Hanoi (AsiaNews) - An open letter, signed by 10 thousand Vietnamese, asking President Barack Obama to "intervene with Hanoi President Trương Tấn Sang, to release all prisoners of conscience and respect the democratic aspirations of the Vietnamese people." The letter was sent to the White House the day before the arrival of the Vietnamese leader in the United States where - at Obama's own invitation - he will stay for 3 days.
Hanoi hopes to come away with a military agreement with the United States in the field of maritime disputes, which have mounted over the past year in the eastern seas pitting nations against each other: China, India, Japan, South Korea, Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. The government hopes to get the go-ahead for America for its membership of the TPP, the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement.
Before granting this permission, write the signatories of the open letter, "the Vietnamese government should release at least 120 political activists who are in its prisons and give guarantees of a path towards full democracy and religious freedom in the country." There are several Catholics among the political prisoners, who in recent months have begun hunger strikes and peaceful protests to bring to light the injustice of their sentences.
Although Washington has a wavering policy towards Hanoi - sometimes inserted among the nations of "concern" for its violations of religious freedom, sometimes overlooked - U.S. Ambassador David Shear endorses the request of the letter: "Demanding for human rights improvement is one of requires not only of the U.S. but also of the Western countries to increase in economic cooperation. Regrettably, we always disagree with Vietnam government is on human rights and religious freedom".
