Washington, D.C. – Citing several recent arrests and assaults carried out by the government of Vietnam against the Vietnamese people, Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) has written Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to express his concern about growing human rights abuses in Vietnam.


Wolf, the ranking Republican on the House State-Foreign Operations
Appropriations subcommittee, wrote in a three-page letter dated April
18 that Vietnamese-Americans in his district and across the country are
"angered and distressed by what they perceive as a new and aggressive
plan of the Hanoi government to reverse the progress of human rights in
Vietnam."

He told Rice that the State Department should consider cancelling the
planned visit to the United States of the Vietnamese president and
prime minister later this year if the situation does not improve. He
also wrote that many Vietnamese-Americans do not believe U.S.
Ambassador to Vietnam Michael Marine and his staff are doing enough to
stop the abuses.

"It seems to me the Vietnamese government is conducting this crackdown
on advocates of human rights and religious freedom because it believes
the U.S. has no further leverage in the region," Wolf wrote. "Now that
Vietnam has been admitted to the WTO, and met with the Holy See, they
believe they can respond in this brutal fashion to supporters of
democracy and freedom and we will not respond."

*********************************
April 18, 2007

The Honorable Condoleezza Rice
Secretary of State
US Department of State
2201 C St NW Ste 7276
Washington DC 20520

Dear Secretary Rice:

I am writing to express my deep concern regarding the worsening human
rights situation in Vietnam in recent months. After joining the World
Trade Organization in January 2007, the politburo of the Vietnamese
Communist Party (VCP) has carried out a large-scale brutal campaign of
arrest against the nascent movement for democracy in Vietnam. Ignoring
all international criticism and strenuous protests of the Vietnamese
people, inside Vietnam and abroad, the communist regime in Hanoi has
shamefully pushed ahead with its crackdown. The following events were
particularly disconcerting to me:

* On February 18, 2007, the second day of the Lunar New Year, which
is the most sacred time in Vietnamese culture, the communist security
forces raided Father Nguyen Van Ly's office within the Communal
Residence of the Hue Archdiocese. Father Ly was later banished to a
remote, secluded area in Hue.

* On March 5, 2007, security forces in Saigon told Mrs. Bui Ngoc
Yen that they had an order to arrest her husband, Professor Nguyen
Chinh Kiet, who is a leading member of the Alliance for Democracy and
Human Rights in Vietnam. Professor Kiet was in Europe at the time
campaigning for democracy and human rights in Vietnam.

* On March 8, 2007, Reverend Nguyen Cong Chinch and his wife were
brutally assaulted by security forces of Gia Lai Province in the
Central Highlands, who then arrested Reverend Chinch on undisclosed
charges.

* Also on March 8, 2007, two prominent human rights activists and
lawyers, Mr. Nguyen Van Dai and Ms. Le Thi Cong Nhan, were arrested in
Hanoi and were told that they would be detained for four months as part
of an undisclosed investigation.

* On March 9, 2007, Mr. Tran Van Hoa, a member of the People's
Democracy Party in Quang Ninh Province, and Mr. Pham Van Troi, a member
of the Committee for Human Rights in Ha Tay, were summoned by security
forces and threatened with "immeasurable consequences" if they do not
stop their advocacy for human rights in Vietnam.

* On March 10, 2007, Do Nam Hai, an engineer writing under the pen
name Phuong Nam and one of the leading members of the Alliance for
Democracy and Human Rights in Vietnam, was told by security forces that
he could be indicted at any time for activity against the State.

* Also on March 10, 2007, state security forces also raided the
home of Ms. Tran Khai Thanh Thuy, a writer, on the grounds that she
advocated for "people with grievances" against the government. They
took away two computers, two cell phones, and hundreds of appeals that
she had prepared for victims of the government's abuses.

* On March 12, 2007, lawyer Le Quoc Quan, a consultant on local
governance for the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, UNDP, and
Swedish International Development Agency, was arrested in his hometown,
Nghe An, less than a week after he returned from a fellowship at the
National Endowment for Democracy in Washington, D.C. His whereabouts
are unknown at this time.

* On April 5, 2007, the Vietnamese authorities in Hanoi rudely
prevented Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez (D-CA) from meeting with
several dissidents' wives at a gathering organized at the U.S.
Ambassador's home. The police reportedly used very hostile and
undignified manners to intervene in the meeting.

Furthermore, the Hanoi communist regime is still imprisoning many
political dissidents and labor advocates such as Nguyen Vu Binh, Huynh
Nguyen Dao, Truong Quoc Huy, Nguyen Hoang Long, Nguyen Tan Hoanh, Doan
Huy Chuong, the religious leaders of the Unified Buddhist Church of
Vietnam, Cao Dai, Hoa Hao, and more than 350 lay people of the
Protestant churches in the Central Highland.

The Vietnamese-Americans in my district, as well as all across the
country, are very angered and distressed by what they perceive as a new
and aggressive plan of the Hanoi government to reverse the progress of
human rights in Vietnam. They believe that Ambassador Marine and his
staff are not doing enough to stop these blatant violations of human
rights.

It seems to me that the Vietnamese government is conducting this
crackdown on advocates of human rights and religious freedom because it
believes that the U.S. has no further leverage in the region. Now that
Vietnam has been admitted to the WTO, and met with the Holy See, they
believe they can respond in this brutal fashion to supporters of
democracy and freedom and we will not respond.

I hope that you will make clear to the Vietnamese authorities that we
will not stand by while this violence and intimidation continues. I
believe the State Department should consider putting Vietnam back on
the list of Countries of Particular Concern, and perhaps also consider
canceling the planned visit of the Vietnamese president and prime
minister later this year if the human rights situation in Vietnam has
not improved.

I appreciate the recent comments by Sean McCormack at Voice of America
expressing deep concern about the March 30 trial and sentencing of
Father Ly. I ask that you continue pressing these issues with the
Vietnamese government, including the need to respect the basic human
rights of all Vietnamese citizens, especially the freedom of
information, freedom of expression, and freedom of religion. The
Vietnamese people should be able to choose their own leaders through
free and fair elections and to use the Internet freely without any
censures or restrictions.

I also ask that you encourage the Vietnamese authorities to release all
political prisoners and religious leaders who are currently imprisoned
because of their peaceful expression of their ideas or to fight for
their religious beliefs. Among these prisoners are Father Nguyen Van
Ly, Pastors Nguyen Cong Chinh and Hong Trung, lawyers Nguyen Van Dai,
Le thi Cong Nhan, Le Quoc Quan, Messiers Truong Quoc Huy, and Nguyen
Hoang Lon.

Lastly, I believe the Vietnamese-American community, a young but
energetic group comprised of more than one million citizens, should be
included in future dialogues with U.S. government officials. They know
the history, culture and values of Vietnam. They also have scrutinized
the history and tactics of communism and the communist government's
habits at the negotiating table. I sincerely believe that the history
of Vietnam must inform our approach to this and all other aspects of
foreign policy, and the Vietnamese-American community is a tremendous
asset in this regard. I respectfully request that you invite a small
representation of the Vietnamese-American community to join the U.S.
delegation in next month's human rights dialogue.

Best wishes.

Sincerely,

Frank R. Wolf
Member of Congress