Vietnam: Human Rights Housecleaning and Prisoner
Release Before Greater U.S. Economic Openness
By John E. Carey*
September 16, 2006
On July 18, 2006, in a commentary essay in The Washington Times newspaper titled
"Trade With Vietnam," authors Richard Armitage and Randy Schriver said,
"Clearly, there are serious shortcomings with respect to human rights and
religious freedom in Vietnam today. However, we are confident that once Vietnam
embraces the global rules-based trading system, the country will set in motion a
variety of forces that will ultimately lead to a freer nation."
The Armitage/Schriver theory of human rights might be paraphrased as, "Once the
leaders of Vietnam start making real money due to trade with the U.S., they may
tire of jailing innocent people and repressing religious groups."
Vietnam is seeking entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO). Vietnam is
also seeking U.S. Congressional approval for Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR)
from the U.S. The President of the United States is expected to travel to
Vietnam in November for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Conference.
Yet Vietnam continues to take actions contrary to its own self interests by
jailing political antagonists for "crimes" such as posting democratically themed
essays on the internet.
Two of these prisoners are Cong Thanh Do and Thuong N. "Cuc" Foshee, and there
are others.
Cong Thanh Do used the internet to spread "democratic" messages, a crime in
Vietnam.
Mr. Do is from San Jose, California. His activities, taken for granted by all
Americans, came to the attention of the government of Vietnam, a government that
insists upon regulating all media and information, including the internet and
email. The Washington Times web site, for example, is not available to readers
in Vietnam. The Washington Times is too "seditionist."
While the United States cannot appropriately intervene and tell another nation
that it must insist upon an American style of freedom of speech, American
Congressmen and Senators can insist upon the release of Americans wrongly held
in jails in Vietnam.
Thuong N. "Cuc" Foshee, according to her family, "was detained by the Vietnamese
government and has been in a detention center in HCMC [Ho Chi Minh City,
formerly Saigon] ever since. She has not been charged with any crime, has been
denied bail, has been denied a visit with an attorney, her prescription
medication has been withheld and she has been denied adequate dental and medical
care."
Mrs. Foshee has not been charged, though she has been held since September 8,
2005.
Mrs. Foshee was also known for her internet postings of democratically inspired
documents from her home in California.
Both Mr. Do and Mrs. Foshee went to Vietnam to visit elderly relatives.
When Vietnam's current government leaders ascended to power last June, we
responded with a Washington Times commentary on America's Independence Day, July
4, 2006. "Recently, more enlightened thinking has made Vietnam an emerging
economic force," we wrote, "the news of the new leadership gives great promise."
Now is the time for that new leadership to live up to its great promise.
Vietnam has released imprisoned persons guilty of similar "crimes." Earlier this
month Vietnam released prominent dissident and pro-democracy activist Pham Hong
Son. Son was originally sentenced to five years in prison. His crime? He
translated articles from the U.S. State Department web site for an online
journal. The articles were titled "What is democracy?"
The Vietnamese government is manipulating the international community by
feigning partial respect for human rights. Vietnam has been releasing thousands
of prisoners in order to convince the United States government to approve
Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) and the world to support them in
accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Scott Johnson of the Montagnard Foundation, a group that fosters understanding
of the indigenous Vietnamese tribal peoples wrote, "The recent announcement by
the Vietnamese government that they will release 'some' dissidents in a general
amnesty reminds me of a conversation I had with a former U.S. State Department
official about his dealings with the Soviets during the Cold War. 'Throw them a
dissident' was what he said and he described how the Soviets would play the
stalling game by keeping Western diplomatic pressure at bay for a time."
According to Vo Van Ai of the Buddhist Information service in Paris, there are
only four prisoners of conscience out of the 5,313 recently released by the
government of Vietnam and he describes this "piecemeal amnesty" as a "propaganda
exercise."
Scott Johnson and Vo Van Ai are telling us what is obvious to most international
observers: Vietnam's recent prisoner release effort is window dressing designed
to thrill the most shallow students of human rights. The exercise is an effort
to please U.S. congressmen and Senators without getting to the real heart of the
issue: that Vietnam continues to hold political prisoners, indigenous
Montagnards and others; many without charges and without rights.
While we applaud Vietnam's granting of freedom to those formerly held in
incarceration, we urge Vietnam to free the remaining victims held in prisons.
A letter from Reporters Without Borders on September 6, 2006, stated in part,
"Five people are currently imprisoned in Vietnam for having expressed democratic
views on the Internet. Contrary to the claims of the Vietnamese authorities,
none of them is a terrorist, criminal or spy. These [people] have been punished
for using the Internet to publicly express their disagreement with the political
line of the sole party. They are non-violent democrats."
It is time for Vietnam to make a clean slate of its past human rights abuses.
Entry into the WTO, granting of PNTR and the President of the United States'
visit during APEC all give the Vietnamese a wonderful opportunity to demonstrate
fairness, forward thinking, a renewed commitment to human rights and modernity.
So we urge Vietnam to release the key political and religious prisoners it still
holds, many without charges or any access to attorneys, family, medical
treatment or religious advice.
And we urge U.S. Members of the House of Representatives and Senators not to
move forward on PNTR for Vietnam until the release and safety of these jailed
prisoners can be secured.
Before Vietnam can be considered an equal partner in world trade and economic
activity, it must face the realities of the modern world.
While we welcome the prisoners recently released, we urge Vietnam to now release
those still held: prisoner such as Cong Thanh Do and Thuong N. "Cuc" Foshee
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*John E. Carey:
Journalist, historian and scholar John E. Carey retired from the United States
Navy after Command at Sea, duty on several ships, and numerous tours of duty in
the Pentagon including in President Ronald Reagan’s Strategic Defence Initiative
(SDI). He was the Chairman of NATO's Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and
Development and a technical advisor to the Bilateral Strategic Talks with
Russia. Mr. Carey has lived in China and other overseas locations. He has a
Masters Degree (with Honors) in International Relations. Mr. Carey is active in
Human Rights activities and has written extensively about human rights issues
with his wife, Honglien. Founder and former President of International Defence
Consultants, Inc., Carey works for U.S. national security objectives, military
operations and homeland defence.