Asia In Red Zone
For decades the world has known of the blatant violations of human rights by the Red Chinese and Vietnamese governments. China claims to promotes “democracy with Chinese elements;” yet as Dr. Lee Edwards explains, “There is nothing democratic about a system characterized by a monopoly of political power, suppression of opposition groups, the jailing of dissidents, the monitoring of personal communications, the restricting of public meeting, a ban on independent labor unions, party control of [the] judiciary, and crackdown on underground Christian churches.”
Vietnam does not even attempt to disguise its violations. A leading expert on human right violations in Asia and the Distinguished Fellow in Conservative Thought at the Heritage Foundation, Dr. Edwards explains how “In Vietnam . . . the media is controlled by the communist party, professors are prohibited from criticizing the government, freedom of association and assembly are restricted, and police can hold individuals in detention for up to two years on suspicion of threatening national security.”
Yet despite knowledge of human rights violations, the international community has been unable to prevent these abuses by the Chinese and Vietnamese governments. China, particularly, is capable of violating human rights with no repercussions, as Dimon Liu explains, because “Chinese Officials are respectable and capable adversaries.” An internationally renowned activist on human rights in China since 1972, Dimon Liu argues that the Chinese officials use “Singapore as a proxy to advance the argument of Asian values . . . They argue we Asians are disciplined, we’re not spoiled, we take duty seriously, [therefore] we are not so concerned about rights.” Liu explains how the Chinese government uses the historical trait of “honor and duty” to explain why “rights” are unnecessary in Asia. Why would one need “rights” if everyone acts upon their “honor and duty?” However, for the past 30 years Liu has argued “that we take human rights seriously, we take up the duty of defending others human rights, because that is the only effective way of defending our human rights.”
Vietnam, too, continues its abuses of human rights regardless of international opinion. “After joining the [World Trade Organization] in 2006 and becoming a nonpermanent member of the United Nations security council in the beginning of this year, Vietnam has not fulfilled its commitments to improve human rights and to move towards a more democratic and civil society. Instead the international communities have witnessed some of the worst crackdowns on dissidence and movements for democratic reform in Vietnam,” explains Dr. Binh Nguyen.
A leading expert on human right violations in Vietnam, Dr. Nguyen has worked nonstop to reveal human rights violations by the Vietnamese government. She seeks to “allow the free flow of information . . . allow opposition opinions . . . release all religious and political prisoners . . . have the United Nation inspection of the Vietnamese prison system . . . new election laws for a multiparty system, allow freedom of assembly . . . private property . . . .”
However, these reforms will not take place unless the correct elements are in place, explains Dimon Lui. “For human rights to work we have to establish principles, principles that we all recognize, build institutions, and especially protect activists who have the intent and skill to make both principle and institutions work. And, if one of these three is missing, human rights are not going to work.” The international community must work to prevent human rights violations in China and Vietnam because governments of both of these countries are unwilling to make the necessary changes on their own.
Lance Nation is an intern at the American Journalism Center, a training program run by Accuracy in Media and Accuracy in Academia.
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