US envoy hits out at Viet arrests of activists

Police stop wives of dissidents from meeting US ambassador for tea



HANOI - THE US Ambassador to Vietnam has criticised the communist regime for cracking down on pro-democracy activists.

There are now fears that American anger over the crackdown may damage prospects for continued improvement in ties between the two former foes.

On Thursday, US Ambassador Michael Marine publicly lamented the widespread detention and jailing of Vietnamese human rights advocates over the past months.

He said that although Vietnam had made laudable progress on the socio-economic front, it needed to do much more to harness the creativity of its people.

The ambassador urged Vietnam's communist leadership to allow more openness.

Said Mr Marine: 'Today, regrettably, there are an increasing number of individuals in prison or under detention in Vietnam whose only crime was the peaceful expression of their views.'

Recently, Vietnamese security services detained more than two dozen activists in an aggressive nationwide swoop.

Many campaigners were roughly bustled off into custody without warning, their homes ransacked, private papers carted away, and their families threatened with retribution if they complained.

On March 30, five human rights advocates, including Catholic priest Nguyen Van Ly, 60, were subjected to what many Western observers labelled a show trial in the central city of Hue.

Denied full legal representation, they were all quickly found guilty of 'propagandising' against the state.

Police yesterday stopped the wives of other dissidents from meeting the US Ambassador and a congresswoman for tea.

Among them was the wife of 'cyber-dissident' Pham Hong Son, who was jailed after he translated an article 'What Is Democracy' from a US State Department website. He was released in August last year but now lives under restrictions.

As the crackdown intensified, Deputy Public Security Minister Nguyen Van Huong told a local newspaper: 'The Vietnamese Constitution states that Vietnam has a one-party political system.

'It is illegal if some people want to establish another party, not to mention secretly incite other people to join their organisation and aim to overthrow the existing government.'

It had long been speculated that a crackdown would take place after Vietnam had hosted the Apec summit in November, normalised trade with the US and joined the World Trade Organisation.

Ambassador Marine's remarks echoed a barrage of Western criticism, especially in the US Congress where there were calls to redesignate Vietnam as a country of particular concern regarding human rights and religious freedom.

But few actually expect the US to take strong punitive action against Vietnam.

Burgeoning trade and investment, as well as shared concerns about the rise of China, will mitigate against that.

There may, however, be symbolic gestures of US displeasure, such as downgrading the coming mid-year visit to Washington by Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet.

It is also possible that plans for further boosting trade could be slowed down.

Said Professor Carlyle Thayer, a Vietnam expert at Australia's Defence Force Academy: 'The US and Vietnam are about to begin talks for a trade and investment framework agreement that could be completed in time to put icing on the cake of President Triet's visit.'

Outrage over the political crackdown now means the icing is unlikely to materialise.