US House votes to freeze aid to Vietnam 

over human rights record

 

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US House of Representative voted to freeze all non-humanitarian assistance to Vietnam and provide aid to its dissidents in response to what it described as "a policy of harassment, discrimination, and intimidation" against those who dare to speak out against the country's government.

By a vote of 323-45, the chamber passed the Viet Nam Human Rights Act that bars the government from increasing non-humanitarian assistance to the southeast Asian nation over this year's level of about 40 million dollars, unless the president certifies that Hanoi is releasing political prisoners and is taking steps to improve its overall human rights record.

It also authorizes the White House to spend four million dollars in fiscal 2004 and 2005 to provide support for Vietnamese dissidents and groups that "promote internationally recognized human rights."

More than 10 million dollars are being offered over the same period of time to overcome Vietnamese jamming of Radio Free Asia, a surrogate US Congress-financed radio station that beams US programming to the region.

"The government of Viet Nam consistently pursues a policy of harassment, discrimination, and intimidation, and sometimes of imprisonment and other forms of detention, against those who peacefully express dissent from government or party policy," states the preamble of the legislation.

Those suffering from Communist government repression, lawmakers noted, include human rights activists Nguyen Dan Que and Nguyen Thanh Giang, priests Thich Huyen Quang and Thich Quang Do, journalist Nguyen Vu Binh, publicist Le Chi Quang and military historian Pham Que Duong.

Nevertheless, the bill also grants the president broad waiver authority that will allow him to overlook its provisions if he deems it necessary to further US national security interests.

"We cannot stand idly by while the human rights situation in Vietnam deteriorates and goes from horrific to even worse," said Republican Representative Chris Smith, vice chairman of the House Committee on International Relations and sponsor of the measure.

He vowed to do everything in his power to overcome opposition to the bill in the US Senate, where it will now be heading.

The bill first passed the House three years ago, but it died in the Senate where, according to Smith, Massachusetts Senator John Kerry (news - web sites), the current Democratic presidential candidate, prevented it from being brought to the floor.

This time around opponents of the measure warned it could upset the delicate but evolving US-Vietnamese relationship and force both sides into a confrontational posture.

While noting that Hanoi should work to improve its human rights record, Democratic Congressman Lane Evans argued that Vietnam has been providing the United States unparalleled assistance in recovering the bodies of Americans killed during the Vietnam War and is working to improve the climate for foreign investment.

"I am afraid that this resolution and the sanctions enclosed will damage relations," Evans said during the debate. "I also feel that this resolution will only embolden hard liners within Vietnam."

The Vietnamese Embassy here had lobbied hard -- but obviously unsuccessfully -- to defeat the measure.

 

 

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