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China Aggression Sounds Wake-Up Call for Vietnam Makers
By Nguyen Dieu Tu Uyen June 17, 2014 For more than eight years, Luong Thi Kim Oanh bought cases of thread from China for her garment factory in Hanoi. Last month, rattled by an anti-China riot in her country, she placed her first order from South Korea. “I used to buy 90 percent of my thread…
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Vietnam Tightens the Squeeze on Its Bloggers
By Shawn Crispin When Vietnamese blogger Nguyen Lan Thang left his home in Hanoi to report on the trial of a group of political activists charged with anti-state crimes, he switched off his mobile phone to avoid government surveillance of his movements. Despite taking that precaution, the police raided the hotel where he was staying…
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Convicted Ex-Vietnamese Shipping Firm Boss Drops Bombshell in Court
RFA, Jan 08, 2014 The former head of a beleaguered Vietnamese state shipping company sentenced to death for corruption has dropped a bombshell at a court hearing, saying he paid bribes to top officials of the ruling Communist Party in a futile bid to avoid arrest and prosecution, according to state media Wednesday. Duong Tri…
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Vietnam Questions 12 Activists After Training Stint in the Philippines
RFA Oct 10, 2013 Authorities in Vietnam detained for questioning a dozen young activists on their return from a training stint with a civil society organization in the Philippines amid suspicion in Hanoi that they might be involved in anti-government activities, according to friends and family. The 12 youths had attended the two-week 2013 Civil…
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POLICE USE VIOLENCE AGAINST BLOGGERS AT HUMAN RIGHTS PICNICS
May 8, 2013 Bloggers and netizens who took part in “picnics to discuss human rights” in public places in several Vietnamese cities on 5 May were violently attacked by police and many were briefly detained. “We firmly condemn this deliberate police violence against news providers and we are very disturbed to see that such unacceptable…
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Impatience in Viet Nam
By Jonathan London, Guest Contributor – 18 March 2013 An outpouring of unrestrained political speech was most certainly not the original intent. But what started as campaign by Viet Nam’s ruling Communist Party to bolster its subjective legitimacy through a precooked public consultation on constitutional reform morphed into an unprecedented assault on the principle of…
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Despite Crackdown on Dissent, Can Vietnam Reform?
The Diplomat By Steve Finch, February 9, 2013 Vietnam stands at a contradictory political crossroads. The line between activities deemed acceptable and illegal remains ill-defined. Even by recent standards in Vietnam, Monday’s life sentence handed down on Phan Van Thu was widely considered harsh. In the second mass subversion trial in less than a month…
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Challenging ASEAN:The US Pivot Through Southeast Asia’s Eyes
December 2012 By Donald K. Emmerson The US pivot toward Asia has been viewed largely through the lens of American security and economic competition with China. Within that context, writes Donald K. Emmerson, Washington is also deepening its involvement in ASEAN in terms of both security and trade. At stake is ASEAN’s vaunted centrality as…
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International Trade Union calls for revision of ASEAN Human Rights Declaration
ITUC/ITUC –ASIA PACIFIC STATEMENT ON ASEAN HUMAN RIGHTS DECLARATION The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and its regional body, ITUC Asia-Pacific, taking note of the recent initiative to issue an ASEAN Human Rights Declaration (AHRD) consistent with the Roadmap for an ASEAN Community 2009-2015, express serious concern with a position which represents a retreat from…
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