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Vietnam Human Rights Network to President Bush: “Please stand firm for human rights and democracy in Vietnam and everywhere.”
Press Release - For Immediate Release: June 24, 2005
In the aftermath of President Bush’s official meeting with Vietnamese Prime minister Phan Van Khai in the White House on June 21, Vietnam Human Rights Network has sent a letter to the president reminding him not to overlook his own promise, “When you stand for your liberty, we will stand with you.” The following is the full text of the letter:
VIETNAM HUMAN RIGHTS NETWORK 12522 Brookhurst Street, Suite 23 Garden Grove, CA 92840 Tel.: (714) 636-8895; Email: vnhrnet@vietnamhumanrights.net Website: www.vnhrnet.org
June 24, 2005
President George W. Bush The White House Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear President Bush:
Two letters independently issued this month by concerned citizens and 45 Senators and Congress Members urged you to press Hanoi for future human rights reform. However, on June 21, 2005, upon your meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai, you hailed the two nations’ growing economic and security ties, omitting any reference to human rights.
Your conciliatory tone was striking, especially at a time when your administration is taking a hard line on the human rights practices of various Middle Eastern governments. You have declared many times that the United States is committed to a policy of global democratization and reaffirmed this policy in your second inaugural address: ”Who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know: the United States will not ignore your oppression, or excuse your oppressors. When you stand for your liberty, we will stand with you.”
For Vietnam and Mr. Khai, this visit was more than a historical footnote; it was an olive branch meant to curry U.S. support for Vietnam’s entry into the World Trade Organization. Plainly, Vietnam’s inclusion into the international economic community should be encouraged. Undoubtedly, aside from economic gains, Vietnam would also serve as a potentially valuable strategic ally for stability in the region. However, these policies, both economic and military, must be balanced against the equally important agenda of democracy and human rights. We strongly believe that the military strategy is so vital to the Vietnamese communists. Vietnam would not turn away from it, even if we insist on democracy and human rights for its people. As an editorial in the Washington Post on June 21, 2005 noted, “Precisely because the United States has an interest in stable development in East Asia, it should be skeptical of a development model that’s based on government control of the media and the imprisonment of dissidents; if a government fears its own people, how stable can it be? Equally, the United States is most likely to be influential in the region if it is seen to stand by its appealing values rather than making opportunistic alliances with dictators, as it has to its own detriment in the Middle East”.
After the meeting with Phan Van Khai, you praised a recent “landmark” bilateral agreement aimed at increasing religious liberty in Vietnam. Although this news is welcomed as a step in the right direction, any agreement with the Vietnamese Communists must be closely scrutinized. In 1968, during the Lunar New Year truce, the Communists undertook the Tet Offensive, attacking major cities in the South overnight. In 1973, Vietnam signed the Paris Peace Agreement, only to force the United States to withdraw its troops when it invaded the South in 1975. Without further assurances and oversight, the Vietnamese communists cannot be relied upon to comply with any current or future agreements.
Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., chairman of the House Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations Subcommittee, noted that Vietnam denies its citizens freedom of press, speech, political opposition, assembly and association, and many other liberties that form the foundation of democratic nations. It was for these abuses, and specifically, for gross violations of religious freedom, that the State Department designated Vietnam a “Country of Particular Concern”. Phan Van Khai’s newly minted agreement is merely an empty preemptive measure aimed at avoiding economic sanctions required for CPC’s under the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA). It is for that very reason that Vietnam must remain a CPC. The U.S.’s greatest strength is its economic leverage, and it is through judicious use of this strength that we can bring real change to Vietnam.
Mr. President, the whole world and the people of Vietnam are looking to you. We have an opportunity to shape the world we live in and provide a blueprint for our future. Please stand firm for human rights and democracy in Vietnam and everywhere.
Thank you and God bless you. Respectfully Yours,
Nguyen Thanh Trang Chairman Vietnam Human Rights Network
Vietnam Human Rights Network |