Vietnam Leaders Resolve to Safeguard Sovereignty, Major Changes Expected by Vu Quoc Ngu, July 3, 2014 Vietnam’s top leaders have boldly criticized China for its aggressiveness in the East Sea, or the South China Sea, bravely vowing to protect the country’s territorial sovereignty amid rising threats of Beijing, state media and observers have said. During meetings recently with voters, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Nguyen Phu Trong, President Truong Tan Sang, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and Parliament Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung all condemned the recent moves by Beijing to violate Vietnam’s waters in the East Sea. PM Dung came first by expressing strong protests against the Chinese deployment of HYSY-981 oilrig offshore Vietnam’s central coastal line two months ago. He declared that Vietnam will use all defense measures, including legal action, to protect the country’s sovereignty in the East Sea. President Sang said the country’s sovereignty is sacred and cannot be traded for any price. To create a strong voice and make powerful protests at home and internationally against Beijing’s aggression in the East Sea with its oil rig parked near Paracels in early May, Hanoi has recently allowed its propaganda apparatus including state media and newspapers to operate at full capacity in a move to expose wrongful and aggressive moves by its comrade Beijing. State-run Television and state-run newspaper now can say much more than in the past. State media have broadcast in a documentary film and footages as well as articles to expose to the outside world China’s brutal attacks against Vietnam’s law enforcement and local fishing boats. A number of documents on China’s invasions in Vietnam’s northernmost provinces in 1979 and Gac Ma (Johnson South Reef) in 1988 have been widely broadcast. Observers highlighted that a major change in the attitude of Vietnamese leaders has seen, which could make a crucial change in Vietnam’s diplomacy policies towards China by somehow shifting from Beijing to the Western world. Others are less optimistic and said that there is only an internal race before the communist party’s National Congress slated for 2016. If Vietnam’s communist government really wants to deal with China, it should release many political dissidents, many of whom strongly protested China and its contractors in recent years. Hanoi has imprisoned numerous political dissidents and social activists who publicly warned Vietnam of threats from the Chinese expansionism. Vietnam has released only five out of over 200 political prisoners since early 2014, and it should do more in the coming time, human rights bodies said. Vietnamese leaders remained divided on whether the country wants to be closer with the U.S., said observers. In late May, Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh held a telephone conversation with U.S. Secretary State John Kerry. Mr. Kerry invited Minh to visit Washington in a bid to strengthen the two countries’ comprehensive partnership, however, Minh’s trip to the U.S. has been not arranged. Vu Duc Khanh, a lawyer and part-time law professor at the University of Ottawa, even called on Obama’s administration to get tough on Vietnam. In his article posted in Asia Sentinel, he said the U.S.’s engagement with Vietnam, in large part, a failure. Hanoi continues to ply benefits from the U.S. while offering little in return, he wrote. Although the U.S. and Vietnam are uniformly concerned about China’s increasing assertiveness, Hanoi has been content by playing the two giants off one another, Professor Khanh said, adding unwilling to lean too far to the U.S. and too far to China, Vietnam’s leaders have walked a fine line. Hanoi has chosen its battles carefully, never rushing to pick which side, but it is time for Vietnam to pick one of them. If Hanoi wants to ally with the U.S., it must undergo political and democratic reform, Mr. Khanh said. Other observers said there is little hope for Hanoi to conduct political and democratic reform since the communist party is striving to keep the country under one-party regime.
Posted on: Thu, 03 Jul 2014 09:21:22 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015