Washington, DC – Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose) offered the following statement for the Congressional Record today opposing Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) with Vietnam:

“Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to granting permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) to Vietnam. 

“Just two months ago, the Vietnamese government arrested my constituent, a U.S. citizen, Cong Thanh Do.  Mr. Do had posted comments on the internet while at home in San Jose, California advocating that Vietnam undergo a peaceful transition to a multi-party democracy.   For exercising his U.S. Constitutional right of free speech, the Vietnamese arrested him and held him in prison for 38 days in Vietnam without charges. 

“Other U.S. citizens have been imprisoned in Vietnam for what appear to be political reasons, including the sister of another one of my constituents, Thuong Nguyen ‘Cuc’ Foshee. 

“Although both are free today, I am concerned about hundreds of Vietnamese nationals as well as other U.S. citizens imprisoned in Vietnam.

“The Vietnamese government has repeatedly violated human rights.  Hundreds of Vietnamese have been imprisoned, put under house arrest, or placed under intense surveillance for simply practicing their religion or speaking out about democracy and human rights in Vietnam. 

“Following his return to the U.S., Mr. Do provided me a disturbing list of over 130 Vietnamese nationals and U.S. citizens he believes are currently imprisoned in Vietnam as prisoners of conscience or harassed by the government for simply speaking about democracy and human rights. 

“In addition, groups such as the Human Rights Watch have published reports of 355 Montagnard prisoners of conscience currently imprisoned in Vietnam.

“I am not alone in my concerns about Vietnam’s human rights record.  The Department of State, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, Amnesty International, the Committee to Protect to Journalists, and various Vietnamese-American groups have documented egregious violations of religious freedom, human rights, and free speech in Vietnam. 

“I have been a supporter of international trade.  But I also know that the Vietnamese Government would correct their behavior in order to perfect a trading relationship with the United States.  Given the alarming human rights violations currently underway in Vietnam, it seems a mistake for our country to grant PNTR to Vietnam without requiring that the Vietnamese government make significant improvements in respecting human rights, free speech, and freedom of religion.    

“The United States of America has a long and honorable tradition of safeguarding freedom and human rights throughout the world, especially with our trading partners.  We should not make an exception for Vietnam.

“At a time when we are spending $8-$10 billion a month and shedding the blood of our American servicemen and women proclaiming the cause to be democracy for Iraq, how is it that we can fail to use our mere economic leverage to try to achieve human rights in Vietnam?”