Vietnamese leader to get an earful of rights complaints in US by P. Parameswaran

Sun Jun 17,

Vietnam's President Nguyen Minh Triet is expected to get an earful of human rights complaints when he makes his maiden visit to the United States this week despite a last-minute release of a couple of imprisoned activists.

The concerns are to be conveyed to him by President George W. Bush's administration as well as leaders from the Democratic party-controlled Congress during his June 18-23 trip, officials said.

Some groups have linked the Vietnamese leader's pardoning last week of Nguyen Vu Binh, 39, a journalist and pro-democracy activist, and the release at the weekend of pro-democracy lawyer Le Quoc Quan, 36, as a fence-mending gesture ahead of the landmark visit.

"We leave it to the government of Vietnam to explain the reasons for their decisions. We have raised cases, we will continue to raise cases and we often raise human rights issues with the highest levels of the Vietnamese government," a State Department official told AFP.

"Obviously, we welcome that (the release) and we continue to call on the government of Vietnam to release everyone else currently in detention and in prison because of peaceful expression of their political views," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

President Triet is scheduled to arrive in New York and on Friday meet Bush at the White House during a visit hailed by both sides at cementing diplomatic and economic ties between the ex-battlefield enemies.

Vietnamese-American pro-democracy groups are planning large protests outside the White House when the two leaders meet.

Bilateral relations soured this year when Vietnam reimposed a crackdown on pro-democracy activists and dissidents after winning entry into the World Trade Organization in January.

The membership in the global trade body preceded US Congressional approval to the Bush administration to normalize trade ties with the rapidly-growing Southeast Asian state with a condition that human rights come under continued scrutiny.

The Congress was given an undertaking that Vietnam was serious about polishing its human rights record "but now we know that it is a total lie and it is important to shake the administration on this issue," said Ed Royce (news, bio, voting record), a lawmaker from Bush's Republican party.

The US government has received a deluge of letters from various organizations complaining about Hanoi's human rights record ahead of Trient's visit, officials said.

Among them was global rights watchdog Amnesty International, which urged Bush to "deliver a strong and clear message to the government of Vietnam that their mistreatment of citizens is unacceptable to the United States," said its Asia-Pacific advocacy director, T. Kumar.

Bush would voice his concerns to Triet, a White House spokesperson has said.

In a bid to underscore concerns about repression in Vietnam, Bush met with four Vietnamese-American democracy advocates about two weeks ago.

"As Vietnam's economy and society reform and move forward, such repression of individuals for their views is anachronistic and out of keeping with Vietnam's desire to prosper, modernize, and take a more prominent role in world affairs," national security spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.

But the Vietnamese President, in an interview with American newspapers ahead of his visit, defended his crackdown and dispelled any notion that Vietnam was against human rights.

"Vietnam has experienced war and understands well the loss of human rights and freedom," he told The New York Times. "Therefore, we really love the fundamental rights of man and respect human rights. But if anyone violates the law we have to punish them."

But Diem H. Do, chairman of Viet Tan, a pro-democracy group active in Vietnam, charged that Triet was trying to separate political freedom from business to the dismay of a growing grassroots democracy movement.

"As long as the Hanoi communist government stifles peaceful dissent at home, the leaders of the regime will be protested wherever they go abroad by Vietnamese who have the liberty to speak up," he said.