Vietnam general warns of plots after Clinton visit
Vietnam general warns of plots after Clinton visit
HANOI (Reuters): A day after a historic visit to Communist
Vietnam by U.S. President Bill Clinton in which he urged greater
political openness, a top Hanoi general has warned of plots by
hostile forces to undermine socialism.
In a front-page article published in an official newspaper,
Lt. Gen. Le Van Dung, chief of staff of Vietnam People's Army,
said the military was determined to crush the threat of "peaceful
evolution" before it got off the ground.
"Nowadays...hostile forces are fighting against us actively to
sabotage socialism and the leading role of the Communist Party of
Vietnam," his article published in Monday's Quan Doi Nhan Dan
(People's Army) newspaper said.
Dung, also a vice defense minister, said it was the special
duty of the military leadership "to give constant direction to
the entire army and the entire people to struggle to make sure
the 'peaceful evolution' plots of the hostile forces fail."
Hanoi's communist leadership uses the term "peaceful
evolution" to describe what it sees as a concerted strategy by
opponents of socialism to undermine its political system.
Dung's call came the morning after Clinton concluded a
historic three-day visit to Vietnam in which he sparred over
human rights and political freedoms with the communist
leadership.
However, a different state-run newspaper, Thanh Nien (Young
People), quoted another general as saying corruption was a bigger
threat to security and had been given insufficient attention in
National Assembly sessions.
"I don't know what rank Vietnam holds in term of corruption in
the world but it has been eroding the belief in the Communist
Party and the State," said Maj. Gen. Le Quang Binh, deputy
chairman of the assembly's Committee on Defense and Security.
"If it is not stopped, it could spoil the entire social ideal,
causing misery to the people and the system to fall.
"No hostile forces could erode the people's belief in the
Party and the State, only corrupt people could make them lose
that belief."
Meeting Communist Party leader Le Khai Phieu on Saturday,
Clinton said he believed Vietnam would be more stable and
successful if it allowed more political freedoms.
He later said he believed the "trend towards freedom is
virtually irreversible" in Vietnam.
Phieu responded by saying it was not Washington's business to
lecture Hanoi and it should avoid interference in Vietnam's
internal affairs.
On Sunday, before leaving Vietnam, Clinton visited the Roman
Catholic Archbishop of Ho Chi Minh City, Pham Minh Man, to
highlight what the United States sees as the need for greater
religious freedoms in the country.