Vietnamese exile opposition groups stage leaflet campaign

Feb 15, 2010, 9:12 GMT

Hanoi - Vietnamese opposition groups based abroad said Monday they had distributed thousands of leaflets inside the country protesting government 'concessions' to China.

A group calling itself the Action for Democracy Coordinating Committee said in a press release that it had distributed the leaflets in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Danang, and other cities.

The group represents two exile pro-democracy groups, Viet Tan and the People's Democratic Party. The statement also named two lesser-known groups, the Viet Labor Party and Assembly for Justice.

The leaflets denounce the government for allowing China to stake claims to disputed islands in the South China Sea, and to carry out bauxite mining projects in Vietnam's central highlands.

They urged citizens to 'rise up and fight against Chinese hegemony,' and called on members of the military and police to pledge allegiance to 'the people' rather than 'the ruling regime.'

Such calls are most likely criminal offenses in Vietnam, where the press and all political activity are strictly controlled. Article 88 of the criminal code bars 'spreading propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.'

Vietnam has sentenced over a dozen political activists to long prison terms in recent months for such offenses. Several of those sentenced were charged with hanging banners denouncing China and calling for democracy in public places.

China's claims to sovereignty over all the South China Sea, part of which Vietnam considers its own, have provoked considerable nationalist resentment in Vietnam. Chinese seizures of Vietnamese fishing vessels in the past year have sharpened the conflict.

Chinese bauxite projects have provoked opposition from prominent scientists and others, including revered revolutionary-era general Vo Nguyen Giap. Over the past two years, pro-democracy and opposition activists in Vietnam and abroad have tried to take advantage of such anti-China sentiment.

The call for the military to shift its loyalty away from the government seemed to mark a new step for Viet Tan, which has taken pains in the past to cast itself as a nonviolent group advocating multiparty democracy.

In January, prominent US-trained lawyer Le Cong Dinh was sentenced to five years in prison after he attended a workshop on nonviolent political protest organized by Viet Tan.

The press release said the leaflet campaign was timed for the Vietnamese Lunar New Year, which began Sunday. It was also intended to mark the 1,000th anniversary of the founding of Hanoi in 1010.

The leaflet included photos of the leaflets posted at six locations around Vietnam, but there was no independent confirmation that they were still present as of Monday morning.