The bill coded HR 3096 was put forth by New Jersey Representative Christopher Smith who has for years represented several forces lacking in goodwill toward Vietnam. In the past three years, he wrote the annual Vietnam Human Rights Act, which was approved by the House, but later turned down by the Senate.

In this year’s bill, he made provisions linked to humanitarian aid to Vietnam, which in fact is the metamorphosis to intervene in Vietnam’s internal affairs and obstruct national construction and development. He and other sponsors of the bill imposed conditions for prohibiting humanitarian aid to Vietnam unless the country releases those they claim to be human rights and democracy activists. The bill also proposed US$4 million in aid for human rights activities by organisations and individuals and US$10 million for Radio Free Asia transmissions to Vietnam over the next two years. 

What sort of human rights do the authors of the bill want to impose on Vietnam?

In fact figures under the protection of the bill are law-breakers such as Nguyen Van Ly, Nguyen Van Dai, and Le Thi Cong Nhan who had gathered and incited others to oppose the Vietnamese State. After a recent visit to Vietnam, Senator Sam Brownback said that with these acts, those figures are not human rights activists as portrayed by Mr Smith.

Everyone knows that Radio Free Asia, which is one of the western media agencies financially sponsored by several conservatives in the US, spends a considerable amount of time fabricating and inciting activities against the Vietnamese State. By requiring sponsorship for this radio as well as for individuals behind their insidious schemes to stir up people’s peaceful lives, Mr Smith and other co-sponsors of the bill are aiding and abetting opposition forces in Vietnam to sabotage and obstruct national development. It is as clear as day to all and sundry that this act is not aimed at guaranteeing and developing human rights in Vietnam, but intentionally denying the human rights achievements that the Party, State and many generations of Vietnamese people have tried to make and maintain over the past six decades.

US Deputy Chief of Mission Jonathan Aloisi recently affirmed that the US Government has acknowledged Vietnam’s tremendous development achievements, particularly in poverty reduction. A Gallup poll conducted recently in 53 countries also showed that Vietnamese people are the most optimistic in the world in 2007.  

Can it really be true that the constant efforts made by the Vietnamese government to build a stable and prosperous life for its people over the past decades are not significant in guaranteeing and developing human rights? In Vietnam, its people are brimming with vitality and trust in a better future. It is not by chance that all representatives of Asian countries to the United Nations have nominated Vietnam as the single Asian candidate for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council to solve global issues. Turning a blind eye to those efforts and achievements, Mr Smith put forth the so-called Vietnam Human Rights Act in an attempt to legalise activities against the Southeast Asian country. Such an act is only detrimental to the cooperative relations between Vietnam and the US. Many US Senators also voice opposition to this blatant and dangerous attempt.