The US House of Representatives called on Vietnam on Friday to free jailed cyber-dissident Pham Hong Son and other democracy and religious activists.
In a near-unanimous resolution, the House said that US authorities should inform Hanoi that if it wishes to join the WTO, it must adhere to the rule of law and respect freedom of the press.
The resolution also said that the detention of Pham and some 30 others named, and continuing human rights violations, are not in Vietnam's interest and remain an obstacle to better relations between Washington and Hanoi.
US President George W. Bush is scheduled to attend an APEC summit in Vietnam in November.
"America cannot turn our back on those who fight oppression by voicing their support of freedom and democracy like Dr Son," said Republican Representative Chris Smith, who went to Vietnam in December and met with Son's wife.
"Vietnam is at a critical crossroads and is seeking to expand its trade relations with the US and join the WTO. There will be no better time to convince Vietnam of the seriousness of our human rights concerns," said Smith, who wrote the resolution.
Meanwhile, Democratic lawmaker Loretta Sanchez, the representative from California, on Friday rejected a travel visa granted by the Vietnamese authorities with "restrictive conditions" on her visit to the country, her office said.
"She was given a visa for a specific period, which means she has to cut short her schedule, so she cannot travel to Saigon [Ho Chi Minh City] to meet with dissident groups and pro-democracy supporters," her spokeswoman Carrie Brooks said.
Sanchez is an outspoken critic of Hanoi's human-rights record, and her district includes the cities of Anaheim, Garden Grove, Santa Ana and some of Fullerton in Orange County, which includes "Little Saigon," the largest Vietnamese community outside of Vietnam.
The lawmaker had wanted to go to Vietnam on Wednesday and two days later join a delegation headed by House of Representatives Speaker Dennis Hastert,who will be on a visit to Hanoi.
Vietnamese-American rights groups have written to Hastert urging him to raise with the Communist government leaders issues such as curtailed Internet usage, detention of Buddhist monks and alleged harassment of workers who participated in strikes for better pay and labor rights.
"By emphasizing to the government of Vietnam the link between political freedom and economic development, the speaker will contribute to a more stable and developed Vietnam and healthier bilateral relationship," said Dan Hoang of the Vietnamese-American Public Affairs Committee, an advocacy group.
"It is in the interests of both the American and Vietnamese people that Vietnam be a free country," he said.
POLITICAL PATRIARCHS: Recent clashes between Thailand and Cambodia are driven by an escalating feud between rival political families, analysts say The dispute over Thailand and Cambodia’s contested border, which dates back more than a century to disagreements over colonial-era maps, has broken into conflict before. However, the most recent clashes, which erupted on Thursday, have been fueled by another factor: a bitter feud between two powerful political patriarchs. Cambodian Senate President and former prime minister Hun Sen, 72, and former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, 76, were once such close friends that they reportedly called one another brothers. Hun Sen has, over the years, supported Thaksin’s family during their long-running power struggle with Thailand’s military. Thaksin and his sister Yingluck stayed
FOREST SITE: A rescue helicopter spotted the burning fuselage of the plane in a forested area, with rescue personnel saying they saw no evidence of survivors A passenger plane carrying nearly 50 people crashed yesterday in a remote spot in Russia’s far eastern region of Amur, with no immediate signs of survivors, authorities said. The aircraft, a twin-propeller Antonov-24 operated by Angara Airlines, was headed to the town of Tynda from the city of Blagoveshchensk when it disappeared from radar at about 1pm. A rescue helicopter later spotted the burning fuselage of the plane on a forested mountain slope about 16km from Tynda. Videos published by Russian investigators showed what appeared to be columns of smoke billowing from the wreckage of the plane in a dense, forested area. Rescuers in
‘ARBITRARY’ CASE: Former DR Congo president Joseph Kabila has maintained his innocence and called the country’s courts an instrument of oppression Former Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) president Joseph Kabila went on trial in absentia on Friday on charges including treason over alleged support for Rwanda-backed militants, an AFP reporter at the court said. Kabila, who has lived outside the DR Congo for two years, stands accused at a military court of plotting to overthrow the government of Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi — a charge that could yield a death sentence. He also faces charges including homicide, torture and rape linked to the anti-government force M23, the charge sheet said. Other charges include “taking part in an insurrection movement,” “crime against the
POINTING FINGERS: The two countries have accused each other of firing first, with Bangkok accusing Phnom Penh of targeting civilian infrastructure, including a hospital Thai acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai yesterday warned that cross-border clashes with Cambodia that have uprooted more than 130,000 people “could develop into war,” as the countries traded deadly strikes for a second day. A long-running border dispute erupted into intense fighting with jets, artillery, tanks and ground troops on Thursday, and the UN Security Council was set to hold an emergency meeting on the crisis yesterday. A steady thump of artillery strikes could be heard from the Cambodian side of the border, where the province of Oddar Meanchey reported that one civilian — a 70-year-old man — had been killed and
RSS