US Vice President Kamala Harris Raises Human Rights Issues in Talks in Vietnam
Harris tells reporters the US will not shy away from 'difficult conversations,'
before departing Vietnam after a two-day visit.
RFA | 2021-08-26
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris in talks in Hanoi this week raised U.S.
concerns over human rights abuses in Vietnam, where freedom of speech and
political dissent is routinely suppressed, Harris said Thursday.
“We’re not going to shy away from difficult conversations,” Harris told
reporters at a news conference before departing Vietnam after a two-day visit.
“Difficult conversations often must be had with the people that you may
otherwise have a partnership with.”
“And we do have a partnership with Vietnam in addition to concerns about human
rights,” Harris said.
In talks with Vietnam’s leaders on Wednesday, Harris called for shared efforts
to counter “bullying” by China in the South China Sea, keeping a focus on
regional security on a visit in which she also unveiled new American efforts to
help Hanoi fight the coronavirus.
The Aug. 24-26 visit by Harris, the first U.S. Vice President to travel to
Vietnam since the unification of the country under the Communist North in 1975,
follows last month’s call on Hanoi by U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
Speaking in interviews with RFA, relatives of jailed Vietnamese dissidents and
other rights activists welcomed Harris’s statements of concern for those jailed
in Vietnam for advocating greater freedom in the one-party communist state.
“I was very happy to learn that the U.S. vice president raised human rights
issues with the Vietnamese government,” said Tran Huynh Duy Tan, brother of
jailed blogger Tran Huynh Duy Thuc, now serving a 16-year prison term for his
online writings criticizing Vietnam’s government.
“If they release Thuc and other political prisoners, this will demonstrate that
they respect human rights and the rule of law, and this will show that Vietnam
is a reliable partner in the eye of the United States and other nations.”
“We hope there will soon be a new signal about this from the Vietnamese
government,” he said.
Vietnam-based rights activist Tran Bang told RFA that a wide number of
activists, especially those “with the loudest voices,” had been jailed in
Vietnam over the last two years.
Those now in prison include Facebook users, independent journalists, and
journalists for state-run publications whose personal views strayed from the
Party line, he said.
“To sum up, the movement for democracy has been slowed down,” he said.
Expressions of concern in visits by earlier U.S. leaders, including President
Obama and President Trump, had come to nothing, though, he said.
“In my opinion, the Vietnamese people have to fight for their own human rights,
without depending on foreign leaders.”
According to the California-based Vietnam Human Rights Network, Vietnam is
currently detaining around 300 political prisoners.
Reported by RFA’s Vietnamese Service. Translated by An Nguyen. Written in
English by Richard Finney.
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