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Secret Vietnam directive aims to gird the Communist Party A leaked document
offers a window into the motivations and concerns of party leaders as they seek
to deepen ties with the U.S.


ASIA


AS VIETNAM GROWS TIES WITH U.S., A SECRET DIRECTIVE SEEKS TO GIRD THE COMMUNIST
PARTY

March 1, 202412:43 AM ET

John Ruwitch

Enlarge this image

President Biden attends a welcoming ceremony hosted by Vietnam's Communist Party
General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong at the Presidential Palace of Vietnam in
Hanoi on Sept. 10, 2023. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images


President Biden attends a welcoming ceremony hosted by Vietnam's Communist Party
General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong at the Presidential Palace of Vietnam in
Hanoi on Sept. 10, 2023.

Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

Last summer, as the United States and Vietnam finalized plans to upgrade the
bilateral relationship, the Communist leadership in Hanoi issued a secret
directive that aimed to limit outside influences and protect the party's grip on
power in the face of growing exposure to the U.S. and its allies.

Analysts say the six-page document — known as "Directive 24" and issued by the
ruling Communist Party's elite Politburo — offers a window into the motivations
and concerns of party leaders as they committed to deepen Vietnam's links with
an erstwhile enemy and leverage shifting geopolitical sands to upgrade the
country's economy.

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The directive outlines a set of broad measures designed to protect national
security and limit threats to the country's political system "in the context of
comprehensive and deep international integration."


CURTAILING FOREIGN INFLUENCE

Among the provisions, it says the party should "closely manage" Vietnamese
citizens who go abroad. It imposes limits on the types of labor organizing
allowed in the country. It advocates tighter control over foreign aid flowing
into Vietnam, and heightened vigilance "to prevent attempts to exert influence
though economic, cultural and social activities."


CLIMATE


AHEAD OF $15 BILLION CLIMATE DEAL, VIETNAM'S HUMAN RIGHTS RECORD IS SCRUTINIZED

It aims to curtail foreign influence in policymaking and stop groups inside and
outside Vietnam from using increased international cooperation to promote civil
society and domestic political organizations.

Project88, a Vietnam-focused human rights group that shared a copy of the
document with NPR, said the directive should put to rest "magical thinking" in
the United States and Europe that deeper ties with Vietnam will help promote
human rights in the country.

"The directive frames all forms of international commerce and cooperation as
threats to national security and articulates a disturbing plan to deal with
these perceived threats by systematically violating the human rights of the
country's 100 million citizens, who, by virtue of the classified nature of the
directive, are completely unaware of its contents," Project88 wrote in an
analysis.



Vietnam's foreign ministry and embassy in Washington did not respond to NPR's
emailed questions about the directive.

Vietnamese state media have referred to the directive by name, but the contents
have not been made public in full. NPR was able to cross-reference the contents
of the copy of the directive provided by Project88 with a copy from another
source.


DIRECTIVE AHEAD OF "COMPREHENSIVE STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP" WITH THE U.S.

Directive 24 is dated July 13, 2023. Two months later, on Sept. 10, President
Biden and Vietnamese Communist Party leader Nguyen Phu Trong met in Hanoi where
they elevated the bilateral relationship to a "comprehensive strategic
partnership". It is the highest level of country-to-country relations recognized
by the Vietnamese government.

While neither side mentioned China, it was an elephant in the room.


NATIONAL SECURITY


BIDEN DENIES IMPROVED TIES WITH CHINA'S ADVERSARIES IS MEANT TO CONTAIN BEIJING

Analysts say the Biden administration sees deeper ties with Vietnam as
potentially helpful in countering Beijing in the Indo-Pacific, although the
administration has denied that it intends to contain China.

Vietnam, for its part, has been motivated by friction between China and the
West, and supply chain "de-risking," to bolster its economy and further hedge
against aggressive Chinese behavior in the South China Sea, analysts say.

For Hanoi, it goes beyond just the U.S., though.

Vietnam and South Korea launched a comprehensive strategic partnership at the
end of 2022. And in November 2023, Hanoi forged a similar agreement with Japan.


DIRECTIVE 24 ARTICULATES A "BOTTOM LINE"

Carlyle Thayer, a Vietnam expert based in Canberra, said Hanoi is expected to
complete a strategic partnership deal with Australia in the coming weeks.
Vietnam already has a free trade agreement with the European Union.

"The reason [for] these comprehensive strategic partnerships is that China's
economy was stalled, relations with China were severely hurt by its lockdown
during COVID, and the global economy was slowing down. And so if Vietnam wanted
to get out of wallowing and move on to high tech digital development, it needed
to move forward with these modern economies," Thayer said.


POLITICS


BIDEN ENDS HANOI TRIP BY MAKING TRADE AGREEMENT WITH VIETNAM

He said Directive 24 articulates a "bottom line" as the party girds for more
foreign interaction.

"What this is really doing is preparing people. 'All right, we're going to open
up ... and that's going to challenge our system'," Thayer said.

Nhu Truong, an assistant professor at Denison University, said it sends a strong
signal at a pivotal time.

"I think it's a matter of the need to establish the party's stance in light of
something that seems to be so historic, and is gathering so much international
attention, as well as national attention," Truong said.



"It's a way to signal both internally to the party, as well as to outside
observers, that Vietnam nevertheless is not budging politically."


WAR, REMEMBRANCE AND REBUILDING IN VIETNAM

The directive comes amid a multi-year crackdown on civil society under party
leader Trong that has gathered pace, according to Phil Robertson, the deputy
Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

"It really intensified during the COVID crisis when the international community
wasn't paying any attention," he said. "What we've seen is the democracy and
human rights advocacy group individuals and their networks have been basically
wiped out in Vietnam."


ANALYSTS SAY THE DIRECTIVE "DOES NOT PROVIDE A COMPELLING NATIONAL SECURITY
ARGUMENT FOR RESTRICTING RIGHTS"

In the past two years, he said, the party has trained its sights on
environmental NGOs, rounding up activists.

Robertson and Project88 say Directive 24 demonstrates the party's lack of
interest in protecting human rights, despite commitments to do so, and its
fraught relationship with the international community.

"Joe Biden went over there last year, signed a whole bunch of various different
economic and security cooperation deals, said that human rights was the top of
the agenda for him. But the reality is it's not at the top of the agenda or
anywhere near the top of the agenda for the ruling party in Vietnam," Robertson
said.

Project88 said the directive "does not provide a compelling national security
argument for restricting rights" and contradicts both international law and the
country's constitution.

"Foreign governments and observers must understand that Vietnam's international
integration will, as Directive 24 is implemented, coincide with increased
violations of, not greater respect for, human rights," it said.

 * Vietnam
 * Communist Party
 * U.S.
 * Human Rights

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