Vietnamese religious leaders, bloggers, journalists, labor and democracy advocates were given a voice today at a hearing held by Representative Chris Smith (NJ-04), where they provided expert testimony and a critical assessment of President Obama’s recent trip to Vietnam.

     The Administration included Vietnam in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal and during his visit Obama lifted a four decades long arms embargo, allowing the Communist government to purchase lethal weapons. Smith said, “Where’s the background check on the solders and secret police who will have access to sophisticated weapons in Vietnam’s dictatorship?” Last month, Smith lead a bipartisan group of lawmakers in a congressional letter to the President urging him to condition the expansion of U.S. trade and security relationships on human rights improvements.

     Entitled “The President’s Visit to Vietnam: A Missed Opportunity to Advance Human Rights” today’s hearing is part of a series of hearing chaired by Smith looking at the Administration’s attempts to establish closer ties with Vietnam, one of Asia’s most repressive countries. In May, Smith held a hearing with Vu Minh Kanh, the wife of imprisoned human rights lawyer, Nguyen Van Dai. Over 100 prisoners of conscience remain jailed in Vietnam, despite the President’s visit.      
     
     “Members of Congress have repeatedly urged the President to condition expansion of trade and security partnerships on significant, verifiable, and irreversible improvements in human rights in Vietnam,” Smith said. “Despite this, President Obama rewarded one of Asia’s most repressive regimes, with the region’s worst human rights record, without any progress on freedoms and liberties.  The end result is that the American people now get to subsidize Communist Party leaders and their repression of religious communities and rights advocates.  This was not smart diplomacy, but a surrender of American interests and values.

      “The President said famously in his inaugural address that if authoritarian countries would unclench their fist, the U.S. would extend a hand, but I see no tangible evidence that Vietnam—or Cuba or Iran for that matter—have unclenched their fists. In fact, just the opposite is true. I have met with a broad spectrum of Vietnam’s rights advocates, religious leaders, and young activists. They want the U.S. to push for political reforms and human rights. They want the U.S. to stand for their freedom more than for trade.  On these points, the President’s visit was an epic failure of diplomacy.”  (Link to Smith statement)

     The hearing included witnesses from Vietnam’s diverse religious communities; from a Vietnamese-American human rights and refugee organization, Boat People SOS, and from Amnesty International.

     Dr. Nguyen Dinh Thang, Executive Director of Boat People SOS, said “We saw a rise in the number of arrests and prison sentences in the months preceding his trip to Vietnam. It’s not pure coincidence that persecution has increased. The government wants to prove to the Vietnamese people, particularly human rights advocates, that it can get all the benefits it wants from the United States without making any concessions on human rights in return. Unfortunately, President Obama’s Vietnam visit has lent credibility to that message.” (Link to Thang Testimony)

     T. Kumar, a former prisoner of conscience, cast doubt on Obama’s human rights policy, “President Obama’s visit to Vietnam has raised serious questions about the effectiveness of President Obama’s human rights policy and about whether Vietnamese authorities take the United States seriously when it comes to human rights issues. 

     “The administration lowered the bar on human rights. This will not only constrain what the next administration can do, but will serve as a bad example for other countries who will see that the US will capitulate on human rights for economic benefits." Kumar is also International Advocacy Director at Amnesty International. (Link to Kumar Testimony)

     Pastor Rmah, a former head of the Southern Evangelical Church of Vietnam in Dak Nong Province, spoke about the interference of the authorities in religious activity: “The authorities also send representatives come to monitor our services. Program leader must recognize and give thanks to the Authority Members of the Communists first.  Then, second we can give thanks the Lord God. The government even controls the words we can use in our sermons.” (Link to Rmah Testimony)

     Ms. Duong, Overseas Representative for Popular Bloc of Cao Dai Religion, gave details about how authorities repress the adherents of the Cao Dai religion: “When these members gathered for the meeting, police officers and authorities barricaded the gates, blocking them from entering the temple’s premises. The police attacked some members, arrested some others, and dispersed the rest.” (Link to Duong Testimony)

     In order to address the Administration’s reluctance to integrate human rights with U.S. economic and security interests, Smith announced a plan to push for passage of the Vietnam Human Rights Act, a bill that passed four times in the House over the past decade, only to be stalled in the Senate. H.R. 2140 would limit U.S. non-humanitarian assistance to Vietnam until the President certifies to Congress that the government of Vietnam has made substantial progress respecting political, civil, media, Internet, and religious freedoms, minority rights, and taking steps to end trafficking in persons and the release of religious and political prisoners.

     Said Smith, “U.S. policy must send the unmistakable message to the Government of Vietnam that human rights improvements are important to better relations, critically linked to our mutual economic and security interests, and will not be ignored or bargained away. Sadly, it seems, the President’s legacy will be the propping up of a Communist old guard when he should be standing with the new generation of freedom advocates in Vietnam. It is up to the Congress, and the next Administration, to restore the right priorities to U.S.-Vietnam relations.”    Click here or on image below to watch video of the hearing.

     The hearing was Rep. Smith’s twelfth on U.S. policy toward Vietnam.