September 20, 2026
Contact: Dr. Suzie Xuyen Dong | +1 (346) 704-4744
As To Lam Visits U.S. and Canada, New Report Documents Vietnam’s Expanding Transnational Repression
As the leader of communist Vietnam travels to the United States and Canada this week to pursue diplomatic and economic ties, a new report from Viet Tan documents 20 cases in which Vietnamese authorities have pursued critics and human rights defenders beyond Vietnam’s borders. The report includes profiles of an ethnic Montagnard religious leader with American citizenship and a journalist with asylum in Canada.
In 2018, US officials helped facilitate the resettlement of Pastor A Ga, an indigenous community leader and Christian oppressed in Vietnam. A year later, the White House invited Pastor A Ga to speak as a survivor of religious persecution, indicating the importance of his advocacy work for U.S. foreign policy. Despite gaining US citizenship and having his case reach the highest attention of the U.S. government, Vietnamese authorities have continued to issue arrest warrants with threats of extradition, an affront to U.S. commitment to religious freedom. On 22 September 2026, Pastor A Ga is scheduled to be trialed in absentia in Vietnam — on the same day To Lam is expected to speak at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
In Canada, Doan Bao Chau is a journalist with contributions to international media outlets such as AP, AFP, and Reuters. The Canadian government helped Doan Bao Chau resettle after fleeing to Thailand. After he fled Vietnam, the Hanoi People’s Court convicted Doan Bao Chau in absentia and sentenced him to seven years in prison due to social media reporting critical of the government.
The efforts of the U.S., Canada, and other democratic countries to protect and support Vietnamese human rights defenders are tested under To Lam who is state president and General Secretary of the Vietnamese Communist Party.
Viet Tan’s reporting finds that when the Vietnamese government imposes criminal penalties or intimidation on individuals living under the protection and jurisdiction of another state, it undermines the sovereignty of the very countries where those individuals reside.
U.S. proposed legislation on transnational repression and Canada’s recently established commissioner on foreign influence are important efforts to challenge the reach of regimes like To Lam’s attempting to silence its critics. Governments should continue to scrutinize politically motivated extradition and law-enforcement requests, protect individuals facing transnational repression, and make respect for the rule of law an integral part of the bilateral relationship.
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The post As To Lam Visits U.S. and Canada, New Report Documents Vietnam’s Expanding Transnational Repression appeared first on Viet Tan (EN).
