VIET NEWS
THE
MONTHLY REPORT OF INTERESTING NEWS ABOUT VIETNAM
***
Courtesy Vietnamese American
Concerned Citizens
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========================================================================
News
Commentary
Research paper
For the U.S. Congress
- Professional Staff and Legislative Assistants for Foreign Policies and Concerned Citizens
January 2005
1. A
Report On The Religious Liberty Reality 02
2. Vietnam
Demands End To Chinese Attacks On Fishermen 06
3. Reporter Who Investigated
Drug Company Is Indicted 06
4. Buddhist Monk Returns From Exile To Political Storm In
Vietnam 07
5. Foreign
Ministry Confirms Vietnamese Bandits Try To Rob Chinese Fishing Boats 09
6. Vietnam
Raps China Over Shooting Of Nine Fishermen 09
7. Vietnamese
Court Sentences Seven For "Causing Social Unrest” 10
8. Vietnam
Tightens Media Stranglehold 10
9. Vietnam
Likely To Be Sued For Dumping Garments and Textiles In US 12
10. Party
To Focus On Fighting Corrupt Members This Year 12
11. Vietnam’s Deputy PM Urges Drastic
Population Measures 13
12. Vietnam To Grant Amnesty To More
Than 8,200 Prisoners 14
13. HRW Report - Human Rights
Developments in Vietnam, 2004 14
14. Vietnam Makes a Start on the Reform of The
Media 18
15. Government Clamps Down On The
Online Press 21
16. State Owned Banks Receive $25.5 Mln
For Recapitalization 22
17. Fourteen Hospitalized In Vietnam
With Suspected Bird Flu 22
18. Bird Flu Kills 100,000 Poultry,
Threatens Northern Vietnam 23
19. Vietnam’s President Earns 240
Dollars Per Month 24
20. Vietnam Rejects Report On Mass
Arrest Of Minority Christians 24
21. Vietnam Suspends A Popular Web Site 25
22. Government Outlines Corruption
Prevention Plan For 2005 25
23. New Evidence of Torture, Mass
Arrests of Montagnards 26
24. Police Minister Promoted To Top Ranking General 28
25. Vietnam’s Party Chief Discusses
Cooperation With Japanese Party Leader 29
26. Vietnamese Reporter Prosecuted For
Publishing Confidential Document 30
27. U.S. Panel
Clears Way for Tariffs On Shrimp Imports 31
Vietnamese American
Concerned Citizens (VACC)
P.O. Box 59655, Potomac. MD 20859
VietnamReview2004@yahoo.com
Contact: Khai Q. Nguyen
Local contact: …....……….…………………………….
………………………..……………………………………
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A Report On The
Religious Liberty Reality
By Elizabeth Kendal, January 19, 2005
World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission (WEA
RLC)
Special to ASSIST News Service
AUSTRALIA (ANS) -- The following deeply disturbing report on
Vietnam was written by an internationally respected Vietnam observer. The
observer reports that there are many hundreds of unregistered Christian meeting
places and gatherings in Vietnam where believers meet at great personal risk to
their liberty and life, despite the Vietnamese government's boastings of
freedom of religion.
The observer also reports that nearly 300 Christian leaders
have been incarcerated since the April 2004 Easter demonstrations, and that at
least 60 Protestant leaders languish in the infamous Ba Sao Prison in Nam Ha
Province on long prison sentences.
Reliable, trusted sources told the observer that the
Vietnamese government is recruiting and training special units from amongst the
Hmong and Montagnards to combat the spread of Christianity (described as an
internal enemy) in their ethnic communities.
This report also examines the appalling and violent
mistreatment meted out to the Mennonite prisoners, and the distressing state of
the one female Mennonite prisoner arrested in June 2004, Le Thi Hong Lien (21),
who has become deranged with trauma. Amnesty International has issued an Urgent
Action Appeal on her behalf: UA 01/05 Viet Nam
ttp://www.amnesty.ca/urgentaction/.
Totalitarian states require friendly international relations
in order to pursue coveted economic development. However, the more the
totalitarian governments open up economically and diplomatically, the more they
need to repress their suffering masses, restricting their access to information
and cracking down on all dissent and perceived threats in order to hold on to
power. They also need to ensure that their propaganda speaks louder and is more
convincing (or appealing) than the truth. It becomes a perpetual game of
testing the waters (how much can we get away with?) and should be matched by a
testing of the "bones" (not accepting everything at face value) as
the confronting report below suggests.
The question then becomes: How much duplicity will the
Vietnamese government be permitted? Those who knowingly accept and wink at the
government of Vietnam's duplicity are complicit in the government of Vietnam's
morally reprehensible human rights abuses.
Elizabeth Kendal (WEA RLC)
A Box Of Mixed Bones, Religious Human Rights In Vietnam
By A Vietnam Observer,
15 January 2005.
In early December 2004, North Korea infuriated Japan by trying
to pass off "a box of mixed human bones" as the remains of a woman it
had kidnapped from Japan when she was 13. After DNA testing, a Japanese cabinet
secretary announced on December 8 that, "The bones belong to a number of
other people. It would be difficult under the present circumstances to provide
further assistance to North Korea." The announcement caused shock waves in
Japan, a nation that venerates its dead. (Herald Tribune, December 13, 2004,
page 1)
This is an apt metaphor for what Vietnam is trying to do
with its human rights – religious freedom policies. It is giving the world
"a box of mixed bones". But unlike Japan's incensed people, many in
the world seem to be accepting them as the genuine article. The guile of trying
to pass off the counterfeit is surpassed only by the naivete of accepting it as
real.
Concerned about its reputation in the region and the world,
with WTO prospects, and stung by continued revelations of religious human
rights abuses, Vietnam is in the midst of an unprecedented propaganda campaign
to show the world all is well.
Here, however, are some examples of Vietnam's ongoing
restrictive and abusive practices.
THE CENTRAL HIGHLANDS AND THE NORTHWEST PROVINCES
An area of continued great concern to which Vietnamese authorities
deny free access is the Central Highlands. A propaganda piece sent on 4
November 2004 by ambassador Phan Thuy Thanh from the Vietnamese Embassy in
Brussels, to inquirers in Holland, is full of disingenuous
"information". It entirely denies that land and religion have
anything to do with the unrest. It says:
"Vietnam's law ensures the right to freedom of religion
and belief and non-religion or belief to all citizens, which is clearly
inscribed in the constitution and respected in reality. There is absolutely no
question of the so-called 'repression of Protestants'. On the contrary,
Protestants in the Central Highlands enjoy favourable conditions for religious
practices.
There are about 25 grass root Protestant groups in the
Central Highland."Here is the "reality". There are in the five
Highland provinces with minorities - Dak Nong, Lam Dong, Dak Lak, Gai Lai and
part of Binh Phuoc - at least 1,700 Protestant "meeting places" where
Christians gather to worship. The government recognizes about 25, but cannot
even bring itself to call them churches, because it has not allowed them to
build church buildings!
Beginning in September 2002 a massive government campaign
forcibly disbanded many hundreds of local churches and other campaigns sought
to force Christians to renounce their faith. Nearly 300 Christians leaders are
known to have been arrested and are incarcerated, some still without trial
since the April 2004 Easter demonstrations. At least 60 Protestant leaders,
including eight regular pastors of local churches, languish in the infamous Ba
Sao Prison in Nam Ha Province, all with long prison sentences. After the
demonstrations last Easter, authorities promised only a handful of
"ringleaders" would be tried and sentenced. Another promise broken.
In Dak Lak, a province that remains virtually locked down to
regular travel for residents and visitors alike, the state recognizes only two
ethnic Vietnamese and two Ede minority churches that meet in the homes of the
pastors. Christian leaders report there are 439 meeting places in the province.
Four out of 439 is less than one per cent! The pastors of the four groups,
supposedly recognized by the state, are not even free to visit their own
parishioners without getting complicated permissions. Christian leaders in the
province say the vast majority of the approximately 150,000 Protestant
Christians must now practice their faith underground – and so worship,
teaching, baptisms and the observance of holy communion must be done out of
sight of the authorities. Protestant leaders say the government plan to
"eradicate" Christianity, frequently enunciated by hardline local
officials, continues gradually but steadily. All villages and hamlets have
constant military and/or police presence.
Similar stories are told about the other provinces. In Gia
Lai province where strong church leaders do daily battle with the authorities,
some 16 church groups have now been recognized. But there are 400 meeting
places! One prominent church leader of the Jerai minority who was described in
a "complimentary manner" in a communist journal has accused
authorities of fabricating much of the story and has demanded a public
retraction. Compliments by the Party or State for a religious leader are a
curse to be overcome because they cause his followers to suspect his integrity.
ETHNIC SPECIAL UNITS TO COMBAT THE INTERNAL ENEMY
In a very troubling development not yet reported elsewhere,
it has been learned from independent sources which have proved reliable in the
past, that the Vietnamese government is in the process of recruiting and
training both Hmong in the Northwest Provinces and Montagnards in the Central
Highlands for special units to oppose the spread and development of
Christianity.
The purpose of the unit according to the Hmong sources is to
"oppose an enemy, not external, but internal". That is Christianity.
Men are being recruited on a basis of loyalty to the repressive system and the
absence of sympathies for Christian believers. They are being given training
after which they will return to their home areas to suppress Christianity. Some
of those being recruited are former military people. (At least a dozen Hmong
Christian leaders remain in prison in the Northwest provinces.)
And similarly, a knowledgeable Dak Lak Montagnard source has
reported that authorities are recruiting training a special unit of 2,500
Montagnards for similar purposes.
Such an approach is intended to give the government
plausible deniability as they will make it look as if there is spontaneous
indigenous ethnic resistance to a "foreign religion". This action
underlines that religious freedom for minorities is NOT in the government's
plan – all protestations to the contrary. It takes delusional mental gymnastics
to see "progress" in freedom for minority Christians in this picture.
DEVELOPMENTS CONCERNING THE NEW ORDINANCE ON RELIGION
Announced to become effective on 15 November 2004, the new
ordinance has not provided signs of hope to religious people. Authorities, who
believed they were making concessions in the new religion ordinance were
surprised by the depth of opposition which included complaints from some
religious groups they believed were safely "patriotic".
It has been learned that before being fully implemented, the
new Ordinance is to be further spelled out by a new decree, implementation
bulletins, and forms for the many permissions required. Authorities are
currently stuck at the decree level. Draft three of the decree is circulating
among religious groups but authorities are said to be on draft five.
The new ordinance and draft decree still provide no legal
space for house churches, nor for the majority of Protestant Evangelical
Christians in Vietnam who are ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands and
the Northwest Provinces. Therefore some 75 percent of Protestants in Vietnam
continue to be excluded from legality in spite of Vietnam's pronouncements
about liberalization in the emerging legal framework. In anticipation of the
ordinance coming into effect, some house churches, fearing the worst, have
already divided into smaller, less visible groups.
The 1999 Government Decree on Religion No. 26 continues to
be used a legal tool to suppress religious activity. On 11 November 2004, the
People's Committee of Dong Xuan District in Phu Yen Province responded in a
letter to a request from a small Protestant congregation to register its
activities. The congregation of Da Du Hamlet, Xuan Lanh Commune, had functioned
there for some years with the knowledge of the authorities and with few
difficulties. So it accepted in good faith the government's well-advertised new
liberalization in religious affairs and tried to register its activities.
The result was entirely disheartening. The congregation
ended up in a much worse situation than when it operated informally earlier.
The Dong Xuan District People's Committee flatly denied the congregation
permission to meet and practice their faith on the basis of Decree 26. The
directive to the congregation concluded ominously:
"The People's Committee of Dong Xuan District orders
the People's Committee of Xuan Lanh Commune to coordinate with the Fatherland
Front and other government organs in the commune to mobilize, educate and
abruptly halt and take legal measures against all meetings, religious
activities and propagation activities of a number of people in Da Du Hamlet of
Xuan Lanh Commune."
Such is the reward of a small Protestant congregation that
dares test the government's announced intention to liberalize restrictions on
religion. It is difficult to see any progress in the area of creating new laws,
and implementing current ones.
PERSECUTION OF THE VIETNAMESE MENNONITE CHURCH
The well-publicized conviction and sentencing of six
Vietnamese Mennonites on 12 November 2004, on a "criminal charge"
seems to be considered by some as difficult to oppose because it involved a
"criminal charge". Strangely, some diplomats and even some Mennonite
groups seem to accept and be immobilized by the government's consistent claim
that "it has nothing to do with religion".
That this view is simply wrong is shown by the fact that
from 10 November to 3 December 2004 the home/church of the Rev. Nguyen Hong
Quang, cared for by his 30-year-old wife Le Thi Phu Dung, was invaded five
times by gangs of uniformed and plain-clothes police, up to 40 at a time and
sometime at midnight. This round of persecution began with a cultural
revolution-style public accusation/humiliation session against Mrs. Quang. A
recording of this session makes clear it is against the "illegal Christian
religion". \
Authorities require Mrs. Quang to cease all religious
gatherings, activities and ceremonies in the Quang house/church, and to take
down the church sign. Videos of some of the police raids have also made their
way to the West.
With the release of two of the six prisoners in early
December, written testimonies of their unbelievable mistreatment while in
custody became available. These reports in translation are available. Readers
will agree that the treatment of the two brothers, Nhan and Nghia, is worthy of
the Soviet Gulags. A 5 January 2005 press release of the Mennonite World
Conference details some of the awful abuse. (Link 1)
Even more horrible is the complete crushing of the body,
mind and spirit of the lone woman among the six prisoners, 21-year-old Le Thi
Hong Lien. Physical and mental abuse by officials has caused Ms Lien to lose
her mind and control over bodily functions. The poignant report and reflections
of her poor, day-labourer father, written after his visit with her on 14
December, with additional information gleaned from previous prison visits, is
also available. Her father has been denied any access to her since. On 7
January 2005, Amnesty International issued an urgent appeal on her behalf.
(Link 2)
Government policy makers, business people and aid
organizations wishing to do business with and help the people of Vietnam need
to keep these realities firmly in mind when dealing with the Socialist Republic
of Vietnam. They should test a few bones. Without clear international
consequences for its gross misbehaviour toward is own peaceful citizens,
Vietnam will have no incentive to change.
Vietnam Demands End To
Chinese Attacks On Fishermen
Copyright 2005 BBC Monitoring/BBC
BBC Monitoring International Reports
January 19, 2005
Hanoi, 19 January: Vietnam has demanded that China take
measures to put an immediate end to attacks on Vietnamese fishermen.
A Foreign Ministry representative handed a diplomatic note
to the Chinese embassy in Hanoi protesting the recent attack by Chinese on-duty
ships, which killed and injured a number of Vietnamese fishermen.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also demanded that China
investigate the case and hand out strict punishments to the killers. It asked
China to return the bodies of the victims and the Vietnamese people it held,
compensate the fishermen for the loss of life and property and coordinate with
Vietnamese agencies to investigate the case and report to the leaders of the
two countries.
The ministry has instructed Vietnamese diplomatic missions
in China to arrange with the Chinese side and visit the injured and detained
fishermen as early as possible.
The Vietnamese side has also called on the Joint Committee
on Fisheries in the Bac Bo (Tonkin) Gulf to meet and promptly stabilise the
situation in the two countries' common fishing area.
Earlier, Foreign Ministry's spokesman Le Dung said Chinese
gunners killed nine fishermen and injured many others.
Source: VNA news agency web site, Hanoi, in English 19 Jan
05
Reporter Who Investigated Drug Company Is Indicted
Committee to
Protect Journalists
330
Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001 USA
Fax: (212) 465-9568 Web: www.cpj.org E-Mail: media@cpj.org
Contact: Kristin Jones Telephone: (212) 465-1004 e-mail: info@cpj.org
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
New York, January 18, 2005 ”The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the indictment of Nguyen
Thi Lan Anh, a staff reporter for the Vietnamese daily Tuoi Tre (Youth)
newspaper, on a charge of "appropriating state secrets." The January
5 announcement of legal actions against Lan Anh followed her series of
investigative articles about manipulations of the drug market by the
pharmaceutical company Zuellig Pharma.
"Lan Anh's strong investigative journalism, which brought attention
to an issue of great concern to the Vietnamese public, should be welcomed by
authorities who have paid lip service to the important role of the press in
Vietnamese society," said CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper. "We call
on authorities to drop all charges against Lan Anh and allow her to continue
her work."
While she has not been officially arrested, Lan Anh has been ordered not
to leave her home in Hanoi, sources told CPJ. The indictment stems from a May
2004 article by Lan Anh in which she quotes a document submitted by the Health
Ministry to the Prime Minister. In the document, the health minister recommends
a comprehensive investigation of Zuellig Pharma Vietnam, a subsidiary of the
multi-national Zuellig Pharma.
In her articles, Lan Anh wrote that the pharmaceutical company's
monopoly on the market of certain medicines in Vietnam had been driving up drug
prices to "unacceptable levels." In February, the company signed a
commitment with the Health Ministry to stabilize its prices, but the Vietnamese
government allowed Zuellig's import contract to expire in September. Tuoi
Tre is a popular daily that enjoys wide circulation in Vietnam. It is owned
by the Ho Chi Minh City Youth Union, an organization under the direct
management of the Vietnamese Communist Party.
Legal actions against Lan Anh come amid a government drive to further
restrict online and print journalism in Vietnam. On orders from the Ministry of
Culture and Information, the popular news Web site Tintucvietnam.com was shut
down last week after posting uncensored letters from readers. Truong Dinh Anh,
the editor-in-chief of another Web site, VNExpress.com, was fired in November
after posting readers' angry comments regarding the government's purchase of a
legion of Mercedes Benz cars for the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) held in Hanoi
in October 2004.
Buddhist Monk Returns
From Exile To Political Storm In Vietnam
Agence France Presse
January 18, 2005
In the shadow of a large longan tree at a pagoda in Hanoi,
an elderly Buddhist monk hopes to tell a few home truths: Thich Nhat Hanh has
returned to Vietnam after 38 years' exile in France -- and has become the
centre of a religious and political storm.
As the head of a delegation of about 200 followers, mainly
French and American, he is on a three-month visit to the tightly controlled
communist country he left in 1967 and where his works and recordings have long
been banned.
"My trip is not political," says the 78-year-old,
draped in a dark orange robe. But his comments seem to suggest quite the
opposite.
Until recently, "There was fear and suspicion here.
There was a need for much communication to transform, to remove erroneous
perceptions," Hanh tells AFP in an interview, surrounded by Vietnamese
journalists and attentive officials.
"We have been able to breathe easier these last
years," he says.
But for some Buddhists in this country, life can still be
difficult.
The Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) has been
banned since 1981 for refusing to submit itself, along with all of its churches
around the country, to the supervision of the Vietnamese Communist Party.
Several of the UBCV's members, including its two most senior
figures, have since spent most of their time in prison or under house arrest.
Thich Huyen Quang, 87, and his deputy Thich Quang Do, 76,
are accused by Vietnamese authorities of possessing "state secrets"
and are de facto under house arrest in two separate pagodas.
Hanh chooses his words carefully.
"We want to listen carefully to understand the
reality," the monk says in French. "Our policy is to listen to
everyone, the Buddhists who are not happy and the governmental agents who are
facing difficulties."
On Monday the monk held talks with members of the committee
on religious fairs, a government body in charge with cultural and religious
issues. "I asked them to be patient (with UBCV)," he says, smiling.
"Sometimes, one needs months to sit down and
talk."
Will he be allowed to meet with members of the banned
church? "I hope so," he says. "Our enemy is discrimination and
fear."
Constrained by exile in 1967 by southern Vietnam's
pro-American regime, the monk obtained asylum in France, where he taught at
Paris' prestigious Sorbonne University.
In 1982 he settled in southwestern France and founded a new
community. The author of 100 works, he preaches a new form of Buddhism, adapted
for modern society and able to lure younger generations and to protect them
from materialism.
But not everyone is keen on his methods.
For the Paris-based International Buddhist Information
Bureau (IBIB), the UBCV's communication arm, Hanh's visit amounts to a
"Faustian pact" with the country's communist dictatorship.
"This highly publicized visit could be interpreted as a
sign of increased religious tolerance in Vietnam," the IBIB complained.
"This Faustian pact between Thich Nhat Hanh and the
Vietnamese authorities enables (him) to promote the development of his own
sect."
On leaving Paris, one of Hanh's close associates had accused
certain banned religions in the country of hiding "flags of the old
regime" of southern Vietnam, which was beaten by the communist north in
1975.
The statement was not very well received by IBIB, which said
it smacked of propaganda.
"Thich Nhat Hanh gives a precious propaganda bonus to
the Vietnamese regime. But he does nothing for the cause of religious freedom
and human rights in Vietnam," says Vo Van Ai, the group's president and
sworn enemy of the Hanoi regime.
"It's a matter of perception," the elderly monk
answers.
He will not say any more.
"It's for the politicians and the journalists to say if
there are enough religious freedoms in Vietnam. You can judge by yourself
without needing a declaration from us."
On Monday the state Vietnam News Agency welcomed the monk's
visit, saying: "Thich Nhat Hanh praises Vietnam's open-door policy on
religious beliefs."
Foreign Ministry
Confirms Vietnamese Bandits Try To Rob Chinese Fishing Boats
Source: Xinhua, January 15, 2005
Copyright by People's Daily Online, all rights reserved
Chinese
maritime police shot dead several armed robbers and captured eight others who
were trying to rob Chinese fishing boats operating on Jan. 8 at the Chinese
side of the Beibu Gulf, the Foreign Ministry said in Beijing Saturday.
According
to Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan, on the morning of Jan. 8, several
Chinese fishing boats from Hainan Province were operating on the
Chinese side of the Beibu Gulf, and three unidentified armed vessels came
trying to rob and firing at the Chinese boats.
Chinese
maritime police rushed to the spot for rescue immediately after receiving
report from the fishermen. The three armed vessels opened fire at the police
boats and injured Chinese law enforcement personnel, Kong said.
The
Chinese maritime police were forced to take necessary actions. They shot dead
several armed robbers, seized one of the armed vessels and eight robbers along
with their weapons and ammunition and tools, he said.
Calling it
a "serious armed robbery case at sea," Kong said the robbers had
confessed they were Vietnamese, and had committed four armed
robberies of Chinese fishing boats in the Beibu Gulf before.
The
Chinese side has informed the Vietnamese side of the issue in detail in
accordance with the Sino-Vietnamese consulate treaty, Kong said. "The
Chinese has abundant and irrefutable human testimony and material evidence, and
will handle the case according to Chinese law."
The
spokesman said since the agreements on demarcation and fishery cooperation in
the Beibu Gulf between China and Vietnam took effect last June, the overall
situation there is stable. However, the armed robberies of Chinese fishing
boats have posed serious threat to the life and property safety of Chinese and
Vietnamese fishermen.
China is willing to cooperate closely with Vietnam so that
the two countries can take effective measures to combat maritime crimes and
safeguard security and stability in the Beibu Gulf, he said.
Vietnam Raps China
Over Shooting Of Nine Fishermen
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
January 14, 2005, Friday
Vietnam has demanded action from China after nine fishermen
were killed by Chinese forces near the maritime border between the two
countries. "We are concerned that the Chinese boat shot to death nine
Vietnamese fishermen, wounded many others and caused property loss to the
fishermen," foreign ministry spokesman Le Dzung said in a statement
Friday. "Vietnam requires the Chinese to take measures to prevent and stop
this wrong action. Vietnam also requires China to further investigate the killers,"
Dzung said.
Chinese forces killed nine Vietnamese fishermen and arrested
eight others on Saturday, a commune official said on Wednesday. The deaths were
the result of two incidents in which fishermen were accused of straying into
Chinese waters, said Le Van Thuan, chairman of Hoa Loc commune of Thanh Hoa
province. In the first incident Chinese forces shot dead eight fishermen and
captured eight others, two of whom were wounded, Thuan said. The Chinese
authority confiscated the boat and arrested the eight men, the chairman said.
"They said they would return the eight dead bodies after discussions with
Vietnam's government," Thuan said. The other fishermen will be charged
under Chinese law. A second boat, carrying 12 people in the same area, also
came under fire. One man was killed before the fishing vessel managed to flee.
"There were 400 bullet shells found on the boat," Thuan said.
Vietnamese Court Sentences Seven For
"Causing Social Unrest"
Copyright
2005 BBC Monitoring/BBC
BBC
Monitoring International Reports
January 14,
2005
Gia Lai, 13 January: The People's Court of Auynpa district
in the Central Highland province of Gia Lai on 12 January held a public trial
of Ksor Krok and his accomplices on charges of causing social unrest.
Ksor Krok is a younger brother of Ksor Kok, head of the
reactionary organization Fulro, who is nursing a dangerous ambition to
establish an autonomous state in the Central Highlands.
The defendants also included Ksor Dro, Siu Djing, Siu Yunh,
Ksor Jon, K'Sor Sen and Siub Panh, who all live in Auyunpa district. They
incited local ethnic minority people to social disorder.
Ksor Krok was sentenced to seven years in jail; Ksor Dro,
six years in jail; and the others, from 4-5 years in jail.
Vietnam Tightens Media
Stranglehold
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4175271.stm
BBC NEWS, January 14, 2005
By Nga Pham
BBC Vietnamese service
When Lan Anh, a staff writer for the popular daily Tuoi Tre
(Youth) newspaper, wrote a series of articles on Zuellig Pharma last year, she
was hailed for brilliant investigative reporting.
The Hong Kong-based Zuellig Pharma, via its Singapore
office, had been monopolising the Vietnamese pharmaceutical market for almost
three years and had bumped up the prices of some popular medicines to
"unacceptable levels".
The public responded positively and gratefully to Lan Anh's
reports.
Yet the journalist is now facing legal action from the
government for "appropriating state secrets", which the Health
Ministry said were included in the notes she published in her newspaper.
The move against Lan Anh has shocked and outraged the
Vietnamese public.
But it is unfortunately not the only time the government is
alleged to have harassed the media.
During the last couple of months, the government has decided
to shut down one of the country's most popular news and entertainment websites,
tintucvietnam.com, as well as to sack the editor-in-chief of the leading online
newspaper, Vnexpress.
Tintucvietnam.com and Vnexpress had both carried reports
that the government was importing unnecessarily expensive limousines from
abroad.
Last year the government also introduced a highly
controversial regulation that requires all internet cafes to register the personal
details of customers
The government said it needed the cars for the Asia Europe
Summit (Asem) in October 2004, but readers' letters published by Vnexpress
showed the public was angry about the amount of money it spent.
The Ministry of Information has fined Vinacomm, the company
that owns tintucvietnam.com, 20m dong (#1,268), and has closed it "until
further notice" for operating without a proper licence.
Before this decision, there were threats that the website
would be shut down for good, and its fate remains unknown.
As for Vnexpress, its editor was sacked and the online
newspaper has since noticeably toned down its news coverage.
Control
Critics say the latest events show the Vietnamese government
is tightening its grip on the media, especially online services.
"With less than a year to go to the next Communist
Party Congress, they (the Vietnamese government) particularly fear websites,
even official ones, since they are a sounding board for popular
discontent," the press watchdog Reporters sans Frontieres has said in a
statement.
Last year the government also introduced a highly
controversial regulation that requires all internet cafes to register the
personal details of customers.
The government claims it just wants to "fight
pornography and evil influences from the West", not to limit the public in
any way.
But its actions suggest otherwise, and leave people
wondering how long it can try and control the media in an era of rapidly
developing information services.
Vietnam Likely To Be
Sued For Dumping Garments and Textiles In US
Global News Wire - Asia Africa Intelligence Wire
Copyright 2005 Toan Viet Limited Co
Vietnam News Briefs
January 13, 2005
Vietnam's textile industry received a warning about possible
US anti-dumping tariffs following the lawsuit of catfish dumping, when it
discussed trading textile export quotas to the US this year at two different
seminars on Tuesday.
At a seminar held by the Trade Ministry in Hanoi, William
Barringer, chief lawyer of US law firm Willikie Farr & Gallangher said that
Vietnam was likely to impose anti-dumping tariffs on Vietnam's garments and
textiles.
American textile producers are preparing necessary documents
to prove that textile imports are the cause of material injury to the US
industry.
Because Vietnam is a long-term supplier to the US, most
retailers believe it will be a primary target of this lawsuit, he explained.
To avoid the lawsuit, Vietnam should ensure that Vietnamese
exporters change accounting practices to fall in line with the Generally
Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), Barringer advised.
They should also create adequate paper records to show the
absence of Government control, particularly on price negotiations with US
importers, to qualify for separate rate status.
They should also clearly define the relationship among
affiliates and between themselves and the government.
Besides, public relations and lobbying would also pay a role
in a successful defense, he said.
The lawsuit will be likely to start by mid 2005 and Vietnam's
wooden products will be sued next, experts foresee.
According to the statistics of Willikie Farr &
Gallangher, there were 981 anti-dumping lawsuits and 348 anti-price support
lawsuits in US between 1980 and 2003.
The US applies a quota system on Vietnamese garments and
textiles since 2001. Last year, the country imposed quotas of $ 1.7 billion a
year on Vietnamese textiles and garments to curb a surge in imports.
Party To
Focus On Fighting Corrupt Members This Year
Copyright 2005 Toan Viet Limited Co
Vietnam News Briefs
January 13, 2005
The sole and ruling Communist Party in Vietnam
has asked its inspectorate to further concentrate on fighting corruption,
wastefulness and authoritarian bureaucracy within Party personnel and
organizations this year.
"Inspection is top a priority which helps
renovate the Party's leadership style and make it more transparent and healthy,
thus maintaining its role as a strong ruling body," Phan Dien, a member of
the Politburo and Party Central Committee Secretariat, told a national
conference held in Hanoi on January 11
Inspectors, therefore, will have to focus on
examining signs of violation of Party organizing principles and working
regulations as well as Party personnel work, he said.
The directive reveals Party leaders' concern
about the development of individualism and opportunism, which leads to
degradation in politics, ethics and lifestyles among a number of Party members.
General secretary of the Party, Nong Duc Manh,
himself, recently admitted that this is a real threat to the Party's leadership
and the main reason for the deterioration of people's confidence in the Party.
According to the Party Central Committee's
Commission for Inspection, of the 19,103 Party members and 3,494 Party
organizations inspected last year, 73.2% and 56.9% were found violating Party
regulations, due to lack of responsibility and the abuse of power for personal
benefit. The figures, however, are believed to be just the floating part of the
iceberg.
According to statistics of the National
Assembly, residents across the country sent a total of around 600,000
complaints about degenerate cadres and their abuse of power, violations of
financial rules and abetting corruption in the past five years.
The Communist Party of Vietnam now has over 2.67
million members who form the backbone of the Vietnamese Government and State.
Its members account for 90% of the total deputies at the National Assembly, the
country's top legislative body.
Vietnam’s Deputy PM
Urges Drastic Population Measures
Asia Pulse
January 13, 2005 Thursday
Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem has asked the
population sector to immediately take drastic measures to slow down the
country's population growth rate.
Deputy PM Khiem on Wednesday attended a conference to review
population, family and children work in 2004 and launch the 2005 plan.
According to the Deputy PM, the sector has been optimistic about its
achievements, and this has led to loose management of population growth in some
localities and the untimely and inadequate dissemination of the Ordinance on
Population to the people.
He told localities and sectors at all levels to strictly
regulate against people having a third child and combine family planning
instructions into local regulations.
In 2005, Khiem said, the population sector should complete
the building organising apparatus from central to local levels, coordinate with
relevant agencies and international organisations in scientific research in
population, family planning and reproductive health, improve the capacity of
population cadres and call for foreign investment and cooperation in birth
control and children work.
Deputy PM Khiem plans to have working sessions with
localities that have high birth rates and outstanding problems in population
work to help them work out solutions and orientations.
Reports delivered at the conference said that since 2000 the
implementation of policies on population and family planning has been
"wobbly" as the birth rate has increased, as well as the number of
families having a third child.
Vietnam's population grew 1.47 per cent in 2003, an increase
of 0.15 per cent or 100,000 babies more than in 2002. Vietnam's population
strategy till 2010 aims to have a population of 88 million people with each
couple having two children at most.
Other targets also include reducing the natural population
growth rate to 1.1 per cent and the infant mortality rate to 25 per 1,000
births in 2010. Under the strategy, Vietnam's population is forecasted to grow
1.22 per cent to peak at 82,493,000 people in 2005.
Vietnam To Grant
Amnesty To More Than 8,200 Prisoners
Agence France Presse
January 13, 2005
Vietnam plans to grant amnesty to 8,277 prisoners to mark
the country's traditional Lunar New Year Festival which falls in early February,
state media said Thursday.
The communist country's President Tran Duc Luong will soon
make a final decision on Wednesday's proposal by the National Amnesty
Consulting Council, the daily Tien Phong newspaper said.
Only those with "good re-education records" will
be given amnesty, the paper added.
Last September, Vietnam granted a nationwide amnesty to
8,623 prisoners, including 51 foreigners, to mark its September 2 National Day.
Included in the list were 10 prisoners described by Hanoi as
"of concern to the international community".
Western governments and human rights groups have long
criticised Hanoi for jailing political and religious critics of the regime.
Further amnesties are expected to be announced on May 19,
the anniversary of the birth of revered Vietnamese Communist Party founder and
independence hero Ho Chi Minh.
HRW Report - Human
Rights Developments in Vietnam, 2004
HRW, January 13, 2005
Enclosed please find the Vietnam section on human rights
developments inVietnam during 2004. This is part of Human Rights Watch's annual
WORLD REPORT, which was released today in Washington, D.C.
VIETNAM
Human Rights Summary
Human rights conditions in Vietnam, already dismal, worsened
in 2004. The government tolerates little public criticism of the Communist
Party or statements calling for pluralism, democracy, or a free press.
Dissidents are harassed, isolated, placed under house arrest, and in many
cases, charged with crimes and imprisoned. Among those singled out are
prominent intellectuals, writers, and former Communist Party stalwarts.
The government continues to brand all unauthorized religious
activities-particularly those that it fears may be able to attract a large
following-as potentially subversive. Targeted in particular are members of the
Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam and ethnic minority Protestants in the
northern and central highlands.
Freedom of Expression
Domestic newspapers and television and radio stations remain
under strict government control. Although journalists are occasionally able to
report on corruption by government officials, direct criticism of the Party is
forbidden. Foreign media representatives are required to obtain authorization
from the Foreign Ministry for all travel outside Hanoi.
Several dissidents and democracy activists have been
arrested and tried during the last several years on criminal charges-including
espionage and other vaguely-worded crimes against "national
security"-for peaceful criticism of the government or calling for multi-party
reforms. Legislation remains in force authorizing the arbitrary
"administrative detention" of anyone suspected of threatening
national security, with no need for prior judicial approval.
In July 2004 long-time human rights advocate Nguyen Dan Que,
62, was sentenced to thirty months of imprisonment for "abusing democratic
freedoms," for writing an essay, distributed over the Internet, about
state censorship of information and the media. Other cyber-dissidents who have
been sentenced to prison on criminal charges include: Pham Hong Son, Le Chi
Quang, Nguyen Khac Toan, Nguyen Vu Binh, Pham Que Duong and Tran Khue.
Internet Controls
The government maintains strict control over access to the
Internet. It blocks websites considered objectionable or politically sensitive
and strictly bans the use of the Internet to oppose the government,
"disturb" national security and social order, or offend the
"traditional national way of life." Decision 71, issued by the
Ministry of Public Security in January 2004, requires Internet users at public
cafés to provide personal information before logging on and has increased the
pressure on Internet café owners to monitor customers' email messages and block
access to banned websites.
In April 2004 the government closed down Vietnam International
News 24-Hour, an unlicensed website that had reprinted a BBC article about
Easter demonstrations in the Central Highlands. In August 2004 the Ministry of
Public Security created a new office to monitor the Internet for
"criminal" content, a measure that appears to be aimed in part at
intimidating people from circulating any information that authorities could
deem to be a "state secret" or otherwise unauthorized.
Freedom of Religion
The government bans independent religious associations and permits
religious activities only insofar as they are conducted by
officially-recognized churches and organizations whose governing boards are
approved and controlled by the government.
A new Ordinance on Beliefs and Religions went into effect in
November 2004. It pays lip service to freedom of religion but strengthens
government controls over religion and bans religious activities deemed to
threaten national security, public order, and national unity.
Members of the banned Mennonite church have come under
increasing pressure from the government. In June 2004, Pastor Nguyen Hong
Quang, an outspoken Mennonite church leader, was arrested after publicly
criticizing the government for detaining four Mennonites three months earlier.
On two separate occasions during 2004, officials in Kontum province bulldozed a
chapel of Pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh, superintendent of the Mennonite churches in
the Central Highlands. In September, October, and November, police pressured
Mennonites in Kontum and Pleiku provinces to sign forms renouncing their
religion.
In both the central and northern highlands, government
officials continue to ban most Protestant gatherings. Authorities have forced
ethnic minority evangelical Christians to pledge to abandon their religion and
cease all political or religious activities in public self-criticism sessions
or by signing written pledges.
Crackdown in the Central Highlands
In the Central Highlands some ethnic minority Christians
have rejected the government-controlled Evangelical Church of Vietnam and have
sought to manage their own religious activities. Increasing numbers of ethnic
minorities, collectively known as Montagnards, appear to be joining Tin Lanh
Dega, or Dega Protestantism, which combines evangelical Christianity with
elements of ethnic pride and aspirations for self-rule. Dega Protestantism is
officially banned by the government.
In April 2004 peaceful demonstrations by Montagnards during
Easter weekend in the Central Highlands turned violent when security forces and
civilians acting on their behalf ambushed and attacked the demonstrators with
clubs, metal bars, and other crude weapons. At least ten Montagnards were
killed and dozens wounded. Hundreds fled from their villages and went into
hiding or attempted to flee to Cambodia. (see Cambodia) Authorities dispatched
additional police and military forces to the region and established security
checkpoints along the main roads. Strict restrictions were placed on travel
within the highlands, on meetings of more than two people, and on communication
with the outside world.
Repression of Buddhists
Religious leaders of the banned Unified Buddhist Church of
Vietnam (UBCV), which was the largest Buddhist organization in the country
prior to 1975 and which does not recognize the authority of the
government-controlled Vietnam Buddhist Church, face ongoing persecution. The
government appeared to be easing up on the group in early 2003, when UBCV
leader Thich Quang Do was released from two years of administrative detention
and the prime minister visited UBCV Supreme Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang.
However, in October 2003 the two UBCV leaders were once again placed under
unofficial house arrest and eleven other UBCV leaders were taken into
administrative detention. Tensions escalated in November 2004 when authorities
prevented Thich Quang Do from visiting Thich Huyen Quang, 87, who was severely
ill in hospital, and summoned him for questioning on allegations of
"appropriating state secrets".
In March 2004, UBCV dissident Thich Tri Luc (Pham Van Tuong)
was released from prison and resettled in Sweden two months later. Thich Tri
Luc, a UNHCR-recognized refugee, had been abducted by Cambodian and Vietnamese
agents in Cambodia and taken to Vietnam in 2002.
Members of the Hoa Hao sect of Buddhism are subject to
police surveillance and several were thought to remain in detention at this
writing. The sect was granted official status in May 1999, although government
appointees dominated the Hoa Hao Buddhism Representative Committee established
at that time. In August 2004 Hoa Hao leader Le Quang Liem, 84, was released
from administrative detention after more than two years' under house arrest.
Religious Prisoners
At this writing, at least ten ethnic Hmong Christians were
in detention in Lai Chau and Ha Giang provinces in the north. At least 180
Montagnard Christians continued to serve prison sentences of up to twelve years
for their involvement in church activities or public demonstrations, or for
attempting to seek asylum in Cambodia. Three Mennonites were serving prison
terms ranging from nine months to three years for "resisting officers on
duty," after a half-day trial in November 2004. At least four Catholics,
including Father Nguyen Van Ly and members of the Congregation of the Mother Co-Redemptrix,
remained in prison for expressing criticism of Vietnam's human rights record or
for distributing religious books and holding training courses.
Torture in Detention
Prison conditions in Vietnam are extremely harsh. Human
Rights Watch has received reports of solitary confinement of detainees in
cramped, dark, unsanitary cells; lack of access to medical care; and of police
beating, kicking, and using electric shock batons on detainees. Police officers
routinely arrest and detain suspects without written warrants, and authorities
regularly hold suspects in detention for more than a year before they are
formally charged or tried.
Political trials are closed to the international press
corps, the public, and often the families of the detainees themselves. Defendants
do not have access to independent legal counsel. More than 100 death sentences
were issued in 2004, with twenty-nine crimes considered capital offenses under
the penal code, including murder, armed robbery, drug trafficking, many
economic crimes, and some sex offenses.
International Response
At the December 2003 Consultative Group meeting, Vietnam's
international donors pledged more than U.S.$2.8 billion in aid for 2004. While
donors publicly have focused on economic growth, "good governance,"
and poverty reduction programs, they have increasingly expressed concerns about
the government's imprisonment of dissidents, suppression of freedom of
expression and of religion, and its poor handling of the crisis in the Central
Highlands.
In June 2004 Japan, Vietnam's largest donor, reversed its
traditionally circumspect stance on Vietnam's record on human rights and
announced that its official development assistance to Vietnam would be linked
in part to the government's respect for human rights and steps toward
democracy. In contrast, fellow members of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) made virtually no comment on Vietnam's human rights
record.
In 2004, the European Union (EU) criticized Vietnam's
decision to classify information and statistics on executions as a state
secret. More than 100 members of the European Parliament called on the EU and
European Commission to highlight Vietnam's human rights record during the
Asia-Europe Summit Meeting held in Hanoi in October 2004. During the meetings
the Dutch Foreign Minister, on behalf of the EU, called for the release of
political and religious prisoners. In November, the UK Foreign Office raised
concerns about the plight of non-recognized Buddhist and Protestant groups in
its annual human rights report.
The U.S. re-established diplomatic relations with Vietnam in
1995 and approved a bilateral trade agreement with Vietnam in 2001. In 2001 and
again in 2004, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the Vietnam Human
Rights Act, which would link future increases in non-humanitarian aid to
progress on human rights. As of this writing the Senate had not approved the
legislation. In 2003 the U.S. State Department cancelled its annual human
rights dialogue with Vietnam because of lack of concrete results. In September
2004 the State Department designated Vietnam a "Country of Particular
Concern" because of what it called Vietnam's "particularly severe
violations of religious freedom."
In July 2004 Vietnam became of one fifteen countries, and
the first and only Asian country, to receive financial aid from President
Bush's emergency global plan for HIV/AIDS. In November, the deputy
director of UNAIDS called on Vietnam to address continuing discrimination
against people with HIV/AIDS, which she said was among the worst in the world.
In November 2004 the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention
stated that the imprisonment of Nguyen Dan Que was arbitrary and in violation
of international law.
Vietnam Makes a Start on the Reform
of The Media
Jan 12, 2005, Asia
Times
James Borton eyes the
media
From the stoops of small, family-run shops to
stalls along the Red River to the old Hanoi Quarter on Ta Hien Street, old and
young alike will soon be celebrating Tet - the Vietnamese New Year. The
national holiday, which falls in late January or early February depending on
the moon, is a time for families and ancestral remembrances. For the media,
however, there is little time for celebrations, with competition heating up as
lifelines to once-enshrined state subsidies and the standard receipt of
gratuity envelopes from business enterprises ends.
More journalists are now engaged in improving
the media's professional skills and enhancing journalistic integrity. But
progress in Vietnam is not easy to chart; sometimes every step forward seems to
be paired with a move back, in the direction of a hardliner communist past. For
the most part, however, Vietnam's state-controlled media readily accept the
inevitable: in order to keep pace with the doi moi, renovation market
reforms, Hanoi's Ministry of Culture and Information has issued a call to
increase the quality of its media, invest in new media technologies, and
improve the training of its more than 11,000 reporters, more than 35% of whom
are women.
"Information communication technologies are
contributing to major shifts in our culture, society and media," said
Nguyen Ahn Tuan, chief executive of the state-owned enterprise Value Added
Software Company (VASC) and founder of the bilingual news website, VietnamNet
Bridge.
Online reporting has been adopted by many of
Vietnam's major media, and digital-era publishing has become widely popular,
despite periodic Ministry of Public Security crackdowns on Internet access at
many unlicensed cafes.
Vietnam's nearly 700 newspapers and periodicals
published by more than 400 publishers are all controlled by the Communist
Party, leaving no room for private media. The Vietnamese press must also adhere
to guidelines firmly established by the powerful Ministry of Culture and Information.
Vietnam's press remains, for all purposes, still a party outlet for educating
the public and filtering information - not for independent news reporting. But
there are signs of an emerging cadre of newspaper editors and professional
journalists who welcome an adoption of Western-style reporting standards.
Controlled by the Vietnam Communist Party
Central Committee's Propaganda and Training Department, the press adheres to
guidelines firmly established by the powerful Ministry of Culture and Information.
For example, Nhan Dan, is the party newspaper of record. Last year, for
instance, the party's secretary general, Nong Duc Manh, called on the press to
upgrade reporting standards and get out into the countryside to record the
views of the people.
"Correspondents and editors must constantly
improve not only their professional skills, and in that process, root out
corruption and social ills while keeping close contact with people from all
walks of life," stated Manh during a 2004 press conference on the media.
This media shift was also reinforced last year
by Hong Vinh, deputy head of the Central Commission on Culture and Ideology, at
a media conference held in Hanoi. Vinh suggested that the media are deeply
engaged in improving professional skills, and in the process offer protection
of the rights of all citizens and welcome a renewed criticism of any abuses.
Several newspapers in Ho Chi Minh City have
embraced this call for journalistic integrity and are now attempting to inject
some infused professionalism into their publications. These include the Saigon
Group, Thanh Nien, Lao Dong and Tuoi Tre, four publications now free of all
state-issued publishing subsidies. As a result, many reporters no longer eschew
the party line. Some bold reporters have even written critical reports on
sensitive dam construction projects that threaten the livelihood of fishermen
and farmers in the north.
More recently, a state-sanctioned Vietnam Forum
for Environmental Journalists was established to address sustainable development
issues and challenges associated with reporting on these matters.
At the same time, however, Vietnam faces the
excesses of a lax canon of reporting standards reminiscent of the West's own
brand of "tabloid journalism". For example, the most popular
newspaper in Vietnam is the Cong An Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh, or the Saigon Police
Gazette, published by the police in Ho Chi Minh City. Its weekly circulation
comes to more than 600,000 copies. Newspaper vendors indicate that it sells out
almost immediately. At US$0.20 a copy, that's no small change for the
publisher.
This is in sharp contrast to the party's
ideological flagship newspaper, Nhan Dan, which many vendors choose not to sell
because it brings in so little money. Unlike Nhan Dan, the Saigon Police
Gazette is filled with lurid tales of sex and violence, of gang crimes and
prostitution.
Le Quoc Minh, a veteran Vietnamese journalist,
understands the need to improve standards and has established a Vietnamese
journalism website, www.vietnamjournalism.com, to provide informational tools
for reporters. "I just set up this website to share all I know on
journalism for my colleagues, especially young reporters, editors and
photographers. I don't think the way we have [been] doing things here is all
that professional," added Minh in an interview with Asia Times Online.
But with the way things seem to be going, the
foreign media will no longer be the only ones drawing attention to the myriad
challenges facing this developing nation. Intrepid Vietnamese reporters are
bravely reporting on rural poverty, environmental problems, a fragile
health-care system, corruption and integration into the world market; and they
are doing so in a way that attempts to safeguard their traditional culture in
conjunction with necessary reforms.
One of the most stellar reporting efforts by the
Vietnamese press involved insightful investigative articles on one of its own:
Tran Mai Hanh, former deputy chairman of the Vietnamese Journalists'
Association, who is alleged to have links to the Vietnamese mafia and
has accepted bribes for suppressing information. Hanh also served as the
general director of Voice of Vietnam radio and was a member of the party's
powerful Central Committee. Vietnam's state-run media is credited with breaking
this corruption scandal two years ago.
A school all their own
Vietnam gatekeepers are almost universally
trained at the Press and Communication Institute, the first journalism school
in Vietnam. About 90% of the state's media managers have completed their
studies at this institute. The institute has faculties in print media,
broadcasting, Internet and new media, and international relations.
"I am studying for a masters in journalism.
Around 300 young journalists graduate from the institute every year, and in my
opinion, the education quality of this institute is better than the two other
journalism education centers in Vietnam [Hanoi National University and Ho Chi
Minh City University], since the institute offers experienced professors,"
Nguyen Thu Hoai from the Vietnam Journalists Association in Hanoi wrote in an
e-mail interview with Asia Times Online.
Since Vietnam has failed to establish any
national standards for its media curriculum, foreign entities have been
encouraged by the Vietnamese government to offer media training classes in
country. These include Sweden's International Institute for Further Education
of Journalists (Fojo), Lille University in France, Singapore's School of
Communication Studies at Nanyang Technological University, and Indochina Media
Memorial Foundation - all now plying reporters with short-term intensive media
training classes.
Sweden has supported a training program for
journalists since 1994 that includes a radio broadcasting program with
interaction from ordinary citizens, reminiscent of popular talk-radio programs
in the West. This type of media program has sparked enthusiasm for the
widespread belief in a growing role for the media to enhance dan chu goc,
or grassroots democracy.
West Virginia University's Perley Issac Reed
School of Journalism in the United States is now engaged in fundraising to
create a Center for the Study of Emerging Media in Vietnam. Located in
Morgantown, West Virginia, the internationally focused journalism school has
supported training and exchanges with journalists from Vietnam for several
years.
"The center will help Vietnamese
journalists and educators build their understanding of contemporary media and
media skills, learn modern media technology and build a professional network
online," according to Professor Christine Martin, the former dean of the
Perley Issac Reed School of Journalism, and vice president for Institutional
Advancement at West Virginia University.
All of these media training developments are
first steps in the transformation of Vietnam's media, including the World
Bank's newly funded program in cooperation with the Ho Chi Minh City University
of Social Science and Humanities, for the establishment of practical media
courses titled "Reporting on Development Issues".
"Vietnam is taking steps to ensure the
reform of the media and even recently passed a law granting more freedom to the
individual editors of publishing companies, enabling that person to make value
judgments about news worthiness and accuracy rather than having each article
pass through the party's ideological censors," stated Augustine Vinh, a
Hanoi-based independent financial consultant to the World Bank.
Despite the country's legacy of war, political
constraints and poverty, Vietnam's media are slowly helping the nation face up
to their challenges in the race toward becoming an active global competitor and
aspirant to the World Trade Organization.
In response to an Asia Times Online question
about improvements in the development of an independent press, Huon Tran from
VietnamNet Bridge said, "I think this development must accompany the
international integration process that Vietnam has long embarked on, and I
myself found quite a very interesting shift in this view on the country's image
building by Vietnamese leaders."
James Borton is a freelance journalist and
currently is writing a book on China's media. He can be reached at asiareview@yahoo.com.
Government Clamps Down
On The Online Press
The Internet Under Surveillance
RSF.Internet
12 January 2005
Reporters Without Borders has condemned a government assault
on press freedom, led by politburo ideologue Nguyen Khoa Diem, who has decided
to reign in the official press, particularly new websites.
In just three weeks, three websites - Tuoi Tre,
Tintucvietnam.com and Vnexpress.net - have been banned or brought to book.
The worldwide press freedom organisation also deplored legal
action against Nguyen Thi Lan Anh, a journalist on the daily Tuoi Tre.
"The Vietnamese authorities view the media as propaganda vehicles,"
it said. "With less than a year to go to the next Communist Party
Congress, they particularly fear websites, even official ones, since they are a
sounding board for popular discontent."
"We need to support this young generation of
journalists who want to report on the news as it is and not be used as
mouthpieces for the regime," it said.
Nguyen Thi Lan Anh was charged on 5 January 2005, with
posting two briefs quoting a note from the Health Minister classified as a
"state secret". In it the minister called for an investigation into
the abnormally high prices set by pharmaceutical business Zuellig Pharma VN.
Tuoi Tre (Youth), one of Vietnam's rare investigative publications, has been
targeted by the government for several years.
Vietnamese Prime Minister, Pham Van khai, on 8 November
2004, called for disciplinary steps to be taken against online press agency
Vnexpress.net, run by Internet provider FTP - a state-owned company. It followed
a demand for intervention by the Ministry of Culture and Information over
"erroneous" articles published by the agency. The offending articles
reported on government purchase of 78 Mercedes for the Europe-Asia (ASEM), in
October 2004. It unleashed a wave of readers' letter denouncing the import of
luxury vehicles. Vnexpress posted some of the reactions, which appeared to
particularly provoke the government's ire. The editor and the journalists
involved in the story were reportedly subjected to disciplinary action.
The website Tintucvietnam.com (Vietnam News) was closed
around 10 January on the order of the Ministry of Culture and Information. The
site chiefly dealt with cultural and economic stories. As in the case of
Vnexpress, it was posting readers' letters that was believed to have prompted
the ban.
This clampdown on the media has been orchestrated by Nguyen
Khoa Diem, head of the party central committee's ideology and culture
commission. In recent months he has publicly insisted on several occasions on
the need to bring into line a press, which he said, chased after sensationalism
and profit rather than confining itself to putting out government ideology.
State Owned Banks
Receive $25.5 Mln For Recapitalization
Copyright 2005 Toan Viet Limited Co
Vietnam News Briefs
January 11, 2005
Vietnam's Ministry of Finance (MoF) has decided to provide
an additional VND400 billion ($ 25.5 million) via 20-year special government
bonds to two State-owned commercial banks (SOCBs) as part of the last package for
recapitalizing the banks ahead further integration, especially WTO entry
expected at the end this year.
MoF previously planned to provide the last package worth
VND1.5 trillion ($ 95.5 million) via the special government bonds to the
country's three largest state-owned commercial banks (SOCBs) including
Agribank, Vietcombank and Incombank by the end of 2004 at the latest.
However, the Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural
Development (Agribank), Vietnam's biggest state-owned commercial bank, was the only
bank to receive the recapitalization funding worth VND690 billion ($ 44
million) from the MoF.
The other two SOCBs, the Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam
(Vietcombank) and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of Vietnam (Incombank),
were originally stated to receive $ 25 million apiece at the same time as
Agribank, but had to wait for the disbursement.
The total VND1.5 trillion for the three banks is the fourth
package under the Vietnamese Government's $ 673-million recapitalization
program to assist the country's five existing state-owned banks to raise their
capital safety ratios, which currently stand at dangerous levels.
As of the end of June 2004, Agribank had the highest capital
adequacy ratio of 6.2% while the figures for Vietcombank and Incombank were
only 4.7% and 4.4%, respectively.
Vietnam now has five State-run commercial banks, 38 joint
stock commercial banks, four joint venture banks, 25 foreign bank branches, and
some 40 foreign bank representative offices.
Fourteen Hospitalized
In Vietnam With Suspected Bird Flu
Xinhua
Copyright 2005 BBC Monitoring/BBC
BBC Monitoring International Reports
January 11, 2005
Hanoi, 11 January: Fourteen people in seven Vietnam's
southern localities have been hospitalized since Monday (10 January) for being
suspected of suffering bird flu, a local health official told Xinhua. Of the
cases, four were confirmed to have contracted virus H5N1. One bird flu patient
from southern Tien Giang Province is in serious health condition, and three
others from southern provinces of Tay Ninh, Tra Vinh and Dong Thap died, said
the official of Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday.
"Hospitals, which are treating the suspected cases, are
actively conducting tests to determine whether they got H5N1 virus or
not," the official said, asking for anonymity. The spread of the virus is
favoured as cooler temperatures and an increase in the movement of fowls ahead
of the Lunar New Year, which falls in February.
To deal with the situation, Vietnam is taking urgent anti-bird
flu measures, such as tightening management over transport and trading of
poultry, conducting closer surveillance on the current situation of fowl flocks
nationwide, and intensifying propaganda on the disease via mass media.
According to the Department of Animal Health, since last
December, the relapse of bird flu has been seen in 13 localities across the
country, killing or leading to the forced culling of nearly 100,000 fowls. In
late March 2004, Vietnam declared an end to the bird flu that killed 17 per
cent of its poultry population and claimed at least 21 human lives during the
previous outbreak starting in December 2003. A total of 43.2 million fowls
nationwide either died or were culled, causing a total loss of 1.3 trillion
Vietnamese dong (82.8 million dollars) to the local poultry industry.
Source: Xinhua news agency, Beijing, in English 0515 gmt 11
Jan 05
Bird Flu Kills 100,000
Poultry, Threatens Northern Vietnam
Copyright 2005 Toan Viet Limited Co
Vietnam News Briefs
January 11, 2005
The bird flu epidemic, which caused serious damage to
Vietnam's husbandry sector in early 2004 and killed or forced culling of around
100,000 poultry in recent months, is spreading rapidly and is likely to
threaten the northern region.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) on
January 10 said that the northern region is likely to be infected as the virus
was recently found in Nam Dinh province.
However, the ministry affirmed that the strain has not yet
found detected in two major poultry raising provinces of Ha Tay and Ha Nam.
The deadly avian influenza virus has recently been detected
in additional 47 communes in 26 districts of 9 provinces of Lam Dong, Binh
Phuoc, Ben Tre, Tien Giang, Long An, Dong Thap, Can Tho, Bac Lieu and Ca Mau.
On January 9 alone, around 18,000 ducks and 38,000 quails
tested positive with H5N1 were killed or culled in additional 19 communes,
numbering the total communes to 71 in 13 provinces nationwide so far.
Since January 5, around 13,700 chickens and quails in local
farms in Mekong Delta's Ben Tre province have been culled to prevent the bird
flu virus from spreading, according to the province's Veterinary Department.
Samples of dead poultry were immediately sent to the laboratory at the Ho Chi
Minh City Veterinary Center for testing.
The dead domestic fowls came from farms in the province's
districts of Chau Thanh and Giong Trom. Bird flu had also appeared in both
areas at the beginning of last year. In October 2004, the recurrence of bird
flu was reported in a territory of the province's Chau Hoa district.
Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City have quickly implemented specific
measures to prevent the spreading of the deadly virus to their areas.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development's Animal
Health Department will cooperate with local authorities and agricultural
services to organize a conference on bird flu prevention and control in Hanoi
on January 13 this year to quickly deal with the situation.
In early 2004, the bird flu epidemic killed around 36
million poultry throughout the country, or 14.25% of the total herds.
Vietnam’s President
Earns 240 Dollars Per Month
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
January 11, 2005, Tuesday
Vietnam made public the meagre official salaries of its most
senior political figures for the first time in the state run media Tuesday.
Despite presiding over a nation of more than 80 million
people, President Tran Duc Luong's salary is a mere 240 dollars a month, the
Thanh Nien (Young Newspaper) reported.
The 67-year-old former geologist has been Vietnam's
president since 1997.
Communist Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh, although
considered a more powerful figure than the president, also earns 240 dollars a
month.
Prime Minister Phan Van Khai and National Assembly Chairman
Nguyen Van An both earn 230 dollars per month.
Members of the powerful politburo are paid 165 dollars per
month, according to the paper, while ministers earn from 180 to 190 dollars and
four-star generals earn 192 dollars.
The low salaries of government officials and civil servants
are often cited as contributing to Vietnam's poor record on official
corruption.
Recently a number of high profile members of the government
have been sanctioned, including Deputy Trade Minister Mai Van Dau, who was
arrested on graft charges last November.
Vietnam Rejects Report
On Mass Arrest Of Minority Christians
BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific – Political
Supplied by BBC Worldwide Monitoring
January 11, 2005, Tuesday
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Le Dung said on Monday 10
January that people of ethnic minority groups living in the Central Highlands
had enjoyed a peaceful Christmas, rejecting Human Rights Watch's report on
massive arrests of Protestants in the region during the festive period.
In response to a question raised by a French news agency AFP
correspondent on Vietnam's reaction to the Human Rights Watch's report, Dung
said Christians all over the country, including those from ethnic minority
groups in the Central Highlands, had enjoyed a peaceful Christmas. He confirmed
that there were no cases of ethnic minority people were detained or tortured in
the region.
Earlier in the day, Human Rights Watch released a report
accusing Vietnam of arresting and torturing a number of ethnic minority people
in the Central Highlands before Christmas celebrations. It alleged that police
arrested many Protestants from ethnic minority groups in the region in the
weeks before Christmas. In Gia Lai Province alone, the report claimed that 129
people were arrested between 12 and 24 December, 2004.
Vietnam Suspends A Popular Web Site
Associated
Press, January 11, 2005,
Vietnam has suspended a popular news Web site for failing to
obtain a government operating license, state-controlled media reported
Wednesday.
The Ministry of Culture and Information also fined local
software company, Vinacomm - which runs the tintucvietnam.com Web site -
$1,274, the Thanh Nien (Young People) newspaper said.
Access to the popular Web site - which compiled news stories
from local newspapers - has not been possible since Saturday.
Ministry officials and company executives were not available
for comment Wednesday.
Vietnam maintains tight control over the media and the
Internet. There are an estimated 500 media organizations in Vietnam, all of
which are state-run.
Government Outlines
Corruption Prevention Plan For 2005
Copyright 2005 Toan Viet Limited Co
Vietnam News Briefs
January 10, 2005
The government has outlined an action plan to combat
corruption in an effort to reduce graft, a major hurdle to the country's future
development.
Under the three-point action plan for 2005, the government
will emphasize preventing corruption related to national infrastructure
projects, which make up the majority of graft scandals exposed so far.
The plan stresses the need for scrutiny into the management
of public finances and property. Regulations on bidding and investing on public
works projects will be reviewed with an eye towards diminishing legal
loopholes.
Under the plan, the government will require its
administrative agencies to build a people-oriented management culture and
encourage officials to improve relations with the people.
The government has said leaders of the agencies will
ultimately be held responsible for their subordinates misdeeds.
Heads of central provinces and cities, ministries and
services in charge of granting licenses or certificates should more effectively
distribute information on new rules or procedures, the plan said.
The government will also ask ministries, industries and
local authorities to intensify inspections of the management of construction
projects so as to prevent misappropriation and wasteful spending.
The government has also instructed inspectors to improve
their work by responding to complaints of local people or the media. Corruption
cases reported by the media should be immediately inspected, the document said.
Under the plan, the Inspectorate is tasked with reviewing
the implementation of the Ordinance on Anti-corruption and accelerating the
drafting of an anti-corruption law by November, 2005.
Another task for the legal watchdog is to create a national
steering board on corruption control to be submitted to the Government for
consideration within the second quarter of this year.
Despite recent strong commitments by the ruling Communist
Party of Vietnam and the government against corruption and other negative
phenomena, such evils are still rampant in all sectors and at all levels in
Vietnam, having adversely affecting the country's competitiveness for a long
time.
In the past ten years, Vietnam detected as many as 9,454
corruption cases causing total losses of more than VND10 trillion ($ 639
million), according to the country's Police Ministry. Such large number of
uncovered cases, however, is said to be only the floating part of the iceberg
and the recent crackdown on deteriorating officials is highly selective and
some high-ranking cadres have acquired de facto immunity from prosecution.
Observers say that Vietnam needs more specific and stronger
measures against corruption.
In 2003, Vietnam received a corruption perception rating of
2.4 in a global corruption survey undertaken by Transparency International,
where 10 equals little or no corruption and zero represents a highly corrupt
country. That figure was unchanged from 2002.
New
Evidence of Torture, Mass Arrests of Montagnards
Cambodia Slams Door on New Asylum Seekers
Human
Rights Watch
(New York, January 10, 2005) - Cambodia’s decision to close
its northeastern border with Vietnam to halt the flow of Montagnard asylum
seekers comes amidst alarming new reports of mass arrests, torture, and
increasing persecution of Montagnard Christians in Vietnam’s Central Highlands,
Human Rights Watch said in a 25-page briefing paper released today.
New testimony gathered by Human Rights Watch establishes the
widespread and continued use of torture against activists, religious leaders,
and individuals who have been deported or have voluntarily returned from
Cambodia.
On January 1, Cambodian National Police Chief Hok Lundy
ordered authorities in the border province of Ratanakiri to increase the number
of border police in order to prevent Montagnard asylum seekers from entering.
“The authorities have to convince the local people to be our spies in order to
report how many Montagnards [enter Cambodia], to arrest them and send them back
to Vietnam,” he said.
“The Vietnamese government’s mistreatment of Montagnards
continues unabated,” said Brad Adams, executive director of Human Rights
Watch’s Asia Division. “Instead of closing its borders to asylum seekers, the
Cambodian government should be working with the United Nations refugee agency
to provide sanctuary to people escaping torture and arbitrary arrest.”
Human Rights Watch said that under Cambodia’s international
treaty obligations, the Cambodian government must not return Montagnard asylum
seekers so long as they face a serious risk of persecution upon return to
Vietnam. Hok Lundy’s statements, which were tape recorded, make it clear that
Cambodia is flouting its legal obligations.
During high-profile tours to the Central Highlands in
December, top Vietnamese officials pledged to respect religious freedom and
called on local officials to encourage “peaceful and happy” Christmas
celebrations in Montagnard villages.
However, in the weeks leading up to Christmas, police were
busy rounding up and arresting dozens of Montagnard Christians and detaining
them at district and provincial police stations and prisons throughout the
region. In Gia Lai province alone––one of five provinces in the Central
Highlands––police arrested 129 people between December 12 and 24.
“Christmas was relatively quiet in the highlands,” said
Adams. “That’s because hundreds of Montagnards were rounded up and spent the
holiday in police detention.”
Many of those arrested during the Christmas crackdown were
Montagnard house church leaders who were organizing Christmas gatherings in the
villages. Others targeted for detention included the wives and even young
children of men who had fled to Cambodia to seek asylum. Human Rights Watch
said that police also arrested dozens of Montagnards suspected of being protest
leaders or making contact with groups in the U.S. supporting demands for the
return of ancestral land and religious freedom. The current whereabouts and
treatment of most of the detainees is unknown.
A Mnong man from Dak Nong province, who was arrested in
April 2004, said he was severely beaten several times by police officers trying
to obtain the names of other activists. At the district jail, police officers
pulled out one of his toe nails, beat him repeatedly on his thighs with a
rubber baton, and boxed him in the face, knocking out one of his front teeth.
They brandished an AK-47 rifle and threatened to kill him. He was then
transferred to the provincial prison, where he was interrogated and beaten
again:
They beat my head and used two hands
to box my ears more than thirty times, until my face was bright red and my ears
were bleeding. They kicked me in the chest with their boots. They wanted to squeeze
out the information about the demonstrations.
First-hand accounts from Montagnards who have voluntarily
returned to Vietnam since 2001 indicate that Vietnamese authorities treat
returnees with intense suspicion. Some are placed under police surveillance and
even house arrest upon return, or are regularly summoned to the police station
for questioning about their activities.
On December 29, the Vietnamese government publicly accused
13 Montagnards who voluntarily returned to Vietnam last October from a
Cambodian refugee camp of being spies that the United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR) “trained to create disturbances and then sent back to
Vietnam.”
“These kinds of statements show a degree of paranoia that
leads to persecution,” said Adams. “Instead of punishing those who flee for
safety, the government in Hanoi must begin to deal with the causes of
discontent, which are religious repression and widespread confiscation of the
agricultural land on which the indigenous minority people depend for their
livelihood.”
Meanwhile, Montagnard asylum seekers who crossed the border
to Cambodia’s Ratanakiri province right before Christmas remain in dire
straits. During the last week truckloads of Cambodian police and gendarmerie
have been scouring the forests where the asylum seekers are thought to be
hiding.
“It is absolutely imperative that the Cambodian government
immediately grants UNHCR access to these people, or turns them over to UNHCR if
government security forces apprehend them,” said Adams. “UNHCR and key
governments must make it clear in no uncertain terms to the Cambodian
government that asylum seekers must not be arrested and summarily returned to
Vietnam.”
Cambodia is a party to the United Nations Refugee
Convention, which prohibits the return of individuals facing a well-founded
fear of persecution on political, religious, or ethnic grounds. Cambodia has an
obligation to make individual determinations about the validity of asylum
claims. Cambodia is also a party to the Convention Against Torture, which
states in article 3 that, "No State Party shall expel, return ("refouler")
or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for
believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture."
To read the briefing paper during the embargo period, please
see:
http://embargo.hrw.org/backgrounder/english/vietnam0105/
Login: vietnam0105
Password: hrw2k5
After the embargo expires, please see: http://hrw.org/backgrounder/english/vietnam0105/
For more information, please
contact:
In London, Brad Adams: +44-7960-844-996
In New York, Sam Zarifi: +1-212-216-1213
In Washington D.C., Veena Siddharth: +1-202-612-4341
In Brussels, Vanessa Saenen (French, Dutch, German):
+32-2-732-2009
In Geneva, Diane Goodman: +41-22-738-0481
Jo-Anne
Prud'homme, Asia Division Associate, Human Rights Watch
Vietnam’s Police Minister Promoted
To Top Ranking General
Copyright
2005 Toan Viet Limited Co
Vietnam
News Briefs
January 10,
2005
Police Minister Le Hong Anh has been promoted to General
from Lieutenant General following a decision signed by the State President on
January 9.
Anh, who is also a Politburo member, has held the leading
position at the Police Ministry since August 2002. He was chosen to replace
former Police Minister Le Minh Huong. Before that time, he was head of the
Party's Inspectorate.
On the same day, the president also offered the Senior
Lieutenant General rank to four Lieutenant Generals of the Police Minister.
They are four deputy ministers of the ministry, namely Nguyen Khanh Toan,
Nguyen Van Huong, Le The Tiem and Nguyen Van Tinh. The first three are also
members of the Central Party Committee.
In late December 2004, 27 police officers were also promoted
to the general ranks. Of them, two Major Generals received the Lieutenant
General rank, while 25 colonels were promoted to Major General.
The total number of generals in Vietnam was not made
available.
(Capital Security Jan 10 p1, Vietnam Panorama)
Vietnam’s Party Chief
Discusses Cooperation With Japanese Party Leader
Copyright 2005 BBC Monitoring/BBC
BBC Monitoring International Reports
January 9, 2005
Hanoi, 8 January: The Vietnamese Party and government has
always attached importance to developing multi-faceted relations with Japan,
Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh affirmed.
This is appropriate for the two people's practical benefit,
and profitable to peace, stability and development in the region and the world,
Manh said while receiving Secretary-General Tsutomu Takebe of the Japanese
Liberal Democratic Party in Hanoi on Saturday (8 January).
Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh spoke highly of the
Japanese Government's great efforts to further develop the relations between
the two countries and expressed his thanks to Japan for its effective support
for and assistance to Vietnam in recent years, including active contributions
made by Tsutomu Takebe and MPs of the Japan-Vietnam Parliamentarians'
Friendship League. Manh noted with satisfaction the continual development of
the relations between the CPV and LDP as well as the two governments,
legislatures and people, saying that exchanges of visits between the two
countries' leaders have not only contributed to increasing the mutual
understanding but also boosting the friendly and cooperative ties between
Vietnam and Japan.
LDP General Secretary Tsutomu Takebe and many LDP parliament
members of the Japan-Vietnam Parliamentarians' Friendship League have been in
Vietnam for a working visit since 7 January. Tsutomu Takebe applauded the great
achievements recorded by the Vietnamese people in national renewal and
construction over the past 20 years, and noted with satisfaction that
Japan-Vietnam relations are witnessing a new stage of fine development.
The same day, Prime Minister Phan Van Khai received General
Secretary Tsutomu Takebe and his entourage. Talking to the Prime Minister,
Tsutomu Takebe praised Vietnam's achievements in 2004 and affirmed that he
would continue striving to further boost the development of the cooperative
ties between the two countries in the future.
Earlier, Tran Dinh Hoan, a politburo member, Party
Secretariat and President of the Vietnam-Japan Parliamentarians' Friendship
League, held a working session with Tsutomu and his entourage. The two sides
exchanged views on how to strengthen ties between the two parties and
parliaments. They also agreed on the need to increase exchanges in order to
boost their cooperation in various fields and exchange experiences for
socioeconomic development and international and regional issues of mutual
concern with a view of developing Vietnam-Japan ties upon the goal of
"trust, stability and long cooperation" was defined by the two
countries' leaders.
During the visit, Tsutomu Takebe and other Japanese guests
paid a floral tribute to Late President Ho Chi Minh.
Vietnamese Reporter Prosecuted For Publishing Confidential Document
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
January 7, 2005, Friday
A Vietnamese journalist who wrote about a pharmaceutical
price fixing scam has been placed under house arrest, local media reported
Friday.
Nguyen Thi Lan Anh, a reporter with the Tuoi Tre (Youth)
newspaper, was prosecuted on Thursday for "appropriating, trading and
destroying national confident documents", local newspaper Sai Gon Giai
Phong (Liberated Saigon) reported.
Last May, Anh reported on a document in which the minister
of health requested the prime minister to assign the Ministry of Planning and
Investment to inspect and examine the activities of Zuelling Pharma Vietnam.
Zuelling Pharma Vietnam, a subsidiary of Zuelling Pharma
Singapore, was the monopoly distributor of certain imported medicines to
Vietnam between 2001 and September 2004. The company, which held a 26 per cent
market share, had increased the price of its medicines by between 12 and 60 per
cent each year.
Two other newspapers, Nhan Dan (People) and Lao Dong
(Labor), also reported the news on the same day but their reporters were not
prosecuted.
Police are also investigating the official with the health
ministry who gave Tuoi Tre a copy of the document, a source, who asked not to
be named, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
Tuoi Tre is one of the leading daily newspapers in Vietnam
with the largest circulation. Vietnam has no independent media and freedom of
the press is limited.
The newspaper is owned by the Ho Chi Minh City Youth Union,
a socio-political organization under the management of the State and Communist
Party.
U.S. Panel Clears Way for Tariffs On
Shrimp Imports
Associated Press
January 7, 2005
NEW ORLEANS -- The U.S. International Trade Commission on
Thursday cleared the way for tariffs to be imposed on shrimp imports from six
Asian and South American countries, but the body expressed concern that tariffs
could burden tsunami-ravaged countries.
The commission upheld last February's preliminary finding
that imports had injured, or were likely to injure, U.S. shrimp processors and
fishermen. The panel reaffirmed with a 6-0 vote that frozen shrimp have hurt
the U.S. industry, but the group voted 4-2 to scrap tariffs on canned imports,
which make up about 0.4% of imports.
The ruling was the last major step before tariffs on imports
from Brazil, China, Ecuador, India, Thailand and Vietnam become final.
"Overall, the case is done. The vast majority of the
decisions, final. It is a great weight off of the shoulders of shrimpers,"
said Deborah Long, a spokeswoman for the Southern Shrimp Alliance, an
eight-state group of shrimp processors and fishermen that organized the
antidumping petition.
She said there are only a few minor questions that still
need to be resolved.
While upholding its decision on frozen shrimp, the
commission left open the possibility of revoking tariffs on India and Thailand.
The commission will review how badly the shrimp industries there have been
damaged and decide if the tariffs should be lifted.
"The shrimp industry in these countries is the economic
engine, in particular for Thailand. And do you want to place tariffs on one of
the most important exports of these countries after they've been hit with this economic
devastation?" said Paul Nathanson, a spokesman for a group of importers
who oppose the tariffs.
"It is the absolutely worst time to be placing more
taxes on the shrimp industry. Together with the tsunami, there are real
questions of the viability of the Thai shrimp industry," said Brian Wynn,
president and chief executive of Los Angeles-based Rubicon Resources, a major
importer of Thai shrimp.
Ms. Long of the Southern Shrimp Alliance disagreed.
"While the tsunami has had devastating effects on human life, the shrimp
infrastructure is relatively sound and we don't think it will change the legal
case before the ITC."
Mr. Wynn said shrimp farms in Thailand were mostly spared
but that mangroves and hatcheries where shrimp are bred were seriously damaged.
"It will have an immediate price impact."
A preliminary report on the tsunami's damage by the United
Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization reported widespread damage to shrimp
hatcheries and operations and the loss of thousands of fishing vessels.
The yearlong case was brought by Southern shrimpers, who
claimed that imports were being dumped on the U.S. market at unfair prices and
driving U.S. shrimpers out of business.
At almost every stage, federal regulators have sided with
U.S. shrimpers and found that dumping occurred and that imports had injured, or
threatened to injure, the domestic industry.
Duty rates for the six countries range between 2.3% and
112.8%.
Brazil faces
duties between 9.6% and 67.8%;
China between
27.8% and 112.8%;
Ecuador between
2.3% and 4.4%;
India between 5%
and 13.4%;
Thailand between
5.7% and 6.8%; and
Vietnam between
4.1% and 25.7%.
Dumping occurs when a product is sold in the U.S. at a price
below a producer's sales price at home or at a price lower than the cost of production.
From the beginning, shrimp importers and exporters have
fought the dumping case, claiming that there was no evidence of dumping and
that duties would do little to fix the underlying problems in the domestic
industry.
"Ninety percent of all shrimp consumed in the U.S. is
imported. Families across this country have been able to enjoy shrimp dinners
in their homes and at restaurants at record levels. These duties will do
nothing to make the domestic shrimpers more competitive," said Wally Stevens,
president of the American Seafood Distributors Association.
"What it is going to result in is an increase in price
for the American consumer," Mr. Wynn said.
The case pits American fishermen who still catch shrimp in
boats and the booming overseas shrimp farms.
American fishermen have struggled with overcapitalization,
rising fuel prices and overseas competition. But they argue that massive
subsidies to shrimp farms and the blocking of shrimp imports by Japan and the
European Union set up unfair conditions.
"When poor quality and antibiotic-laced pond-raised
shrimp is rejected by other countries, it's diverted here and unloaded at
whatever price they can get," said John Williams, a Tarpon Springs, Fla.,
shrimp fisherman with the Southern Shrimp Alliance. "The illegal practice
of dumping has turned our shrimp towns into ghost towns throughout the
Southeast."
Besides the trade action, U.S. shrimpers are embarking on a
marketing campaign to brand their shrimp as "American wild caught"
and better-tasting than farm-raised foreign shrimp.
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