{"id":1172,"date":"2009-02-26T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-02-26T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/queme.org\/all\/all\/statement-by-vo-van-ai-to-the-press-conference-in-us-congress-vietnamese-human-rights-defenders-share-concern-on-secretary-clintons-demotion-of-china-human-rights\/"},"modified":"2016-09-09T13:46:11","modified_gmt":"2016-09-09T13:46:11","slug":"statement-by-vo-van-ai-to-the-press-conference-in-us-congress-vietnamese-human-rights-defenders-share-concern-on-secretary-clintons-demotion-of-china-human-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/statement-by-vo-van-ai-to-the-press-conference-in-us-congress-vietnamese-human-rights-defenders-share-concern-on-secretary-clintons-demotion-of-china-human-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"Vietnam Committee<\/i> : Statement by Vo Van Ai to the Press Conference in US Congress:<\/em> Vietnamese human rights defenders share concern on Secretary Clinton\u2019s demotion of China Human Rights"},"content":{"rendered":"

PARIS, 26 February 2009 (VIETNAM COMMITTEE ON HUMAN RIGHT\/QUE ME) – Mr. Vo Van Ai, President of Qu\u00ea Me: Action for Democracy in Vietnam, submitted the following statement to a Press Conference at the US Congress today (Venue: Canon House Office Building Terrace, Washington D.C. at 11a.m., 26th February 2009).<\/strong><\/p>\n

I express my solidarity with Chinese dissident leaders Wei Jingsheng, Harry Wu, Bob Fu, Uyghur leader Rebiya Kadeer and Sharon Hom at this Press Conference today on the theme: \u201cAlarm sets in over Secretary Clinton\u2019s abandonment of China Human Rights\u201d<\/em>. I also applaud Congressmen Chris Smith, Frank Wolf, Mike Pence and Joe Pitts for ensuring that these essential voices for human rights in China may be heard at the US Congress at this decisive point in US-China relations.<\/p>\n

Human rights defenders, pro-democracy activists, religious and political dissidents in Vietnam share your concern on the recent remarks made by Secretary of State Hilary Clinton during her trip to China, when she said that the US would continue to press China on issues such as Tibet, Taiwan and human rights, but \u201cour pressure on those issues can\u2019t interfere with the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis and the security crisis\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Secretary Clinton\u2019s position casts a chilling cloak over the hopes raised by President Obama\u2019s pledge in his inaugural address of the US\u2019s support for \u201cevery man, woman and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity\u201d<\/em>. Ordinary men and women in Tibet, Xinjiang, China, Vietnam, Burma, Laos and North Korea are seeking such a future, and striving to win it through peaceful means. Yet in response, they suffer detention, torture, violence and discrimination.<\/p>\n

We know that foreign aid, trade and relations are complex. No one denies the immediate threats posed by the economic, environmental and security crisis that shakes today\u2019s world. But foreign policy should and must be comprehensive. By separating human rights from these issues, Secretary Clinton is downgrading human rights and shattering the hopes and aspirations of all those suffering under Chinese rule.<\/p>\n

Moreover, Secretary Clinton\u2019s remarks have grave implications for human rights activists in Vietnam. Hanoi\u2019s regime is a vassal of Beijing. After two millennia of Chinese over-lordship and 60 years of amity-enmity under Communist rule, Hanoi\u2019s leaders still ape the policies of its northern neighbor. They share China\u2019s concept of \u201cnon-interference\u201d on human rights, and are delighted when Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi throws out this concept in response to Secretary Clinton\u2019s words. Indeed, if the US downgrades human rights in China, it gives Hanoi\u2019s rulers a free hand to violate its citizens rights in Vietnam.<\/p>\n

In Vietnam today, all dissident voices are repressed. In a recent crack-down on peaceful demonstrations, scores of cyber-dissidents, journalists, labour activists and religious leaders were arrested. Buddhist monk Thich Quang Do, leader of the outlawed Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam and a 2009 Nobel Peace prize nominee, is in his 27th year of detention simply for peacefully advocacy of human rights, democracy and religious freedom.<\/p>\n

Today, I join with you in urging the US Administration to maintain pressure for human rights progress as an essential part of its foreign policy, and I call upon all Asian human rights defenders to stand together in the peaceful movement for freedom, human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Asia.<\/p>\n

Vo Van Ai
\nPresident, Qu\u00ea Me: Action for Democracy in Vietnam
\nParis, 26 February 2009<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PARIS, 26 February 2009 (VIETNAM COMMITTEE ON HUMAN RIGHT\/QUE ME) – Mr. Vo Van Ai, President of Qu\u00ea Me: Action for Democracy in Vietnam, submitted the following statement to a Press Conference at the US Congress today (Venue: Canon House Office Building Terrace, Washington D.C. at 11a.m., 26th February 2009). I express my solidarity with …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":403,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","","category-resources"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/403"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1172\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}