Newsroom

Vietnam and Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy Discussed on Parliament Hill

On October 30th, the Honorable Judy Sgro in cooperation with Viet Tan hosted a luncheon “Vietnam and Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy” in the Wellington Building in Ottawa attended by parliamentarians and their teams. The event focused on how Canada can engage Vietnam to advance human rights and security in the Indo-Pacific. From addressing climate change to transnational repression to military capacity building. 

With wary eye on China, U.S. moves closer to former foe Vietnam

The United States and Vietnam are poised to significantly enhance their economic and technological ties, bringing the former foes closer at a time of increased Chinese assertiveness in the region. The deal, expected to be announced when President Biden makes a state visit to Vietnam next weekend, is the latest step by the Biden administration to deepen relations in Asia. For Hanoi, the closer relationship with Washington serves as a counterweight to Beijing’s influence.

Facebook helped bring free speech to Vietnam. Now it’s helping stifle it.

When Facebook took off in Vietnam about a decade ago, it was like a “revolution,” said two of the company’s early employees in Asia. For the first time, people across the country could communicate directly about current affairs. Users posted about police abuse and government waste, poking holes in the propaganda of the ruling Communist Party. “It felt like a liberation,” said one of the Facebook employees, “and we were part of it.”

How Vietnam’s state trolls are undermining free speech and democracy

Vietnam has deployed an army of online trolls and cyber troops who are spreading not just disinformation but also conducting vicious hate campaigns against human rights activists and suspected critics of the state.
The extent of the operations of these trolls is detailed in a new report released by the human rights watchdog Viet Tan.

Hanoi’s Beijing Syndrome

The “Vietnamese street” and especially the activist community is known to be anti-China, but the Vietnamese Communist Party is keen to cultivate closer ties.  

Report: Authoritarian regimes set to win top U.N. human rights posts

Ahead of next week’s UN election of 14 nations to its highest human rights body, a coalition of non-governmental human rights groups from Europe, the U.S. and Canada today called on UN member states to oppose the election of Afghanistan, Algeria, Sudan, Venezuela and Vietnam, which were deemed “unqualified” due to their human rights records as well as their voting records on UN resolutions concerning human rights.