Compared to previous reports, the US Department of State this time made certain adjustments to its approach and comments on Vietnam.
“Vietnam has turned the corner and made enormous progress on religious freedom….. Overall, respect for religious freedom in Vietnam improved,” said John Hanford, US envoy for international religious freedom following the release of the report.
In reply to media workers, he mentioned Vietnam twice as a typical example of making progress on religious freedom.
Regrettably, despite acknowledging positive developments of the religious situation in Vietnam, the US Department of State failed to overcome biased views and even political pressures as often canvassed in previous reports before reaching a final conclusion. As a paradoxical result, it still included Vietnam on the list of “countries of particular concern” (CPC) regarding religious freedom.
Reality shows that economic challenges facing Vietnam as well as the mobilisation of all resources for international integration could make some people outside feel that freedom of religion and belief has not yet received due attention in Vietnam.
Undeniably, freedom of religion and belief is a complicated issue which could easily lead to disputes. Moreover, it has become a sensitive issue in relations between Vietnam and the US during the past years. But this does not mean Vietnamese people’s freedom of religion and belief has been violated, trampled upon and disrespected as stated in the US report.
Vietnam does not say that it has been perfect in religious affairs. The country will still have to work harder to ensure that important spiritual requirement of its people. So it will be beyond reason to deny Vietnam’s constant efforts to ensure freedom of belief and non-belief to its citizens as they are as clear as day to all and sundry.
There is ample evidence of Vietnam’s efforts and achievements in this area. To be objective, let’s consider what foreigners have said about Vietnam’s religious freedom after visiting the country.
In a letter sent to the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific regions, a war veteran acknowledged Vietnam’s progress in improving religious freedom. He recalled that during a visit to Hanoi, he stayed at a hotel near the Cathedral where he saw many masses solemnly held with the participation of many pupils in uniform. On January 1, the church was packed with hundreds of members of congregations attending the big mass. He said he very much enjoyed travelling to pagodas and temples across Vietnam to discover the Buddhist culture. He confirmed in his letter that he saw no obstacles to worship activities wherever he went. He said he is now following Buddhism and wants to further explore Buddhism in Vietnam.
Early last year, Vietnamese born French Monk Thich Nhat Hanh and 200 Buddhist monks and nuns from 30 countries around the world travelled across the country in three months to give lectures. His teachings attracted crowds of Buddhist followers in a peaceful atmosphere.
During a visit to Vietnam late last year, Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, Minister of Vatican Missionary Works, attended a ceremony to ordain 57 priests at the Cathedral in Hanoi in the presence of Catholic followers packing into areas around the Cathedral.
Early this year, during his working visit to Vietnam, a US congressman commented that rarely in the world are there many places of worship like those in Vietnam. He said there are a total of 74 churches, pagodas and temples built along more than 300km of roads from HCMCity to Da Lat city in the Central Highlands.
Such hard evidence shows that religious freedom is not an issue of “particular concern”, but it has received particular interest from the Vietnamese Government which always aims to better ensure the legitimate spiritual requirement of its citizens. Therefore, the US Department of State’s report this year still represents a biased judgement and a lack of objectivity, failing to truly reflect the truth in Vietnam. Such an outdated thinking will only put on hold the current trend towards full normalisation of Vietnam-US relations.
More than a decade after the two countries normalised relations, Vietnam and the US have had numerous chances to boost their relations, particularly after they concluded bilateral negotiations on Vietnam’s admission to the World Trade Organisation. The pending issues, no matter how sensitive they are, cannot obstruct the achievement of main goals in the relations between the two countries. In this context, Vietnam should be removed from the CPC list since this fits in with the real situation in the country and the common trend towards better Vietnam-US relations as expected by the two countries’ people.
The US still holds biased views on Vietnam’s religious freedom Related image(s)
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