MemHT Portal
REUTERS - Blind Chinese legal activist Chen Guangcheng said on Saturday he has left a hospital in Beijing, where he has been for the past three weeks since he sought refuge in the U.S. embassy, and was waiting at the airport.

Chen said he believes he will be headed on a flight to the United States, but added he was still uncertain of it.

The departure of Chen and his family would mark the removal of a sticking point in already difficult U.S.-China relations that have been marred by China's handling of human rights. The U.S. embassy was not immediately available for comment.]]>
Describing the situation as “unacceptable,” the department’s human rights chief Michael Posner said Hanoi’s desire to increase engagement with the U.S. is contingent on measurable progress in improving its rights record.

“In Vietnam today, respect for human rights continues to deteriorate, as it has for the past several years,” Posner, who is Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, said at a hearing held by the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission of the U.S. Congress in Washington.]]>
When the Army told Spc. Leslie H. Sabo Jr.'s widow about his death, they said he'd been a shot by a sniper while guarding an ammunition dump somewhere in Vietnam. The Army knows now that wasn’t true. He was killed during an act of heroism.

Sabo's widow and brother will be at the White House on Wednesday to accept the Medal of Honor, the military's highest award for bravery, on Sabo's behalf for his actions on that fateful May day in 1970.

It was May 10, 1970, in Se San, Cambodia. Spc. Leslie H. Sabo Jr. and his platoon were ambushed by a large enemy force. The 22-year-old rifleman from Ellwood City, Pa., charged the enemy position, killing several soldiers, and then attacked an enemy flanking force, drawing fire away from his comrades.]]>
In early April, the Philippine Navy flagship Gregorio del Pilar discovered Chinese fishing boats at the shoal, a group of rocks enclosing a lagoon some 120 nautical miles west of the Philippine island of Luzon. Boarding parties found coral, giant clams, and live sharks on board the boats and prepared to arrest their crews for poaching in Philippine-claimed waters. Within 48 hours, ships from China Maritime Surveillance -- a nonmilitary agency entrusted with enforcing jurisdiction in Chinese-claimed waters -- arrived on the scene and interposed themselves between the Gregorio del Pilar and the alleged poachers.

Manila quickly withdrew its frigate and replaced it with an unarmed Philippine Coast Guard search-and-rescue ship, evidently foreseeing a diplomatic debacle (imagine the political furor should photos emerge of a Philippine warship with civilian Chinese ships under its guns). Stalemate between nonmilitary ships ensued. Although neither government flinched from its claim to the atoll and surrounding waters, both disarmed their presence.]]>
Not exactly on the level of war games, which US Marines were conducting with the Philippines that same week. But that softer tone might be just what Vietnam is looking for in its struggle to secure a share of contested territories in the South China Sea.

The country aims to strike a delicate balance between its two most important partners, China and the US, both of which play vital parts in the intensifying maritime imbroglio. Coveted shipping routes and natural resources, most notably oil and gas, have made the sea contentious for decades.]]>
Many on the left believe that the United States is becoming increasingly active in Chinese politics, especially since Wang Lijun’s meeting at the U.S. consulate in Chengdu. Wang was head of Chongqing’s Public Security Bureau, and met with U.S. officials in early February. They also see Bo’s fall and the Chen Guangcheng case as opportunities seized by the United States to try to influence Chinese thought.]]>
On paper and in public, Zhou Yongkang, who is due to step down later this year as part of a broader leadership transition, retains his title as secretary of the ruling Communist party’s political and legislative affairs committee. He is also part of the nine-member politburo standing committee, which effectively runs China.

But according to three senior party members and diplomats briefed on the subject he has handed operational control of the pervasive Chinese security apparatus to Meng Jianzhu, the current minister of public security.]]>
Vietnam police break up land protest in Nam Dinh.

Respect for human rights is an integral aspect of the bilateral relationship that cannot be separated out.

Eighteen years ago, the United States Congress designated May 11 as Vietnam Human Rights Day to highlight our nation’s support for protecting and promoting basic freedoms in Vietnam. A ceremony and discussion forum will be held at the U.S. Capitol May 10 to mark the occasion, involving members of Congress, labor leaders, non-governmental groups and representatives from Vietnamese communities across America.

The date marks one of the most prominent episodes in domestic advocacy of human rights in Vietnam.  On May 11, 1990, a Vietnamese physician, Dr. Nguyen Dan Que, and other activists published a “Manifesto for the Non-Violent Movement for Human Rights in Vietnam.” The document called for peaceful advocacy against repression and called on the government to respect basic human rights, accept a multi-party political system and allow free and fair national elections. While their protest was a peaceful and largely symbolic one, Dr. Que and his fellow advocates were arrested and convicted of crimes against the state. The doctor has been under virtual house arrest since 2005.

Nor is he alone. Under vaguely worded laws enacted to protect state security, authorities have arrested and detained many peaceful political, religious and civil society activists for allegedly sowing division between the communist government and the Vietnamese people. New measures have been imposed to limit citizens’ privacy rights and freedom of the press, speech, assembly, movement and association.

The United States and Vietnam have made great strides in normalizing relations and expanding trade, and economic growth has brought great improvement to the daily lives of many Vietnamese. But the Hanoi government's record on human rights has not matched its economic progress.  While religious freedom did improve several years ago, it appears to have stopped there and a backsliding has occurred on respect for basic freedoms,  in an effort to suppress what the government views as criticism of it and the Communist Party.  

For the U.S. Government, respect for human rights is an integral aspect of the bilateral relationship that cannot be separated out from an otherwise flourishing relationship with Vietnam. U.S. officials routinely make the point that America supports a strong Vietnam, and that if the government in Hanoi gives a greater say to its people, it will only make the country stronger.

www.voanews.com/policy/editorials/asia/Vietnam-Human-Rights-Day--150872805.html
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The incident was captured on a video posted on YouTube, which showed police and guards beating and kicking two helmeted men and hitting them with sticks during the high-profile land seizure last month. Nguyen Ngoc Nam, chief of political and economic news at the Radio Voice of Vietnam, and staff reporter Han Phi Long, came forward this week to describe what happened.

Nam told the Today's Countryside newspaper he yelled to the security staff that he and his colleague were journalists trying to do their job. "We are journalists, why did you beat us?"]]>  
727-742-9668
 
For immediate release:
 
Congressional Ceremony to Commemorate Vietnam Human Rights Day May 10, 2012
 
WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Thursday, May 10, 2012, a ceremony on Capitol Hill will call attention to deteriorating human rights conditions in Vietnam.  This event, held in the Hart Senate Building (Room H216) from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., will commemorate the anniversary of the U.S. House-Senate Joint Resolution SJ 168 designating May 11th as the Vietnam Human Rights Day.
 
The event is especially timely given the first steps of democratic changes in Burma in contrast to worsening of human rights violations across Asia.  Despite escalating state repression, the people of Asia are encouraged by the movements in the Middle East and North Africa, and are organizing for change. The Capitol Hill ceremony will be attended by delegations from China, Tibet, Laos, and Burma. This year, the event is hosted by Senator John Cornyn from the State of Texas, who has introduced the Vietnam Human Rights Sanction Act in the Senate.
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The remarks, delivered during a meeting Monday between Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Fu Ying and Manila’s chargé d’affaires in Beijing, Alex Chua, marked a significant uptick in the heat of the rhetoric as relations between China and one of Washington’s closest allies in the region continue to deteriorate.

Mr. Chua was summoned by China’s Foreign Ministry on Monday, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency, as part of a long-running dispute around what is known as the Scarborough Shoal in English and Huangyan island in Chinese, in the southeastern part of the South China Sea. Xinhua said it was the third meeting in less than a month between the two sides.]]>
When this blind human rights attorney found his way to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing late last month, he provoked an instant diplomatic incident. That's because his arrival came on the eve of a visit to China by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. Now that Mr. Chen has left the embassy, he's made the situation messier still by asking the U.S. to take him and his family to America.

Mrs. Clinton, who deserves credit for having raised Mr. Chen's name when he was under house arrest, said what you would expect a U.S. secretary of state to say. At a news conference in Beijing on Friday, she declared that the U.S.-China dispute over Mr. Chen would not endanger the other "significant matters that we are working on together."
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After a week of silence over the U.S. handling of the Chen case, some Chinese state media published strongly worded editorials. A Beijing News headline Friday read ‘Diplomats Can’t Exceed Their Station.’

Media analysts said the sudden rash of commentary represented an effort by the Chinese government to reassert control over the conversation around the case of Mr. Chen, whose escape from home imprisonment has caused a diplomatic scramble between the U.S. and China.]]>
Yet, nine months on, Locke’s key role in the recent drama over blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng has put him on the front lines of U.S. concerns about China’s embattled dissident community. Chen’s sudden escape from house arrest and a U.S. decision to give him sanctuary in the U.S. Embassy gave Locke his first crisis as ambassador, made him a target of criticism from Beijing and earned him respect from the human rights lobby.

“He is setting a new precedent for future U.S. ambassadors” on human rights, said Bob Fu of the Texas-based rights group ChinaAid, who has been in close contact with Chen and the Obama administration over the case.]]>
The session Wednesday cements a detente between Suu Kyi's party and the administration of President Thein Sein, which came to power last year after the nation's long-ruling army junta stepped down. Some analysts see it as a gamble in which the opposition could end up bestowing legitimacy upon a regime that needs Suu Kyi to end years of isolation from the West and get lingering sanctions lifted.

The 66-year-old democracy leader will have almost no power in the assembly, but she'll nevertheless have an official voice in the legislative branch and the chance to challenge public policy from inside the halls of power for the first time.]]>
Sources tell ABC News that U.S. Ambassador Gary Locke, Legal Advisor to the Department of State Harold Koh and Assistant Secretary of State for Asian and Pacific Asian Affairs Kurt Campbell escorted Chen to the hospital where was reunited with his wife, Yuan Weijing, and their two small children. It is not known how long Chen will remain at the hospital. U.S. officials will continue to be able to meet with him while he is there.

China is demanding an apology from the U.S. for allowing Chen to enter the embassy. U.S. officials continued to decline to comment on his whereabouts until Wednesday, but in a statement the Chinese Foreign Ministry has said that Chen spent six days at the U.S. embassy and left of his own volition.]]>
The claim directly challenges the narrative that has been coming from American officials, who have described Chen Guangcheng's decision as his own -- and tried to move on from the incident ahead of key talks between U.S. and Chinese officials.

U.S. officials have said Chen received assurances from Beijing, before he decided to leave the U.S. Embassy Wednesday for medical treatment at a hospital. Chen fled to the embassy nearly a week ago after escaping house arrest.

But in an interview with The Associated Press, Chen reportedly said U.S. officials told him Chinese authorities would send his family back home if he stayed inside. He added that, at one point, the U.S. officials told him his wife would be beaten to death. ]]>
More than 170 people have fallen ill with the unidentified illness, which causes stiffness in the limbs and ulcers on victims' hands and feet that look like severe burns.

"We are concerned about this. WHO is very aware of this case," said Wu Guogao, the organisation's chief officer in Hanoi, adding Vietnam had not asked for help with an investigation into the outbreak.

The WHO has not been given access to any official reports on the issue.

"It is difficult to say the exact cause at this stage," he told AFP.]]>
Nguyen Quoc Quan, a California resident who holds a U.S. passport, was arrested April 17 at Ho Chi Min City's Tan Son Nhat International Airport. But news of his arrest only became public Sunday, in reports from state-run news organizations and a plea from Viet Tan, the advocacy group for which he works.

According to a report in the Communist Youth Union-run Tuoi Tre news, "police caught (Quan) bringing documents on terrorist training to allegedly incite demonstrations in Ho Chi Minh City as well as other provinces and cities" during festivities set for Monday and Tuesday marking the reunification of North and South Vietnam and May Day.

Vietnam's Security Ministry determined that Quan planned to hold a "demonstration and terrorist activities planned by ... Viet Tan," said a report in the state-run Vietnam News Agency.]]>
At least three activists were detained following the escape last week of Chen Guangcheng, a legal advocate who has fought forced abortions under China’s one-child policy.

Meanwhile, popular Twitter-like microblogging service Sina Weibo blocked use of the words “blind man” and “UA898,” a United Airlines flight from Beijing to Washington that Mr. Chen was rumored to have taken out of China. News of his escape hasn’t appeared in major state-run media.

Chinese officials appeared to be digging for details of Mr. Chen’s escape from his home in the village of Dongshigu in Shandong province on April 22, which friends said was a carefully planned effort in which Mr. Chen scaled a wall at night, confined himself to his bedroom for weeks to fool his guards into thinking his health was poor and moved among safe houses once in Beijing. Mr. Chen escaped alone, and his wife and daughter are believed to still be under home confinement, his friends say.
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The popular Twitter-like microblogging service Sina Weibo on Tuesday deleted the accounts of several users, including that of Li Delin, a senior editor of the Chinese business magazine Capital Week, whose March 19 post helped fuel rumors of a coup in Beijing. The service announced the move to many of its more than 300 million user accounts, thereby turning it into a public lesson in the consequences of rumor mongering.

"Recently, criminal elements have used Sina Weibo to create and spread malicious political rumors online for no reason, producing a terrible effect on society," the notice said. It said the deleted users have "already been dealt with by public security organs according to the law." Sina didn't return calls for comment.]]>
Human Rights Watch recommends that Australia should focus on the cases of political prisoners and detainees, and examine four key priority areas in its upcoming human rights dialogue with Vietnam. These four priority areas are the following: repression of the freedom of speech and freedom of organization; repression of the right to freely practice religion; police brutality; and forced labor in drug rehabilitation centers.
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Five days of joint US-Vietnam naval exercises that started Monday in Vietnam are the latest signals of growing cooperation between the one-time enemies.

The training is prompted by common concerns about the resource-rich South China Sea, where six countries have claims and where China has recently clashed with Vietnam and the Philippines.

But as the US and Vietnam get close, Vietnam's human rights record is raising questions among activists regarding whether the US is sufficiently vocal about political, economic, and free speech violations in Vietnam, a one-party state ruled by the Communist Party where all other political parties are banned.]]>
State-run Thanh Nien newspaper said that the bloggers posted 421 articles on the Independent Journalists’ Club website between September 2007 and October 2010 and were “distorting the truth, denigrating the party and state.”

Hanoi-based lawyer Le Quoc Quan works closely with some of Vietnam's hard-pressed pro-democracy activists. He estimates that Vietnam holds between 300 and 600 political prisoners, a category not recognized by the government. He told the Monitor that the three detained writers “did nothing but express their freedom of press.”]]>
Villagers in the district of Van Giang just east of the capital had vowed to stand their ground after local authorities announced that they would forcibly appropriate 70 hectares (173 acres) of land for use in a satellite city development called Ecopark.

Many villagers camped out on the land overnight, burning bonfires and keeping vigil, photos showed.

But a force of 2,000-4,000 police and unidentified men not wearing uniforms converged on the land early on Tuesday morning, three villagers and one other witness said.

"We threw bottles of gasoline at them, but it did not help, they had shields. They used clubs to beat us. Even when we ran back to the village, they followed us and beat us," said a villager who gave his name as Kien.]]>
THIS week, military forces from the United States and the Philippines are holding annual combined exercises on Palawan Island in the South China Sea. The manoeuvres have coincided with a tense stand-off involving Chinese and Philippine coast guard vessels at Scarborough Shoal, a rocky outcrop west of Luzon which is claimed by both countries.

Both events highlight America's increasing involvement in the contentious dispute in the South China Sea dispute which involves China, Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei.

How does the United States view the dispute and what measures is it taking to promote stability in the area']]>
In further proof that irony is alive and well, Vietnam is a candidate for a seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council in 2014-2016. What sort of human-rights watchdog would the government in Hanoi be? For a hint, consider the ongoing cases of three activist bloggers now facing a trial that harks back to an earlier, Orwellian century.

Nguyen Van Hai (who blogs under the pen name Dieu Cay), Phan Thanh Hai (who blogs as Anh Ba Saigon) and Ta Phong Tan (a former police officer and Communist Party member who wrote a blog entitled “Justice and Truth”) will soon face trial for “crimes against national security.” They are all members of the Club of Free Journalists, a group founded in 2008 to call for the right to create private media outlets and promote freedom of expression and independent journalism in Vietnam. In Hanoi’s authoritarian one-party system, such peaceful activism earns a charge of “spreading propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam” under Article 88 of the penal code.]]>
The agreement to waive 303.5 billion yen ($3.72 billion) debt and overdue charges was reached during President Thein Sein's visit to Tokyo, the first by a Myanmar head of state in nearly three decades, signaling its steady return to the international fold after decades of brutal military rule.

"In order to support Myanmar's efforts for reforms in various areas towards its democratization, national reconciliation and sustainable development, Japan will extend economic cooperation ... while continuously observing the progress of these efforts ...," Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said in a statement.]]>
To roll or not to roll, that is the multi-billion dollar question Vietnam's ruling Communist Party now weighs. The casino quandary hinges on how a nominally communist state that still deploys revolutionary rhetoric can openly embrace such a free-wheeling capitalist concept.

Vietnam's rulers have long grappled with the casino concept. Party hardliners have said legalizing gambling will open a Pandora's box of social evils, something the communist revolution vowed to eradicate. More moderate officials have pointed to the potential financial boon of more tourism and tax revenues.

A breakthrough in the ideological struggle came in 2008 when Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung almost halfway into his first term of office approved a Las Vegas-style casino integrated resort. The US$4.2 billion Ho Tram Strip, under a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer banner, is now under construction and situated about 80 miles (128.7 kilometers) from Ho Chi Minh City.]]>
I would like to thank all of you who signed this petition underscoring Americans' concern for human rights in Vietnam and the United States-Vietnam relationship. As our dialogue with Vietnam evolves, we are especially cognizant of the views of the Vietnamese community in the U.S.

The United States will remain diligent in pursuing progress on human rights in our high-level engagement as we pursue a wide array of security, economic, and strategic interests with Vietnam. In our discussions with the Vietnamese government, we emphasize that progress on human rights, including the release of political prisoners and freedom of religion, is a necessary part of improving United States-Vietnam relations. Secretary of State Clinton raised our human rights concerns with President Sang when they met at the November 2011 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii. U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam David Shear has raised similar concerns in all of his high-level meetings since arriving in Vietnam last August, and he and the Mission regularly engage Vietnamese government officials, nongovernmental organizations, and other individuals as part of our Government's commitment to promote greater respect for human rights in Vietnam.]]>