Friday, May 6, 2005

US STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL EXPRESSES CONCERNS WITH VIETNAM OVER RELIGIOUS FREEDOM OF MONTAGNARDS

By Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service

BANGKOK, THAILAND (ANS) -- According to remarks made by Robert Zoellick, Deputy Secretary of State for the United States, the Bush administration has serious concerns about the treatment of the Degar Montagnards in the highlands of Vietnam.

Zoellick was addressing a Press Roundtable at the U.S. Ambassador's Residence in Bangkok, Thailand on May 4, 2005 as cited on the WWW at http://scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0505/S00123.htm.

During the roundtable, Zoellick said while in South East Asia he would travel to countries like Vietnam, "where there is certainly a lot of work still to do. But we'll also talk about human rights and religious freedom, where we've been having a particular effort with the Vietnamese."

Zoellick was asked: "What are your human rights concerns in Vietnam?"

Deputy Secretary Zoellick responded: "Well, I mentioned religious freedom is a very important one. Obviously, we also have a concern particularly in the highlands area about the Montagnards and some of the issues dealing with officials, (a) sort of amnesty for people who had been imprisoned in the past. It's the full issues of civil and political rights, as well as the one I think we are making the most progress on, religious freedom."

In a follow-up question, Zoellick was asked whether he could confirm that the United States is ready to sign some kind of agreement, a cooperation agreement on improving religious freedom.

"Can you confirm whether that's true and explain what it is about?" a reporter asked.

Deputy Secretary Zoellick replied: "There is (a) law that set up countries of particular concern in term of religious freedom. It requires the U.S. to focus on countries that have practices that deny various aspects of religious freedom. Vietnam has made some steps already and we have been in the process of negotiating the exchange of letters, an agreement that would codify that. It isn't complete yet, but it's one of the items that I hope to discuss further when I'm there."

On U.S.-Vietnamese human rights cooperation, Zoellick was asked if he could elaborate on what way the two sides might cooperate on this issue?

"What did I try to cover? I tried to cover religious freedom. I talked about the Montagnards. I didn't talk about their efforts on POW/MIAs. I talked about release of political prisoners. I guess more broadly, is steps that are trying to move toward a more open political system in terms of freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, to basic civil and political rights will be the items that I will press."

Zoellick added: "The Vietnamese perception of itself in the region is going through its own evolution and one of the most interesting examples of this is, I had a conversation with Senator John McCain who has particular interest in Vietnam; and, as he explained, the Vietnamese now see how they need to avoid being left behind through all the changes in the region and the changes going on in China. That led to debate in Vietnam that opened the way toward some economic reforms and by all accounts a very strong willingness of the government to try to join the WTO (World TradeOrganization) with some rather significant requirements in terms of transparency and openness and dealing with some of their government-owned companies."

He concluded: "And they want to develop good ties with the United States. They realize a stronger relationship with the United States will necessitate addressing some of these issues. Religious freedom is the first of what I hope will be a positive transition element. But you also have a leadership that is trying to evaluate itself the costs and benefits of this. I (am) hoping the economic openness of the system will help advance the political agenda. We want to try to move both in concert. I think this is where the affect of ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) in the region is very useful. You've seen the effects through ASEAN's partners on Vietnam. Vietnam also sees the rise of China and it sees the influence of China. It wants to have a strong ASEAN and by all accounts, it wants to have a good relationship with the United States."