President Obama is considering broadly expanding weapons sales to Vietnam in a move aimed at strengthening ties with Hanoi and boosting regional defenses against China’s growing clout, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), who has expressed concern about lifting the embargo, said doing so would “send a not-too-subtle message to China at a time when it is threatening regional stability in the South China Sea.”
“But it should not open the floodgates for sales of lethal equipment,” Leahy said. “Those decisions are made on a case-by-case basis … [and] should reflect an assessment of the relevant factors including progress by the Vietnamese government in protecting human rights.”
Still, any decision to sell weapons to Vietnam is expected to anger China, which described Obama’s partial lifting of the ban in 2014 as interfering in the region’s balance of power, McClatchy reports.
“It’s safe to say China will preempt and react negatively,” said Michael Green, senior vice president for Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “It’s been pretty much the M.O. for Beijing to interject in arms decisions by other countries that would move them closer to the U.S.”
The Vietnamese people, in contrast to the officials, are asking to meet with Obama to candidly discuss their struggles and concerns regarding the lack of freedom and democracy, analyst Tam Tran writes for The Diplomat:
In a quirk of timing, Obama will be arriving in Vietnam during the election for the National Assembly. The results in this “election” for the most part have been predetermined since the Party Congress earlier this year. Despite a movement beginning in February, where activists and civil society leaders attempted to run as independent candidates, all were eliminated out of the final roster of candidates. Prior to their elimination, many of these candidates were relentlessly harassed and ridiculed at state-sponsored town hall meetings. Some even had fermented shrimp sauce thrown on them as a means of intimidation, leading this election process to be dubbed “shrimp sauce democracy.”
The election is taking place amid an unprecedented grassroots movement demanding accountability for the environmental disaster along the country’s central coast, and social media will play a key role, one activist group suggests:
The Lá Phiếu (Ballot) app is now available on Google Play, allowing smartphone users to cast their votes and and freely express their political views ahead of Vietnam’s National Assembly elections on May 22. “Lá Phiếu” includes all party and non-party candidates and will give a broad, inclusive look at public sentiment. ….
The App features information on all party and non-party candidates, including those who did not make the “official” list. User data is not collected to allow safe and secure voting. With the help of the Guardian Project, circumvention has been integrated to avoid government blockage.
Lá Phiếu is supported by local Vietnamese organizations including The People’s Intellect, Brotherhood for Democracy, Hoang Sa FC, and Viet Tan.
Vietnam’s government should immediately stop all harassment, intimidation, and persecution of environmental activists. The government should respect their right to peaceful protest and release anyone still wrongfully held, said Human Rights Watch:
On the last three Sundays – May 1, 8, and 15 – thousands of people in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Nha Trang, Vung Tau, Da Nang, Hue, and Nghe An publicly demonstrated to demand a transparent government investigation into the recent mass fish kills off the coast of Ha Tinh province. While the authorities only subjected the protests on May 1 to light harassment, police and other security forces used unnecessary and excessive force to end demonstrations on the following two Sundays.
“The Vietnamese government too conveniently forgets that the right to peaceful protest is a core right protected in Vietnam’s Constitution and international human rights law,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Rather than sorting out the environment disaster, the government has focused on breaking up demonstrations and punishing those calling for accountability.”
