Hanoi for drug smuggling.
Trade and human
trafficking have been key points of discussion between Mr. Dung and Australian
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
Concerns about human rights in Vietnam have not been a central feature of this
visit, despite the concerns of critics of the Vietnamese government. They say it
violates the rights of its citizens and blocks basic freedoms, such as freedom
of religion and land ownership.
Melanie Beresford, a regional expert at Sydney's Macquarie University, says
Vietnam is pursuing an increasingly liberal political and economic path, which
has reduced criticism of its record on human rights.
"My impression is that Australians are not too worried about it. I think there
have been huge changes that have taken place in Vietnam over the last decade or
so," she said. "You know, most Australians feel quite comfortable with the way
Vietnam is progressing on the, sort of, long-term scale of things. It is not a
country that is going backwards into evermore repression of the population."
However, in Hanoi on Tuesday, two journalists who exposed official corruption
went on trial for allegedly writing inaccurate stories and what the court calls
"abusing freedom and democracy."
Trade between Australia and Vietnam has grown by 20 percent annually over the
past five years and is estimated to reach $8 billion this year.
Australian businesses have invested more than $1 billion in Vietnam and the
country is Vietnam's third biggest export market.