[Vacets-local-dc] [Japan links Vietnam aid to human rights progres]

[Hai Tran]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/HAN285743.htm

Japan links Vietnam aid to human rights progress
02 Jun 2004 10:39:10 GMT
 
HANOI, June 2 (Reuters) - Japan will link future aid to Vietnam with progress Hanoi makes in improving its human rights record and protecting the legal rights of foreign investors, officials said on Wednesday.

Last year Tokyo cut off new aid to Myanmar after the military government detained democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi. Limited aid resumed this year but Japan has said it will refrain from large-scale assistance to Myanmar.

Detailing a new aid programme on Wednesday, Japan said the amount Vietnam receives each year will depend on factors that include improving human rights, democracy and the needs of ethnic minorities, Japanese embassy officials told a briefing.

Other factors to be considered are Vietnam's development needs, policy and institutional environment and the country's capacity to use the aid, officials said.

"We have been having discussions in these areas," said Mitsuru Kitano, minister at the embassy. However, he said that for the first time, Japan was formally listing these issues including human rights in a "very systematic" way with Vietnam.

Vietnam has often been accused of human rights failings, including suppression of non-official religious groups and political dissent. It routinely denies the charges.

Japan-Vietnam investment ties hit snags last year over surprise new taxes levied on foreign car makers and limits on the import of motorcycle parts that hit sales at Japanese joint venture companies.

Japan's Toyota Motor Corp and Honda hold dominant market share positions in Vietnam among the foreign auto makers.

Out of Vietnam's 40 donors, Japan alone provides the most aid, pledging about $840 million in 2003, or some 29.5 percent of Vietnam's total.

A total of $2.8 billion was promised to Vietnam by donors last year.

At the briefing attended by other donors to Vietnam including Australia and the United States, a Vietnamese government representative expressed support for the new programme, calling it a "comprehensive cooperation".

Emphasising that Vietnam remains a poor country that needs development aid, Duong Duc Ung, of the Ministry of Planning and Investment's Foreign Economic relations department, bristled slightly when asked to react to the human rights criteria.

"In Vietnam we are open for discussion, for dialogue with our partners," he said, adding, "Vietnam doesn't like one thing: to teach us about human rights and democracy." 



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