[Vnbiz] Stand up to Uncle Bully

[Tran Dinh Hoanh]

Dear Craig & CACC,



Thanks for posting a row of articles by Shawn Crispin, Craig.  Obviously
this guy has his own philosophy.  Two of the articles are about
anti-government political activities.  I am very aware of Vietnam politics.
And my policy is that I do not support any anti-government organizations or
groups, regardless of what they claim they support, including calling
themselves "sons of God" or "Jesus follower" or 'Buddha in the
Making."  Continuing
the old conflict against the government under any color is detrimental for
the country.  Materials that support such activities are not disseminated
through this forum (I let all your messages go through just for
demonstration purposes here).  We do not want to waste our time with them.



We have address and will continue to address issues of democracy, religious
freedom, press freedom, citizen liberty, anti-corruption, etc... in this
forum our way, based on the fundamental premise that all Vietnamese,
including the government and the VCP, work together toward that goal.  In
short, our way is "Working with the government for democracy," not
"Anti-government for democracy."   Our fundamental political-philosophical
premise is that democracy exists only when people can work together as
brothers and sisters and not when people try to work against each other.



Now let me address this article about Internet control.  It is true that
Vietnam has Internet control.  Control itself is not bad.  That is a part
of any government's job.  Goivernment has to have some management measure
over the Internet.  What measure is subject to debate, but no one can say
that the government should do nothing about the Internet.



Anyway, this guy Shawn Crispin writes about control and restriction, but
obviously ignores VNBIZ.  In this forum, we don't mind criticize the
government directly and heavily when there is a reason to do so.  And this
forum has covered everything from multiparty to religious freedom to freedom
of press to Party-member corruption.  You name it, we have talked about it.



Half of the admins of this forum live in Vietnam, and more than 80 percent
of our members live in Vietnam.  The forum is open for everyone in the world
to read.  And we know that many government agencies read our writings
seriously and, as any observer can see, our policy recommendations are
adopted by government agencies very often.



The work of the predecessor of this forum (VNForum) has been studied and
presented in a PhD thesis by Dr. Caroline Kieu Linh Velverde of UC-Berkeley.
So we are fairly prominent in the intellectual and policy scene of Vietnam.



But this Crispin talks about Internet restrictions while conveniently
ignoring the most prominent Vietnam-based discussion forum on the Internet.
If you read VNForum and VNBIZ you can't say that there is no freedom of
discussion in Vietnam.  (We admins have our own policy and restriction,
because we want to keep our forum to certain direction.  But the government
has no authority in our forum).  Writers like Cirspin who are biased,
inaccurate and unfair really do more harm than good to the world.  We don't
want to waste time with them.



Have a great day, Craig.



Hoanh


On 9/27/06, Craig Stevenson <cstevenson2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> [Vietnam Business Forum]
>
>
>
>
>
>
> and, unfortunately, another:
>
> *A quantum leap in censorship
> *By Shawn W Crispin
>
> The future of Internet freedom is being decided in Asian cyberspace, and
> judging by recent trends and developments, that future looks increasingly
> dim.
>
> Past hopes that an unfettered Internet would empower lots of little
> information-driven democratic uprisings have more recently been met and
> systematically squashed by a number of censorious Asian governments.
>
> China's highly restrictive state-run firewall - which significantly is
>
> [image: China Business Big Picture]<http://goldsea.com/GAAN/adclick.php?bannerid=258&zoneid=117&source=&dest=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.atimes.com%2Fatimes%2Fchina_business.html>
> <http://goldsea.com/GAAN/adclick.php?n=a923457d>
>
> built into all levels of the country's Internet infrastructure, from
> routers, to Internet service providers, to e-mail and in chat rooms - is
> fast emerging as the region's cyberspace censorship and surveillance model
> of choice.
>
> Southeast Asian governments are increasingly taking their technological
> cues from China on how to filter and block politically sensitive content, as
> well as locate and jail cyber-dissidents bold enough to make online postings
> calling for more democracy and freedom of information.
>
> Some of the region's most backward, otherwise mismanaged military-run
> regimes are emerging as surprisingly adept at Internet censorship. Vietnam's
> crusty Communist Party-led government and Myanmar's highly inept army-led
> junta represent two troubling cases in technological point.
>
> According the OpenNet Initiative (ONI), a collaborative research
> partnership among Harvard, Cambridge and Oxford Universities, Vietnam's
> Internet-filtering regime has shown the most dramatic improvements of any
> country the research unit has studied. A newly released ONI report on
> Vietnam says that "the technical sophistication, breadth and effectiveness
> of Vietnam's filtering are increasing with time" and "it seems inescapable
> that the state's online-information control will deepen and grow".
>
> Apart from blocking hundreds of political and religious-related websites,
> the study found that Vietnamese censors are increasingly focusing their
> filtering technology on so-called "anonymizer" sites - which are designed to
> allow users to bypass state-run filtering systems and remotely access
> blocked content. On the surveillance front, at least 10 Vietnamese have been
> arrested for conducting perceived political activities over the Internet,
> seven of them sentenced to prison.
>
> Myanmar's ruling military junta likewise implements one of the most
> extensive Internet-censorship regimes in the world, according to ONI.
> Sophisticated software-based filtering techniques limit the content
> in-country Web surfers may access, while state censors have more recently
> improved their capabilities to conduct surveillance over Internet-based
> communications, including blogs, e-mail, and chat rooms.
>
> For instance, the junta has long blocked local access to major global
> e-mail providers Yahoo and Hotmail. In June, government censors temporarily
> blocked access to the significantly more secure G-mail and G-Talk services,
> neatly planned to block Internet dissident chatter concerning detained
> opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's birthday.
>
> Meanwhile, ONI now is focusing on the Internet-control capabilities
> emerging in Thailand, Singapore and Pakistan, according to one of the
> group's researchers who recently spoke with Asia Times Online.
>
> *Splitting the 'Net *
> Worryingly, while China's, Vietnam's and Myanmar's Internet controls are
> already among the most repressive in the world, all three regimes appear to
> have even more ambitious censorship designs - that is, to cut off their
> Internet users from the World Wide Web altogether.
>
> This year China raised new concerns that it may soon move to split the
> global Internet by migrating the country's tens of millions of Internet
> users over to a new Chinese-language top-level domain, a state-managed
> intranet service completely disconnected from the global Internet.
>
> That in the main is already the case in Myanmar, where most dial-up
> Internet accounts provide access only to the limited Myanmar intranet rather
> than the globally connected World Wide Web. Vietnam is in the process of
> implementing its own Vietnamese-language second-level domain, similar to
> China's, which will further improve its Internet-filtering capabilities and
> curtail the country's Internet connectivity with the wider Web.
>
> Internet-freedom advocates often understate these threats, contending that
> tech-savvy cyber-dissidents will always remain a step ahead of pursuant
> government censors through the use of hyper-secure e-mail systems, such as
> Hushmail, and internationally hosted proxy servers. However, those arguments
> only hold on the assumption that governments do not unplug from the broader
> World Wide Web - a move that many repressive regimes are in fact now making.
>
>
> The sadder part of the story is that many US and European technology
> companies, which publicly enthuse about the Internet's democratizing
> potential, provide the region's censorious regimes with the blunting
> technology they so desperately crave. Microsoft, Google, Yahoo and Skype
> have all cravenly complied with China's strict censorship requirements, in
> effect supplying Chinese censors with the most sophisticated filtering
> techniques in the world.
>
> Meanwhile, lesser-known US technology companies are more directly
> profiting from selling censorship tools. Myanmar has substantially upgraded
> its technical filtering capabilities through its recent deployment of US
> technology company Fortinet's firewall product. Researchers are still trying
> to ascertain exactly how Vietnam has been able to accomplish its quantum
> leap in censorship capabilities, but suspect it too has had foreign
> technical help.
>
> It's a matter of melancholy fact that the region's repressive regimes will
> do everything in their power, including censoring the Internet, to keep
> their respective peoples information-starved and disempowered. But what's
> more lamentable is that profit-oriented, morally bankrupt Western companies
> should so eagerly line up to assist in the process.
>
> That otherwise technologically challenged countries such as Myanmar and
> Vietnam now possess some of the world's most repressive censorship platforms
> would seem to indicate that Internet freedom in Asia is already a lost
> cause. That may or may not be the case. But it's certainly high time that
> global technology companies stop assisting the region's censorious
> governments and instead work to develop and deploy easy e-solutions for end
> users to bypass and subvert the filtering systems they have already been
> paid to put in place.
>
> *Shawn W Crispin is Asia Times Online's Southeast Asia editor.*
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On 9/27/06, Craig Stevenson <cstevenson2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > Yet another,
> >
> >  Heed the Call of the Vietnam Bloc 8406 by Shawn W. Crispin, Asia Times
> > Online
> > by Viet-Am Review on Thu 14 Sep 2006 10:33 PM PDT  |  Permanent Link<http://vietamreview.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2006/9/14/2328474.html> |
> > Cosmos<http://technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?url=http%3A%2F%2Fvietamreview.blogharbor.com%2Fblog%2F_archives%2F2006%2F9%2F14%2F2328474.html>
> >  *Sep 14, 2006 *
> > *Heed the call of Vietnam's Bloc 8406
> > *By Shawn W Crispin
> >
> > BANGKOK - If Vietnam's aspiring democrats finally prevail, April 8,
> > 2006, will go down in the national history as the beginning of the end the
> > Communist Party's monolithic, authoritarian grip on power.
> >
> > On that day, hundreds of democratic-minded Vietnamese took the
> > courageous step of publicly declaring and signing their names to a
> > "Manifesto on Freedom and Democracy for Vietnam", coincident with the
> > Communist Party's 10th National Congress in Hanoi.
> >
> > Since then the group has grown into a thousands-strong pro-democracy
> > movement popularly known as Bloc 8406, named after the date the group first
> > publicly called for a political transition toward more participatory
> > democracy. The domestic dissident movement represents the most potent
> > political challenge ever to Vietnam's ruling Communist Party, which took
> > power in the south militarily in 1975 and has ruled with an iron fist ever
> > since.
> >
> > And the group is gradually upping the ante of its activities. On August
> > 22, Bloc 8406 publicly declared its four-phase proposal for Vietnam's
> > democratization, including demands for the restoration of civil liberties,
> > the establishment of political parties, the drafting of a new constitution
> > and, finally, democratic elections for a new representative National
> > Assembly that would be charged with choosing a new national name, flag and
> > anthem.
> >
> > The petition was publicly disseminated and signed by representatives
> > from all three of the country's main regions, including former Vietnam
> > People's Army officer Tran Anh Kim and prominent Catholic priest Nguyen Van
> > Ly. Bloc 8406 claims that young educated professionals represent the core of
> > its membership - a stark contrast to the Communist Party's mostly crusty
> > cadres.
> >
> > The government is obviously spooked by the group's growing visibility
> > and has reacted to the perceived challenge to its authority with its
> > trademark jackboot harassment and crude violence. Scores of Bloc 8406's
> > members have in recent weeks been harassed, interrogated and, in the case of
> > Ho Chi Minh City member Vu Hoang Hai, brutally tortured. Other high-profile
> > members have had their telephone lines cut or mobile phones confiscated.
> >
> > On August 12, security agents rounded up and interrogated five Bloc 8406
> > members in Hanoi who had planned to launch a new online political magazine
> > aptly called Freedom and Democracy. Agents later confiscated their
> > equipment, documents and at least one desktop computer, forcibly putting the
> > new publication's August 15 launch date on indefinite hold.
> >
> > Significantly, Bloc 8406 has launched its campaign of civil disobedience
> > while the world spotlight is focused squarely on the country's next move.
> > Vietnam's communist leaders have wooed the international community with its
> > impressive economic-reform credentials, casting aside its old cloistered
> > communist ways to embrace the global marketplace.
> >
> > Those credentials will likely be enough to win permanent normal trade
> > relations, a motion that is now pending with the US Congress and widely
> > viewed as the last stepping stone for Hanoi's accession to the World Trade
> > Organization this year. Meanwhile, the Communist Party is preparing to put
> > its best foot forward when hosting the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation
> > (APEC) summit in Hanoi in November, an event that will be attended by world
> > leaders, including US President George W Bush.
> >
> > At the same time, Bloc 8406 leaders have indicated their intention to
> > intensify their activities during the high-profile meetings - putting the
> > two sides on a potentially dangerous collision course. The new group has
> > acknowledged that while it may escape direct harassment during the actual
> > APEC event, it fears that its members will face the government's wrath
> > before and after world leaders and the international media have come and
> > gone.
> >
> > "A favorite tactic of the communist regime is to round up dissidents
> > prior to international events, use the individuals as bargaining chips
> > before the event, and then resume the harassment and arrests after the
> > regime has achieved its immediate goal - whether it be a smooth meeting or
> > winning trade privileges," the group recently posted on one of its
> > internationally hosted websites.
> >
> > The mounting crackdown on the fledgling movement indicates clearly that,
> > contrary to some analysts' predictions, the party's new, younger leaders
> > have no intention of undertaking political reforms to complement their
> > economic and financial reforms. New Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and
> > President Nguyen Minh Triet have already demonstrated in their heavy-handed
> > reactions to Bloc 8406 that they are as bent on preserving the party's
> > monopoly on power as their predecessors were.
> >
> > Many Western governments and multinational corporations are now seeking
> > to engage Vietnam's communist leaders to gain access to the country's many
> > virgin market opportunities. Yet most investors would agree with Bloc 8406's
> > assertions recently posted on its VietTan.org website that "the
> > Communist Party's refusal to liberalize the political system has resulted in
> > widespread corruption and stagnation" and that "a pluralistic political
> > system is a precondition for peace stability and long-term economic
> > prosperity".
> >
> > Significantly, Bloc 8406 has repeatedly reached out to the international
> > community for validation of its democratic aspirations. On May 9, a group of
> > 50 US congressmen signed an open letter in support of the group's democratic
> > initiatives. In an August 23 letter, the Bloc 8406 members recently harassed
> > by government authorities for planning to launch a new publication, perhaps
> > oddly, perhaps not, called upon the Swedish government to "raise your voices
> > in protecting us".
> >
> > Asian history is littered with aspiring democracy movements that rose
> > only to be crushed by authoritarian regimes while the West looked on in
> > silence. And those pivotal moments have had a lasting impact on the region's
> > democratic development. Myanmar, nearly 20 years after the military
> > government's bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators, still has not
> > recovered from the national trauma. The same case obviously could be made
> > for China's ruthless 1989 crackdown at Tiananmen.
> >
> > There are growing indications that Vietnam is approaching its own moment
> > of democratic truth. Unfortunately, many Western governments now approach
> > Vietnam with a guilty historical conscience, and seem increasingly loath to
> > criticize the Communist Party's abysmal rights record while it implements
> > the wrenching economic reforms necessary to transition from a command to
> > market economy.
> >
> > But now is clearly the time for the international community, including
> > multinational corporations, unequivocally to lend their support to the
> > daring democrats behind Bloc 8406, who clearly represent Vietnam's preferred
> > future political course.
> >
> > *Shawn W Crispin is Asia Times Online's Southeast Asia editor.*
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >  On 9/27/06, Craig Stevenson <cstevenson2000 at gmail.com > wrote:
> > >
> > > Perhaps the author is somewhat of a yellow journalist, here's another
> > > article he's written:
> > >
> > >
> > > *In capitalist Vietnam, it's 'repression as usual'*
> > > written by: Shawn W Crispin<http://www.worldsecuritynetwork.com/_dsp/dsp_authorBio3.cfm?authID=1825>,
> > > 13-Jul-06
> > >
> > > BANGKOK - Brandishing nightsticks and electric cattle prods, about 50
> > > Vietnamese police and security officials on May 22 stormed and demolished a
> > > Mennonite church in Vietnam's central Binh Khanh area. Several members of
> > > the congregation were injured, and police arrested the pastor, Reverend
> > > Nguyen Hong Quang, and 10 others who resisted.
> > >
> > > Quang is no stranger to state-sponsored religious persecution. He
> > > recently served 15 months of a three-year sentence for "interfering" with
> > > officials during a similar violent incident against his church in March
> > > 2004. While in detention, local police frequently raided his damaged house
> > > of worship and harassed his family, often late at night.
> > >
> > > Vietnamese officials frequently justify their armed attacks on
> > > religious sites, shrines and meeting places on the grounds that holy
> > > structures violate state building codes, which in Vietnam's provinces are
> > > famously arbitrary and ill-defined. In reality, the systematic assaults are
> > > part of a long-running and clearly ongoing government campaign to stifle
> > > religious freedoms.
> > >
> > > Vietnam's impending accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO)
> > > has focused global attention on the communist government's substantial
> > > economic and financial reforms, which have catapulted growth and galvanized
> > > unprecedented foreign investor interest. Over the past six years, Vietnam's
> > > economy has grown at an extraordinary inflation-adjusted average of
> > > 7.4%. At the same time, fast growth has wholly failed to nudge
> > > Vietnam's ruling Communist Party toward more liberal democracy. The recent
> > > leadership reshuffle in Hanoi handed power over to a new, younger generation
> > > of supposedly more outward-looking communist rulers. Vietnam-based foreign
> > > investors have expressed confidence that the new leadership has the
> > > technocratic ability to tackle the complex economic and legal challenges of
> > > WTO membership. Yet it's how Vietnam's new generation of communist leaders
> > > respond to the growing calls for more liberal democracy, both at home and
> > > abroad, that will ultimately determine their reform legacy.
> > >
> > > *Hammer and sickle rule*
> > > Vietnam's government is one of Asia's most repressive authoritarian
> > > regimes. Freedoms of speech, association, religion and the media are all
> > > sharply curtailed. Harsh laws passed in the paranoid aftermath of the 1975
> > > communist takeover - then aimed at flushing out remnants of the fallen
> > > US-backed regime in the south - are still on the books 30 years later, with
> > > the vague aim of maintaining "national solidarity" and "national security".
> > > Vietnamese citizens have no legal recourse to challenge the state-sponsored
> > > rights abuses they habitually endure.
> > >
> > > The Communist Party has been particularly tough on Vietnam's various
> > > minority religious groups, which they fear often have more political than
> > > spiritual motives.
> > >
> > > Since 2001 the government had forcibly closed more than 1,250 mostly
> > > Christian and Buddhist religious sites across the country's central
> > > highlands, where in 2001 and 2004 massive demonstrations calling for more
> > > religious and political freedom were held. At least 100 Vietnamese are
> > > currently imprisoned on charges related to their religious beliefs,
> > > according to information compiled by the US Commission on International
> > > Religious Freedom.
> > >
> > > For instance, Buddhist monk Vo Van Thanh Liem, who submitted written
> > > statements about government abuses committed against his Hoa Hao sect for a
> > > US congressional hearing, was given a nine-year prison term in September on
> > > the trumped up charges of "opposing public authorities". Baptist pastor Than
> > > Van Truong was only recently released from two years in a lock-down
> > > psychiatric ward after local authorities deemed him "delusional" for handing
> > > them Bibles.
> > >
> > > At least one other prominent Buddhist leader is currently under
> > > so-called "pagoda arrest"; many others, including some monks and friars
> > > recently released from prison, live under strict administrative controls and
> > > travel restrictions. Buddhists and Christians in the country's northwestern
> > > regions are still frequently forced to renounce their faith in front of
> > > local officials; and those found to break that atheistic vow sometimes lose
> > > access to public utilities or face violent reprisals.
> > >
> > > The country's tightly censored media has not fared much better. The
> > > Communist Party controls all local media, which are managed either by the
> > > government or its affiliated organizations. Notwithstanding those tight
> > > controls, Vietnam is still one of the world's leading jailers of journalists
> > > with at least six currently imprisoned, often for online writings that have
> > > made idle calls for more democracy.
> > >
> > > In March, plainclothes officers detained two renowned writers at a
> > > public Internet cafe usually frequented by foreign tourists and took
> > > pictures of the websites they had viewed, which included the banned website
> > > of the Free Vietnam Alliance democracy group. One of the writers, Nguyen
> > > Khac Toan, had previously served three years of a 12-year sentence for
> > > sending reports about disgruntled farmers over the Internet to exiled
> > > Vietnamese democracy groups.
> > >
> > > The Communist Party has implemented some of Asia's most sophisticated
> > > firewall and surveillance technology to limit access through the Internet.
> > > Vietnam's firewall denies access to thousands of websites that government
> > > censors consider objectionable, with a special emphasis on blocking
> > > democracy-related content.
> > >
> > > Moreover, the government continues to run roughshod over international
> > > laws and covenants it has signed, a signal that should give pause to foreign
> > > investors banking on the communist authorities' will and resolve to uphold
> > > the rule of law as mandated in WTO rules and regulations that protect their
> > > investments.
> > >
> > > A Human Rights Watch report issued in June maintained that Vietnamese
> > > authorities "detained, interrogated and even tortured" ethnic Montagnard
> > > refugees and asylum seekers who returned to Vietnam from Cambodia under a
> > > voluntary repatriation agreement the government had entered with the United
> > > Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). In recent months, more than 60
> > > Montagnards have been imprisoned after returning from Cambodia, according to
> > > the US-based rights group.
> > >
> > > *A failed agreement*
> > > None of these recent abuses would raise eyebrows if Vietnam's
> > > communist leaders had not recently vowed to change their repressive ways.
> > >
> > > In May 2005, the US and Vietnam reached an agreement that set binding
> > > benchmarks to pave the way for more religious and political freedoms,
> > > including legislation designed specifically to protect religious-based
> > > rights. As part of that deal, Hanoi vowed to instruct local authorities to
> > > comply with the new legislation and facilitate processes that allowed for
> > > the congregations they previously harassed to reopen shuttered churches,
> > > shrines and other sacred places. Vietnam's leaders also agreed to take on
> > > board US suggestions for prisoner amnesties.
> > >
> > > In exchange, the US promised to de-list Vietnam from the State
> > > Department's catalogue of rights-abusing "countries of particular concern",
> > > known inside Washington's Beltway as "CPC", and pave the way for more
> > > comprehensive bilateral ties. Since then, Vietnam has released a handful of
> > > high-profile religious leaders, re-opened some churches and shrines,
> > > officially outlawed forced recantations of faith and in March issued a
> > > decree to facilitate the registration of religious venues.
> > >
> > > Still, the government continues to ban religious activities that do
> > > not have prior official permission. Notably the March decree backtracked on
> > > Hanoi's original agreement with the US, by reasserting the government's
> > > legal powers to crack down on any worshippers who undermine peace,
> > > independence or national unity, disseminate information against state law or
> > > policies, or spread superstitious practices. Officials have drawn on these
> > > amendments to justify recent arrests and harassment.
> > >
> > > Over the past year, it has become increasingly apparent to many
> > > outside observers that Vietnamese authorities have no intention of moving
> > > toward more democracy or religious freedom, but have instead adopted a
> > > policy of selective openness when dealing with Washington, similar to the
> > > cat-and-mouse tactics Myanmar's generals have employed in dealing with
> > > United Nations' many failed attempts to encourage political reform there.
> > > Michael Cromartie, chairman of the US Commission on International Religious
> > > Freedom, said in March 29 testimony to the US Congress: "Unfortunately, the
> > > hope of some that Vietnam's progress toward WTO membership would bring about
> > > legal reform, transparency and improvements in human rights has not been
> > > fulfilled. There has not been a direct correlation between economic and
> > > individual freedoms." His testimony noted that police in Ha Giang province
> > > broke up a January 1 Christian service when they caught more than 20 people
> > > illegally singing.
> > >
> > > However, the clarion call for more democracy is steadily growing
> > > inside the country. In April, hundreds of Vietnamese signed two appeals, the
> > > "Appeal for Freedom of Political Association" and "The Manifesto on Freedom
> > > and Democracy for Vietnam", which broadly called on the Communist Party's
> > > 10th National Congress to loosen its grip on power and allow for more
> > > democratic participation. The public nature of the petition was
> > > unprecedented during the Communist Party's 30-year rule.
> > >
> > > A group of Vietnamese exiles, meanwhile, has established an
> > > underground movement of bloggers and citizen journalists inside the country
> > > known as the Free Journalists Association of Vietnam (FJAV), which gathers
> > > and disseminates news over the Internet that is censored inside the country.
> > > The group is now trying to use legal means to establish an independent
> > > online news publication based inside Vietnam with help from the US's
> > > National Endowment for Democracy.
> > >
> > > Predictably, the government has detained and interrogated many of the
> > > activists, who notably included former senior Communist Party officials, who
> > > signed the April petition and has barred at least one member of the FJAV
> > > from traveling abroad to attend an international conference focused on
> > > freedom of expression issues.
> > >
> > > *Feel good rush*
> > > The commercial rush to embrace Vietnam's transition from a communist
> > > to capitalist economy often overlooks messy political considerations. US and
> > > Vietnamese negotiators last month hammered out a new bilateral deal that,
> > > barring progress in implementing their May 2005 agreement, will pave the way
> > > for Vietnam's accession to the WTO later this year.
> > >
> > > "Vietnam's [WTO] accession will show the world that it has made the
> > > reforms and commitments needed to be a full participant in the international
> > > economic community," US Ambassador to Vietnam Michael Marine said in a July
> > > 4 interview with Vietnam News. "Vietnam is well on its way on a program of
> > > liberalization that has yielded impressive economic progress."
> > >
> > > Marine's views mirror those of senior US politicians with long
> > > involvement in Vietnam, including senators John McCain and John Kerry, who
> > > have consistently insisted that greater economic engagement rather than
> > > finger-wagging is the best way to encourage more Vietnamese democracy. Even
> > > the philanthropic-minded Bill Gates has recently hobnobbed and discussed
> > > possible business deals with the country's communist rulers.
> > >
> > > To date, though, Hanoi has clearly taken more of its policy cues from
> > > Beijing than Washington. Vietnam's state-led development model, albeit at a
> > > slower, more deliberate pace, directly mirrors China's controlled mix of
> > > economic openness and political repression, which notably has given rise to
> > > an entrepreneurial, but politically voiceless, middle class.
> > >
> > > But Vietnam's anti-democratic record arguably should not be readily
> > > dismissed as Asian business as usual. Because of its comparatively small
> > > size, Vietnam does not command the negotiating power of China's massive
> > > markets. Vietnamese exports to the US last year represented less than
> > > 0.5% of total US trade, despite a 400% increase in bilateral trade
> > > since 2001. Most US investors still view Vietnam more as a hedge than an
> > > alternative to increasing their capital exposure to China.
> > >
> > > Vietnam's communists are increasingly dependent on Western capital and
> > > markets to fuel growth and hence maintain their grip on political power.
> > > Hanoi is simultaneously moving to forge stronger strategic ties with
> > > Washington, seen in the regular US naval ship visits to Vietnamese ports, to
> > > counterbalance China's growing military prowess.
> > >
> > > While there are preliminary indications that Vietnam's new, more
> > > commercially minded leaders are less influenced by the bitter war memories
> > > that haunted and restricted their predecessors, there is still scant
> > > indication they intend to look past their economic reform agenda and embark
> > > upon a more democratic path.
> > >
> > > The US is uniquely positioned to demand that Vietnam allow for more
> > > democracy in exchange for more economic privileges and strategic assurances.
> > > It is no longer academic truth that economic liberalization inevitably leads
> > > to more democracy, particularly not in Asia. And nowhere is that
> > > unfortunately more apparent than in Vietnam.
> > >
> > > *Shawn W Crispin is Asia Times Online's Southeast Asia editor.*
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > Tran Dinh Hoanh, LLB, JD
> > > Attorney of Law
> > > Washington DC
> > >
> >
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