David Thomas: “First, the human rights situation in Vietnam continues to be of great concern. The weekend of August 12, barely a week…”

“First, the human rights situation in Vietnam continues to be of great concern. The weekend of August 12, barely a week after Secretary of State Christopher opened the newly-established U.S. embassy in Hanoi, a Vietnamese court convicted two Vietnamese-born U.S. citizens and seven Vietnamese nationals accused of being counter-revolutionaries and acting to ``overthrow the people's administration.'' The group, allied with the banned political party Tan Dai Viet, was apparently trying to organize a conference in Ho Chi Minh City (the former Saigon) to discuss human rights and democracy in Vietnam. After their first attempt failed, they tried to set up another meeting but were arrested 10 days before it was held. Radio Hanoi Voice of Vietnam, in somewhat characteristic rhetoric, described their ``crimes'' as follows: Taking advantage of our party's renovation policy, they used the pretext of democracy and human rights to distort the truth of history, smear the Vietnamese communist party and state, instigate bad elements at home, and contact hostile forces abroad to feverishly oppose our state in an attempt to set up a people-betraying and nation-harming regime.”