Vietnam caught between a rock and a hard place

David Brown
YaleGlobal | August 9, 2013 1:00 am

Is disappointment with China the reason behind Vietnam president’s recent hurried visit to Washington?

Early in June, US State Department officials told a Congressional sub-committee that closer ties with Vietnam, in particular weapons sales, are on hold until there is “continued, demonstrable, sustained improvement in the human rights situation”. The officials put on the public record a message that US diplomats have been delivering privately for a couple of years. Their testimony largely went unnoticed except by the online media that stoke the fires of dissidence in Vietnam.

Coincidentally, Vietnamese police arrested yet another blogger on June 13, charging Pham Viet Dao with “abusing his right of free speech to undermine the interests of the State”. Over 40 dissidents have been jailed this year, twice the pace of 2012. Moreover, there’s evidence that the cyber-security arm of Vietnam’s police has deployed FinFisher surveillance technology – made by UK-based Gamma International – to plant spy software in computers and smartphones of people who access dissident blogs.

Hanoi has not welcomed American comments on human rights issues. Party stalwarts gag on demands that Vietnam allow greater democratic freedoms, fearing that Washington’s true objective is to bring down the regime.  Continue Reading…