News-Info-Alerts

Re: Vietnam Condemns US Supplement

From: POW-MIA InterNetwork

Date: July 17, 2003

From The People's Propaganda Dept.

"Vietnam condemns human rights, aid link

The US House of Representatives has approved supplements to the US State Department’s External Expense Bill for the 2004-2005 fiscal year. The approval was obviously abnormal as the House of Representatives gave itself the right to approve articles relating to other countries, including Vietnam. In supplements relating to Vietnam, the US House of Representatives put pressure on and demanded conditional links between human rights and non-humanitarian aid for Vietnam. They said that in order to receive US aid, the Vietnamese government has to make progress in human rights, particularly in releasing all political and religious prisoners and that the government has to respect rights to religious freedom.

Hostile forces and those who lack goodwill toward Vietnam have, for a long time, used these distorted allegations to sabotage the Party and State of Vietnam. Based on these allegations, some American congressmen recently pressed the US House of Representatives to approve the so-called Vietnam Human Rights Bill 2003. In the end, they failed to do so.

Paying no heed to US public protests, they left no stone unturned in their efforts to link human rights and non-humanitarian aid for Vietnam. This is a wrongful act, which brutally interferes in Vietnam’s internal affairs as well as the country’s economic development. It seriously violates the basic principles of international law and relationships between nations. It adversely affects the growing cooperative ties between Vietnam and the United States, including those in which the US has an interest, such as combating terrorism, international crime and the search for Americans Missing in Action.

Not only Vietnam but other countries in the world voice opposition to have expressed concerns about the move as it creates a very dangerous and unacceptable precedent in international relations by linking economy, trade, culture and education with politics.

In the common global trend of development, all countries want to expand the friendly relationships of cooperation and development. However, political issues cannot be used to put pressure on other cooperative relations.

The US House of Representatives’ move toward Vietnam is not objective and is therefore unfair. In Vietnam no one is arrested for their political or religious views, only for breaking the law. Every country has laws to prevent extremists from harming the interests of the people.

Every Vietnamese has the right to lead a stable life, to enjoy a cultural and spiritual life, and to work and study in a peaceful country. In Vietnam today, all people enjoy those fundamental human rights. A recent UNDP report showed that Vietnam’s Human Development Index had considerably increased to over the past two decades from 0.5 to 0.7. Vietnam has made progress in reducing hunger and poverty in rural and mountainous regions with the poverty rate decreasing from 70 percent in the mid 1980s to 29 percent last year. Vietnam has become a leader in poverty reduction among developing countries.

These tremendous achievements have been recognised worldwide. In the US itself, people including many leaders in the US administration, have praised Vietnam’s achievements. One indication of this was that on Tuesday’s voting, many American congressmen voted against the supplements relating to Vietnam.

Vietnam hopes that there are more US lawmakers who have a clearer view of the real situation of human rights and religion in Vietnam and that they will make the right decisions on issues relating to Vietnam. Vietnam also hopes the US Senate will not approve the wrongful supplements relating to Vietnam being included in the Bill, in the interest of the two peoples and the development of fair and mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries.

The Vietnam-US Association, on Wednesday, also strongly opposed supplements to a bill, which link human rights with non-humanitarian aid to Vietnam. The move came just after Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry voiced its rejection of the issue.

In its statement, the Association said the approval of such supplementary articles to the bill by the US House of Representatives goes against the two governments and peoples’ aspiration for an improvement in bilateral ties. Secretary General of the Association, Hoang Cong Thuy has this to say, "These articles have imposed unacceptable measures on Vietnam in the name of democracy and human rights, and are a gross interference in the country’s internal affairs. The move has revived the bad precedent of the Cold War and threatened the fruitful outcomes of the two countries’ efforts at conciliation over the past 28 years. It will also adversely affect the growing ties of bilateral cooperation, particularly in the MIA issue and the implementation of the Bilateral Trade Agreement."

The Vietnam-US Association calls on the US Senate and the American public to take action to remove these supplements from the Bill in the spirit of respecting independence, sovereignty and non-interference in each other’s internal affairs.

The Vietnam-US Association has served as a bridge linking the two peoples through cultural, social and educational exchanges over the years. It also plays a significant role in promoting bilateral trade and business activities, especially following the inauguration of the BTA.

 

FM spokesperson slams the House move

Vietnam rejects any attempt by the United State to link human rights issues with non-humanitarian aid, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Phan Thuy Thanh said on Wednesday.

Thanh was responding to supplements added to US State Department expenses for the 2004-05 fiscal year passed by the House of Representatives on Tuesday.
The supplements link human rights to non-humanitarian aid for Vietnam. "Vietnam condemns these supplementary articles, as they are a serious breach of the basic principals of international law and relations between nations," she said.

"This revives a very dangerous and unacceptable methodology in international relations- the attachment of economy, trade, culture, and education to politics."

Thanh said that apart from distorting the situation in Vietnam, the supplements offended Vietnamese self-respect and interfered in the internal affairs of the nation, a country that is not only a member of the United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, but is an active trade partner of the US.

"The articles would adversely affect the growing ties of co-operation between the two nations, including those in which the US has an interest, such as combating terrorism, international crime, the search for Americans Missing in Action and other humanitarian issues," she warned.

Thanh said that the supplements reflected the intentions of people trying to interfere in Vietnam’s internal affairs.
The aim of these people was to obstruct the steadily improving relations between Vietnam and the US.

These people were opposed to the interests of both the Vietnamese and American people and their actions would be widely condemned, including by the American public.
Thanh called on the US Administration and the Senate to abandon the supplementary articles and said relations between the two countries would continue to flourish on the basis of respect for independence, sovereignty, equality, mutual benefit and non-interference in internal affairs.

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