Hillary Clinton can use her
visit to
By Duy Hoang
When U.S. Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton arrives in Hanoi on July 22 for the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations' Regional Forum, she will step into a dynamic country
where the vast majority of people want a forward-looking political and economic
relationship with America. With diplomatic ties fully normalized after 15 years
of bilateral effort, Mrs. Clinton now needs to focus on next steps. It will be
helpful if U.S. policy toward Vietnam is mindful of what's in the long-term
interest of both countries—a free and modern Vietnam.
Associated Press
Tran Khai Thanh Thuy is escorted from
a court room in Hanoi, Vietnam Friday, April 16, 2010
On the economic
front, Vietnam is gradually ditching a failed centrally planned economic model.
But the Communist Party remains insistent on monopolizing political power. The
inherent contradictions between an open economy and closed politics play out in
many ways, some of which affect American business
interests. Corruption remains a serious problem, for instance, which an unfree
press struggles to police and for which an unfree public can't hold officials
accountable. By pushing for greater openness, Mrs. Clinton can help both
Vietnamese and Americans.
One way would be for Mrs. Clinton to bring to Vietnam a message she has
carried elsewhere: the importance of Internet freedom. Internet use in Vietnam
has grown exponentially in the last decade, with some 25 million people now
online. But Vietnam's netizens, many of whom are young and restless, are facing
increasing censorship. A directive by the People's Committee of Hanoi issued in
April requires all retail establishments providing Internet services, such as
hotels and cafes, to install monitoring software and report user violations to
authorities. These broadly defined violations include "abusing the
Internet" to oppose the government, disclosing national secrets or
providing so-called distorted information. Meanwhile, those who want to use
Facebook and other social-networking sites must circumvent censorship attempts
because the Ministry of Public Security has ordered local Internet service
providers to block access.
These Internet
restrictions, which Vietnamese face everyday, run counter to the Hanoi
government's stated objective of developing a knowledge-based economy. They
also interfere with U.S. programs to support higher education in Vietnam. One
oft discussed project, creating American-style universities in Vietnam, would
be meaningless without unfettered access to information.
Besides calling on
her hosts to repeal Internet censorship, Mrs. Clinton could also advance human
rights in Vietnam byjoin members of the U.S. Congress in calling for the
release of Vietnamese rights activists, including three prominent women:
novelist Tran Khai Thanh Thuy, lawyer Le Thi Cong Nhan and cyber-activist Pham
Thanh Nghien. The case of Ms. Thuy is of particular concern to anyone who has a
stake in an open and fair Vietnam legal system. According to eyewitnesses, she
was beaten by police at her home in October 2009, apparently in retaliation for
attending the trials of fellow activists. She was then charged with assault.
State media published a picture of a bloodied man that the 5-foot-tall Ms. Thuy
supposedly assaulted. Vietnamese bloggers proved, however, that the picture was
taken in 2005 and photoshopped to appear to have happened at the time of the
incident. Ms. Thuy was sentenced to three and a half years in jail on the phony
charge.
Ms. Nhan is a human rights lawyer currently under house arrest for
advocating multiparty democracy. Prior to her arrest, she analyzed how a decree
granting security police the power to detain citizens for years without trial
violated Vietnam's Constitution. Ms. Nghien got in trouble with police for
attempting to organize a peaceful demonstration against the Beijing Olympic
Torch Relay in 2008 and later for publicizing the plight of Vietnamese
fishermen attacked by Chinese navy vessels in a disputed area of the South
China Sea that historically belonged to Vietnam. She was imprisoned for her
public opposition to government policies toward China.
Mrs. Clinton's visit is an opportunity to raise these specific cases. While
some observers view the current crackdown by Hanoi as a precursor to next
January's Communist Party Congress and therefore something that just has to be
tolerated, the Vietnamese authorities are not immune to outside pressure. Hanoi
craves a visit by President Obama later this year along with the granting of
economic carrots like the Trans Pacific Partnership. The regime has made some
improvements in the past on issues like religious freedom in response to
criticism from the U.S., although those have often proven fleeting as soon as
the pressure eases. This suggests that iIf Mrs. Clinton makes an issue of
Hanoi's rights record—and then Washington keeps up the pressure—she
can do some good for Vietnam.
It may seem
inconvenient to raise such sensitive issues. But it would be short-sighted to
take a narrow view of America's interests in the region and the best way
forward for U.S.-Vietnam ties, but that's a short-sighted view. With 86 million
people and so much economic promise, Vietnam has the potential for anchoring a
more prosperous and liberal region. But this requires the participation and
empowerment of the entire country, not just a
privileged elite. Mrs. Clinton's visit is a chance to work toward that goal.
Mr. Hoang is a U.S.-based leader of Viet Tan, an
unsanctioned pro-democracy political party in Vietnam.
Courtesy: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703720504575377984024082128.html
