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Outlook

(21-09-2007)

US House passes bill hampering Viet Nam development, relations

by Viet Hung

The US House of Representatives made another wrong decision against Viet Nam on Tuesday when it ratified legal document H.R. 3096.

The world is now interactive and interconnected but it is unacceptable for the legislature of one country to threaten sanctions against another in response to the latter’s internal affairs.

But it was not a big surprise that Christopher Smith, Republican, wrote the offending legislation because he has been a vocal critic of Viet Nam.

Nor was it strange that the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which approved the bill, the "Viet Nam Human Rights Act of 2007" last July, and the House itself supported this latest decision.

Several people in the US still think they have the right to criticise individuals, organisations and even countries in defiance of reality.

H.R. 3096 prohibits any increase in US non-humanitarian assistance to the Viet Nam Government unless it meets a bevy of demands including the release of people that Smith and his supporter call "political and religious prisoners," and respects religious freedom and the human rights of all ethnic minority groups.

The act extended intervention into Viet Nam’s internal affairs by authorising US$4 million over two years for organisations and individuals to "promote human rights in Viet Nam" and over $10 million for Radio Free Asia which is notorious for its distortion of any stories about Viet Nam.

Smith’s legislation also requires the US State Department to issue a yearly report about the progress of human-rights reform in Viet Nam.

"The act has sent a signal to the Viet Nam’s Government that violations of human rights will lead to sanctions," said its author.

Who is Chris Smith?

Christopher Henry Smith, 54, is a Republican Party politician, who is a member of the United States House of Representatives for the 4th District of New Jersey. Since being elected to Congress, Smith has purportedly played a key role in the promotion of human rights reforms in the former Soviet Union, Romania, Viet Nam, China, Sudan and Cuba.

One of his significant legislative achievements was his landmark Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Law, the nation’s first law to deal specifically with human trafficking.

But the law-maker is rated at a mere 13 per cent for effectiveness by the American Civil Liberties Union and this shows his anti-civil rights voting record. Smith voted yes for a $78-billion-emergency-package for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and against a proposed $84 million in grants for Black and Hispanic colleges.

He voted against more immigrant visas for skilled workers but for allowing electronic surveillance without a warrant and continuing intelligence gathering without civil oversight.

As man who does not support his own country’s ideals of civil liberties and human rights, how can Representative Smith instruct those outside his country in what is right or wrong? Viet Nam and those countries scrutinised by Smith can never expect either a peaceful or constructive view from the lawmaker.

Rights arguments

Viet Nam’s President Nguyen Minh Triet told President George Bush during his visit to Washington last summer that Viet Nam’s laws could not totally match American laws because the two countries have different histories. Other Vietnamese representatives have reiterated that their country’s laws ensures citizen rights and that only law violators are prosecuted.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Le Dung said on Wednesday that "Viet Nam strongly protests the Viet Nam Human Rights Act of 2007 which contains fabricated information about the situation in Viet Nam and affects the current positive development of the Viet Nam-US relationship."

The Vietnamese people had pursued their struggle for independence, freedom and democracy over many decades, he said.

The Viet Nam Constitution clearly stipulates that the State respects and ensures the rights of its citizens to economic, political, cultural, social and civil rights.

These include the right to freedom of religion, speech, the press, information, assembly and the forming of associations.

After 20 years of renewal, Viet Nam has achieved economic development; provided social justice; promoted democracy; improved living standards and ensured the rights and freedom of its citizens.

The progress has been recognised by the international community.

"Viet Nam has been and is ready for dialogue with the US about a number of issues, including democracy, human rights and religion," Dung said.

The US House of Representatives should objectively assess democracy and human rights in Viet Nam within the country’s historical context while respecting Viet Nam’s economic, cultural and social distinction in the spirit of co-operation and mutual understanding.

It should not let these issues hinder the fine development of relations between the two countries.

It is a pity that the House of Representatives has ignored what has been taking place in Viet Nam and intentionally politicised civil misconduct to pressure a nation that is trying to stand on its own feet and support a group of extremists to change the path that a nation has chosen.

The obvious question is: Did the congress members who voted for the bill act responsibly to strengthen the ever-increasing and close ties between the two countries?

Will the intervention in another country’s internal affairs gain any support when the scandals of Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib continue to dismay the people of both America and the world? — VNS