| 22:02' 08/09/2007 (GMT+7) | ||
In over one hour of talking to Vietnamese journalists, the US Ambassador several times confirmed his optimism about the future of the Vietnam-US relationship and the bright development potential of Vietnam. He was also willing to answer personal questions about his family and his habits.
What are the focal points in your working schedule in Vietnam?
In the US, we have the conception of “multi-tasking” or assigning many duties and performing all of them at the same time. During my time in APEC, I set many goals, followed them and performed most of them.
However, I will spend more time on human rights, economic development in Vietnam, including promoting direct investment of the US in this country, and education. I have set the goal of at least doubling the number of Vietnamese students studying in the US.
One of my priorities at this moment is seeking a new place for the US Embassy. Negotiation has been carried out for six years and now is the time for coming to a conclusion and construction.
You said that you want to at least double the number of Vietnamese students studying in the US. What will you do to achieve this ambitious target?
At present, we are developing a general strategy on education. We have some ideas but we want to ensure that American consulate officers can go to many provinces, to meet with universities of Vietnam to know the demand of Vietnamese students and to instruct students in acquiring visas to enter the US.
About the question of how to have more money for scholarships, we will seek measures to increase the funding for Fulbright Scholarship Foundation or to effectively use this fund.
We hope that we can organise a meeting of American organisations operating in the field of education in Vietnam this year’s end. I want to bring them together to seek new ideas to increase the number of Vietnamese students in the US.
How did you prepare for the post of US Ambassador to Vietnam?
There is no preparation for becoming an ambassador. In 30 years working as a diplomat, I have been prepared to be a person who knows how to listen, to speak, and to care for others.
I’ve been the US Ambassador to Japan and China, have many experiences in Asia, can speak Japanese and Chinese very well.
Working in APEC (Mr. Michael Michalak is the former US Ambassador to APEC) has made favourable conditions for me to visit all countries in Asia. I think those experiences will help me a lot in dealing with the relations between the US and Asian countries.
Actually I have been in love with Vietnam since 2006 when I worked with Vietnamese partners on the APEC Summit. After that, I strongly proposed to the US Department of State that if they planned to appoint me to be an ambassador, to please appoint me to be the ambassador to Vietnam. God listened to my request and now I’m here (smile).
How will your experiences in Asia help you to deal with the relationship between the US and Vietnam?
There are many things that I have learned in Asia that will surely help me in dealing with the relations with Vietnam.
For example, all Asian countries, including Vietnam, attach much importance to personal relations so I expect that my Vietnamese partners will not only be officials but for me, they will be also men. In turn, I hope that they will learn about me and consider me a normal man, not an American official only.
For Asian people, the face is very important and I think it is the same in Vietnam. When we have disagreements, it is important that we respect the point of view of the other side. I think we need to deal with disagreements based on the principle of respect for each other and responsibility.
In addition, there is a general characteristic of Asian people that I see in my colleagues and the people in Asian countries where I have visited: Asian people work very hard. I’m sure that I will have to work with all my might to catch up with my colleagues.
When you were in Tokyo and Beijing, how did you feel about Vietnam, and now, in Hanoi, what differences do you see in Vietnam?
When I was in Japan, Vietnam’s economy began to develop strongly and many circles in Japan talked about the possibility that Vietnam would become the next tiger in Asia.
When I was in China, there were many seminars on the South China Sea issue and Vietnam was mentioned as a country in the region that always expressed its strong standpoint about the South China Sea.
However, the thing that impressed me the most was the time I worked with Vietnam on APEC. When the APEC year began, the working group of Vietnam seemed to be prudent, bureaucratic and discreet. However, along with time, that working group quickly learnt how to deal with multilateral economic and political issues. And at the end of the APEC year, Vietnam was very self-confident talking about its goal and the way to achieve that goal, even though it might be different from the US and China. They were always ready to work to overcome differences to achieve their goal.
In APEC year, Vietnam had difficult choices but they did that job very well and earned the respect of their colleagues.
I think when Vietnam becomes an impermanent member of the United Nations Security Council, Vietnam will face new choices: the questions about Myanmar, Kosovo, Iran, Iraq and other global issues will put new choices before Vietnam.
But I completely believe that Vietnam will succeed at the United Nations like it did at APEC.
Is it a sign that the US really wants to step up its relations with Southeast Asia when it appoints an Ambassador to Vietnam who has worked much on issues of this region? What do you expect from Vietnam as a partner of the US in those issues?
In the past two, three years, remarkable growth and the enthusiasm of Vietnam are important impacts for the future. Almost all Washington officials talk about the dynamic changes in Vietnam. Vietnam has become the number one of number two topic of talks in Washington.
You can be proud of this but it means that the expectation of the world on Vietnam is rising.
For the United Nations, as I have said, Vietnam can be requested to play the role of leadership in many issues that Vietnam has not performed before.
For ASEAN, Vietnam can play an important leadership role. For APEC, Vietnam played a very significant role in 2006 and it can continue that role with enthusiasm like in 2006.
I know that is not an easy mission but I will do everything to support Vietnam.
You said that you can speak Japanese and Chinese well. Do you hope that after three years in Vietnam, you will be able to tell others: “I can speak Vietnamese very well”?
Next week I’m starting to study Vietnamese. I guess that I will have to study very hard to be able to speak Vietnamese (smile).
Has your family come to Vietnam with you? How do they feel about Vietnam?
My wife and my 16-year-old daughter have come to live in Hanoi with me. My daughter will study in the 11th grade class in Vietnam and she thinks about school like any other 16-year-old girl.
My wife is very happy to be in Vietnam. She is Japanese so she hopes to travel everywhere in Vietnam. She wishes to eat all wonderful cuisines of Vietnam.
I love nem cuon, cua bay, rau muong xao, nom ngo sen thit ga and all other delicious cuisines of Vietnam (laughing loudly).
Noted by Viet Lam |
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
New US Ambassador in Vietnam: I will spend more time on human rights
Vietnam: Fledgling Democracy Movement Under Threat
Hundreds Join Groundbreaking Campaign Calling for Basic Rights
A wide array of Catholic priests, Buddhist monks, former political prisoners, former Communist Party officials, veterans, academics, teachers, nurses, engineers, writers, businesspeople and many ordinary citizens have signed the two appeals: the “Appeal for Freedom of Political Association” of April 6; and the “2006 Manifesto on Freedom and Democracy for Vietnam” of April 8 (also known as the “2006 Democracy Manifesto”).
“It’s extraordinary that hundreds of citizens across Vietnam have boldly shown their support for political change in a written petition,” said Brad Adams, Asia Director at Human Rights Watch. “In Vietnam, the mere act of signing such documents routinely triggers a police investigation, detention and often imprisonment.”
While much smaller groupings of prominent Vietnamese dissidents have signed appeals for human rights and democracy in the past decade, this is the first time in recent years that so many people have signed on to public petitions.
The Vietnamese authorities have already begun to respond, but with harassment rather than dialogue. After the release of the first appeal on April 6, police briefly detained and interrogated several of the more prominent activists who signed it. These activists include writer Do Nam Hai (who also goes under the pen name Phuong Nam), Mennonite clergyman the Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang, and lawyer Nguyen Van Dai. Police used tape to seal Do Nam Hai’s computer and instructed the local Internet service provider to cut off his Internet access.
At the same time, activists have launched an unsanctioned newspaper, Tu Do Ngon Luan (“Free Expression”), which has published two editions since April. In addition, a number of reporters and bloggers have formed an underground media group called the Free Journalists Association of Vietnam.
Among the initiators of the April appeals are prominent dissidents and former political prisoners from Hanoi, Hue and Ho Chi Minh City, including academic Hoang Minh Chinh, teacher Nguyen Khac Toan, Hoa Hao Buddhist leader Le Quang Liem, professor Nguyen Chinh Ket and Catholic priests the Rev. Chan Tin and the Rev. Nguyen Van Ly.
The group’s first public statement, an “Appeal for Freedom of Political Association," was released on April 6 and signed by 116 individuals. On April 8, the “2006 Manifesto on Freedom and Democracy for Vietnam” was released and signed by 118 people. The five-page manifesto calls for: a pluralistic and multiparty political system; freedom of information and of opinion; freedom of religion; freedom to participate in independent labor unions; and freedom to assemble, form associations and political parties and stand for elected offices. As of May 8 – the one-month anniversary of the manifesto – 424 citizens had signed on.
On April 30, the activists, calling themselves the “04/08/06 Group” – the date of the manifesto – issued a protest letter signed by 178 people to denounce the harassment of Do Nam Hai, the Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang and Nguyen Van Dai. In that letter, two prominent Catholic priests, the Rev. Phan Van Loi and former political prisoner the Rev. Nguyen Van Ly, threatened to go on indefinite hunger strike if the arrests and harassment continued.
The two appeals were issued as Vietnam conducted its tenth Communist Party National Congress from April 18-24, at which time a significant turnover in the Politburo was announced, with several key aging party veterans being replaced by younger members.
“This is a test for the new Politburo,” said Adams. “Will a younger generation allow greater latitude for dissent and pluralism, or will they continue to crack down on basic civil and political rights?”
With its bid to join the World Trade Organization still pending, Vietnam is seeking greater legitimacy and integration into the global economy. The Vietnamese government’s adherence to international human rights standards will be a factor in the U.S. State Department’s decision, expected in September, whether to remove its designation of Vietnam as a “Country of Particular Concern” for violations of religious freedom.
“Vietnam cannot expect to gain international legitimacy if it continues to clamp down on calls for human rights, political pluralism and religious freedom,” said Adams.
Background
Despite Vietnam’s ratification of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, the one-party state, dominated by the Vietnamese Communist Party, is intolerant of criticism. Media, political parties, religious organizations and labor unions are not allowed to exist without official sanction and oversight or to take actions that the government or the Communist Party consider contrary to their policies.
Activists who have used the Internet to call for democracy or criticize the government have been imprisoned on the basis of loosely defined national security provisions in Vietnam’s penal code, which violate international standards.
Internet dissidents have been imprisoned on charges of espionage or other national security crimes after using the Internet to disseminate opinions critical of the government. The journalist Nguyen Vu Binh is currently serving a five-year sentence, and Dr. Pham Hong Son is serving a seven-year sentence.
In mid-April, two well known journalists, Duong Phu Cuong and Nguyen Huy Cuong, were detained and harassed at the airport in Ho Chi Minh City and prevented from attending a conference in Manila on free expression in Asian cyberspace.
In late February, Do Nam Hai and Nguyen Khac Toan, a democracy activist and “cyber-dissident” who had just been released from prison, were arrested at an Internet café in Hanoi and briefly detained. Police inspected Toan’s e-mails, printing out a number of them. The two men were then taken to the police station and questioned for several hours. Toan was reportedly charged with violating conditions of his house arrest (after his release from prison he was required to serve five years of house arrest). Do Nam Hai was reportedly charged with violating Decree 55, which prohibits people from accessing banned Internet websites.
(New York, May 11, 2006) – The Vietnamese government must end its harassment of members of a fledgling human rights and democracy movement, Human Rights Watch said today.
Since early April, shortly before the Vietnamese Communist Party held its tenth National Congress, hundreds of people in Vietnam have signed on to public appeals calling for respect of basic human rights, a multiparty political system, and freedom of religion and political association.A wide array of Catholic priests, Buddhist monks, former political prisoners, former Communist Party officials, veterans, academics, teachers, nurses, engineers, writers, businesspeople and many ordinary citizens have signed the two appeals: the “Appeal for Freedom of Political Association” of April 6; and the “2006 Manifesto on Freedom and Democracy for Vietnam” of April 8 (also known as the “2006 Democracy Manifesto”).
“It’s extraordinary that hundreds of citizens across Vietnam have boldly shown their support for political change in a written petition,” said Brad Adams, Asia Director at Human Rights Watch. “In Vietnam, the mere act of signing such documents routinely triggers a police investigation, detention and often imprisonment.”
While much smaller groupings of prominent Vietnamese dissidents have signed appeals for human rights and democracy in the past decade, this is the first time in recent years that so many people have signed on to public petitions.
The Vietnamese authorities have already begun to respond, but with harassment rather than dialogue. After the release of the first appeal on April 6, police briefly detained and interrogated several of the more prominent activists who signed it. These activists include writer Do Nam Hai (who also goes under the pen name Phuong Nam), Mennonite clergyman the Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang, and lawyer Nguyen Van Dai. Police used tape to seal Do Nam Hai’s computer and instructed the local Internet service provider to cut off his Internet access.
At the same time, activists have launched an unsanctioned newspaper, Tu Do Ngon Luan (“Free Expression”), which has published two editions since April. In addition, a number of reporters and bloggers have formed an underground media group called the Free Journalists Association of Vietnam.
Among the initiators of the April appeals are prominent dissidents and former political prisoners from Hanoi, Hue and Ho Chi Minh City, including academic Hoang Minh Chinh, teacher Nguyen Khac Toan, Hoa Hao Buddhist leader Le Quang Liem, professor Nguyen Chinh Ket and Catholic priests the Rev. Chan Tin and the Rev. Nguyen Van Ly.
The group’s first public statement, an “Appeal for Freedom of Political Association," was released on April 6 and signed by 116 individuals. On April 8, the “2006 Manifesto on Freedom and Democracy for Vietnam” was released and signed by 118 people. The five-page manifesto calls for: a pluralistic and multiparty political system; freedom of information and of opinion; freedom of religion; freedom to participate in independent labor unions; and freedom to assemble, form associations and political parties and stand for elected offices. As of May 8 – the one-month anniversary of the manifesto – 424 citizens had signed on.
On April 30, the activists, calling themselves the “04/08/06 Group” – the date of the manifesto – issued a protest letter signed by 178 people to denounce the harassment of Do Nam Hai, the Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang and Nguyen Van Dai. In that letter, two prominent Catholic priests, the Rev. Phan Van Loi and former political prisoner the Rev. Nguyen Van Ly, threatened to go on indefinite hunger strike if the arrests and harassment continued.
The two appeals were issued as Vietnam conducted its tenth Communist Party National Congress from April 18-24, at which time a significant turnover in the Politburo was announced, with several key aging party veterans being replaced by younger members.
“This is a test for the new Politburo,” said Adams. “Will a younger generation allow greater latitude for dissent and pluralism, or will they continue to crack down on basic civil and political rights?”
With its bid to join the World Trade Organization still pending, Vietnam is seeking greater legitimacy and integration into the global economy. The Vietnamese government’s adherence to international human rights standards will be a factor in the U.S. State Department’s decision, expected in September, whether to remove its designation of Vietnam as a “Country of Particular Concern” for violations of religious freedom.
“Vietnam cannot expect to gain international legitimacy if it continues to clamp down on calls for human rights, political pluralism and religious freedom,” said Adams.
Background
Despite Vietnam’s ratification of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, the one-party state, dominated by the Vietnamese Communist Party, is intolerant of criticism. Media, political parties, religious organizations and labor unions are not allowed to exist without official sanction and oversight or to take actions that the government or the Communist Party consider contrary to their policies.
Activists who have used the Internet to call for democracy or criticize the government have been imprisoned on the basis of loosely defined national security provisions in Vietnam’s penal code, which violate international standards.
Internet dissidents have been imprisoned on charges of espionage or other national security crimes after using the Internet to disseminate opinions critical of the government. The journalist Nguyen Vu Binh is currently serving a five-year sentence, and Dr. Pham Hong Son is serving a seven-year sentence.
In mid-April, two well known journalists, Duong Phu Cuong and Nguyen Huy Cuong, were detained and harassed at the airport in Ho Chi Minh City and prevented from attending a conference in Manila on free expression in Asian cyberspace.
In late February, Do Nam Hai and Nguyen Khac Toan, a democracy activist and “cyber-dissident” who had just been released from prison, were arrested at an Internet café in Hanoi and briefly detained. Police inspected Toan’s e-mails, printing out a number of them. The two men were then taken to the police station and questioned for several hours. Toan was reportedly charged with violating conditions of his house arrest (after his release from prison he was required to serve five years of house arrest). Do Nam Hai was reportedly charged with violating Decree 55, which prohibits people from accessing banned Internet websites.
Vietnam democracy movement under attack
Analaysts say Vietnam's Bloc 8406 pro-democracy movement is under attack from a communist government unwilling to tolerate political dissent only a year after it was founded.
Analysts and human rights groups says while Vietnam is winning praise for its booming economy, stock market and global integration, a series of arrests and the jailing of an activist Catholic priest have been condemned as a return to darker days.
The crackdown against the underground movement, with more trials expected soon, has soured otherwise blossoming relations with the United States.
On the eve of the movement's first anniversary, Human Rights Watch says Vietnam is cracking down on Bloc 8406 organisers and their families.
Bloc 8406 takes its name from the date it was founded, the 8th of April 2006.
The movement includes academics, clergy, writers, medical doctors, engineers, nurses, businessmen, army veterans and ordinary citizens.
Working under the threat of arrest, they communicate online with each other and exile groups and gathered signatures, now claiming 2,000 members.
Analysts and human rights groups says while Vietnam is winning praise for its booming economy, stock market and global integration, a series of arrests and the jailing of an activist Catholic priest have been condemned as a return to darker days.
The crackdown against the underground movement, with more trials expected soon, has soured otherwise blossoming relations with the United States.
On the eve of the movement's first anniversary, Human Rights Watch says Vietnam is cracking down on Bloc 8406 organisers and their families.
Bloc 8406 takes its name from the date it was founded, the 8th of April 2006.
The movement includes academics, clergy, writers, medical doctors, engineers, nurses, businessmen, army veterans and ordinary citizens.
Working under the threat of arrest, they communicate online with each other and exile groups and gathered signatures, now claiming 2,000 members.
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