USA TODAY International Edition
Obama chides Vietnam over human rights
President also meets with activists barred from his speech
“Obama has jettisoned what remained of U. S. leverage to improve human rights in Vietnam.” Phil Robertson, Human Rights Watch
President Obama pressed HANOI Vietnam’s communist government Tuesday to improve its human rights record, saying greater freedom for citizens holds the key to economic prosperity the country seeks.
“Upholding these rights is not a threat to stability but actually reinforces stability and is the foundation of progress,” Obama said in a speech at Hanoi’s National Convention Center, attended by government officials and students from five universities.
“Vietnam will do it differently than the United States does. ... But there are these basic principles that I think we all have to try to work on and improve,” he said. “That’s how a Facebook starts. That’s how some of our greatest companies began.”
Earlier Tuesday, Obama met with six activists, including a pastor and advocates for the disabled and sexual minorities, who were prevented from attending his speech. “I should note that there were several other activists who were invited who were prevented from coming for various reasons,” Obama said. “Although there has been some modest progress ... there are still folks who find it very difficult to assemble and organize peacefully.”
Agence France- Presse reported that activist lawyer Ha Huy Son had been placed under surveillance, preventing him from attending Obama’s meeting with activists. Banker turned dissident Nguyen Quang A told Reuters that police came to his house that morning and drove him away as Obama was about to leave Hanoi.
“Vietnam has demonstrated itself that it doesn’t deserve the closer ties the U. S. is offering,” said John Sifton of Human Rights Watch.
Obama’s reprimand on human rights came a day after he lifted the remaining portions of a 5decade- old arms sale embargo against the former U. S. enemy, a move that prompted international groups to renew criticism of the government’s poor treatment of political critics.
“In one fell swoop, President Obama has jettisoned what remained of U. S. leverage to improve human rights in Vietnam — and basically gotten nothing for it,” said Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia division.
“Even as it faces the glare of global attention with ( Obama’s) visit, the Vietnamese authorities, shamefully, are carrying out their repressive business as usual,” said Rafendi Djamin, Amnesty International’s director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific.
Obama, who ends his three- day visit to Vietnam on Wednesday, also used the speech to push for closer ties between Hanoi and Washington 41 years after the end of the Vietnam War.
“Now we can say something that was once unimaginable: Today, Vietnam and the United States are partners.” He noted that the normalization process was led by Vietnam War veterans including Sen. John McCain, R- Ariz., who was tortured as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, and Secretary of State John Kerry, who was in the audience.
In defense of lifting the arms embargo, Obama criticized China for building bases in the South China Sea that countries in the region say encroach on their territory.