France does not “sweep anything under a rug” when it comes to the issue of human rights in Vietnam, French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said yesterday, after sidestepping questions over the Asian country’s dismal record on dissent.
His comments came on the final day of a state visit to Vietnam that was largely aimed at drumming up business deals with one of Asia’s fastest-growing economies as both sides signed contracts worth nearly US$12 billion.
However, Philippe would not be drawn on the Vietnamese government’s handling of dissent, which includes jailing people for posting their opinions about hot-button issues on Facebook.
More than 50 activists, rights campaigners and bloggers have been put behind bars this year in one of the harshest crackdowns of the past few years.
“We do not sweep anything under the rug, but we have discussions with the Vietnamese authorities that do not go through the press,” Philippe said when questioned by reporters in Ho Chi Minh City.
“We do it in forums that are going well, the way we have always done,” Philippe said after inaugurating a French medical center in the city.
A source familiar with the meetings between the two governments told reporters that human rights were brought up during talks on Friday, the day of Philippe’s arrival.
“The human rights issue was addressed in the talks. The Vietnamese authorities’ attention has been drawn to a list of individual cases,” the source said.
INTERNET CONTROLS
The French prime minister’s visit coincides with the release of a draft cybersecurity decree, which outlines how the draconian bill would be implemented.
It is expected to come into effect in January and observers have said that it mimics China’s repressive Web control tools.
It would require technology companies to store data in the country, remove “toxic content” from Web sites and hand over user information if requested by the government.
Critics of the bill have said that it would serve as a chokehold on dissent in the one-party state, where activists are routinely jailed and all independent media are banned.
Philippe was to host a business forum with French tech entrepreneurs before departing in the evening for New Caledonia.
The jam-packed three-day visit also included a stop on Saturday at Dien Bien Phu, the site of an epic battle between France and Vietnam in 1954 that would spell the end of the French colonial empire in Indochina.
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