Vietnamese organizations urge President Bident to reconsider invitation to Vietnam’s leadership to attend the upcoming U.S.-ASEAN Leaders Summit.

SAIGON, VIETNAM, March 29, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- In an open letter, Vietnamese organizations urge US President Bident to reconsider the Administration's invitation to Vietnam’s leadership to attend the upcoming U.S.-ASEAN Leaders Summit. The letter reminded the US that Vietnam was not an invitee to the Summit for Democracy.

Speaking for the Alliance for Democracy, one of the signatories, Dr. David Tran reminded that the Uyghur Tribunal presented evidence that Vietnam was complicit with China in its genocide of the Uyghur people by killing and repatriating Uyghurs who escaped to Vietnam. “The US Department of Homeland Security is considering evidence that Vietnam has been importing Xinjiang cotton to supply an increased market share, helping China bypassing the US sanction prescribed in the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act,” he stated.

Along with China, Vietnam twice abstained on the UN resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. According to RFA, its military leaders have mostly recited Moscow's rationale for the invasion, going as far as blaming the war on Ukraine for joining the US in encircling, restraining and weakening Russia.

The Alliance argued that: "The US, through the Summit for Democracy, pledges to push back against the same authoritarianism, systemic corruption, and rights violation that Vietnam exemplifies. Hanoi has consistently sided with Beijing, including its insistence on a Chinese model of socialist democracy. Its latest support of Russia further solidifies Vietnam’s position on a Sino-Russian axis of autocracy."

On the occasion of the 47th anniversary of the fall of South Vietnam, the letter mentioned the dramatic situation in Ukraine and "the need of solidarity with those seeking freedom." The letter restated the case for Vietnam: "Eight decades under communism have not diminished the determination of our people to fight for freedom; dampened their spirit for human rights; or shaken their tenacity and courage to stand up for democracy and self-determination. The vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific should be built with free peoples and open societies, not just as a superimposed military construct on the back of oppressed Vietnamese people."

In regards to the the upcoming US-ASEAN Summit, the Alliance believed that the US "will stand to lose when we welcome an authoritarian state just a few months after the promises of the Summit for Democracy" and urged the US President to examine "Vietnam’s records and complicity" in relationship with its authorities.

Dr. David Tran, MD
Alliance for Vietnam's Democracy
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