Recently, China Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) once again pronounced its new stricter fishing moratorium to apply in the South China Sea from May 1^st to August 16^th 2017. This new fishing moratorium actually continued the old fishing ban, which was illegally and unilaterally introduced by China since 1999 in the South China Sea. The geographical scope of the fishing ban remains the same, encompassing Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea, East China Sea and South China Sea north of the 12th degrees north latitude (including the Gulf of Tonkin).

On May 4^th, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lê Thị Thu Hằng said in a statement that Vietnam has sufficient legal ground and historical evidence affirming its sovereignty over Hoàng Sa (Paracel) archipelago as well as legitimate rights over its waters in line with the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Vietnam resolutely opposes and rejects the regulation issued by China.

The Vietnamese Foreign Ministry has many times condemned this move as a serious violation of the nation’s sovereignty. China's unilateral action seriously violates Vietnam's sovereignty and goes against international law.

China’s fishing ban is a threat to stability and the rule-based order in the region for four following reasons:

Firstly, China’s fishing ban violates the sovereignty and sovereign rights of Viet Nam. In its statement, Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ spokesperson stated that the moratorium seriously "infringes upon Viet Nam's sovereignty over Hoang Sa (the Paracels), Viet Nam's legal rights and interests in its waters and violates international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and relevant international legal documents".

Viet Nam has for a long time claimed sovereignty over the Paracels based on its well-founded legal and historical evidence. China unilaterally issued the moratorium applied for the area around the Paracels, therefore, infringing Viet Nam's sovereignty over this archipelago and maritime entitlements stipulated by UNCLOS.

Secondly, China's moratorium also violates UNCLOS 1982. According to Article 57 of UNCLOS, a coastal state is entitled to 200 nautical miles of Exclusive Economic Zone measured from its baseline. Article 56 of UNCLOS clearly states that in the exclusive economic zone, a coastal state has "sovereign rights" to explore, exploit and manage the natural resources of the living and non living resources and the "jurisdiction" to govern the "protection and preservation of the marine environment". China's fishing moratorium applied in the South China Sea area to 12th degree North latitude, which stretches beyond 200 nautical miles of its coast and up to 600 miles.  Therefore, much of this area is beyond China's sovereign rights and jurisdiction and violates Vietnam's Exclusive Economic Zone. Only Viet Nam has the mandate under UNCLOS to issue such kind of moratorium to protect and preserve the fishing resources in its own Exclusive Economic Zone.

Thirdly, China’s fishing moratorium violates the Arbitral Award of 12 July 2016 relating to the case between the Philippines and China over the South China Sea disputes. The award states that China's fishing moratorium applied in "most parts of the South China Sea" and intended to apply in the Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone north of 12-degree N latitude violates Article 56 of UNCLOS which accords sovereign rights to the Philippines for its "living resources of its exclusive economic zone". This year’s fishing ban to be applied in the Philippines' Exclusive Economic Zone, therefore, disrespects the Arbitral Award.  

Finally, China's fishing moratorium violates the Declaration on the Conduct of the Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) and undermines the progress in the making of a Code of Conduct (COC). ASEAN and China signed the DOC in November 2002, in which all parties pledged to keep the status quo and not to conduct activities that may complicate the ongoing disputes. The fishing moratorium creates new disagreements and adds complexity to the ongoing disputes in the South China Sea at a time when ASEAN and China are making efforts to achieve a framework for COC by mid-2017.

China's annual fishing ban in the South China Sea contradicts UNCLOS, the recent ruling of the South China Sea arbitration tribunal, and the DOC. It also undermines relationships between the neighboring states bordering the South China Sea. Dismantling this illegal fishing ban will be a way for China to become a benign and responsible state, which complies with international law and norms, and works toward enhanced peace and security in the region./.

Reference note: The Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague ruled last year that China’s claims were invalid and its activities in the disputed territories illegal. The Chinese government vowed to disregard the ruling, deeming it the result of a conspiracy between Japan (which is not a claimant in the South China Sea) and the United States. Since then, China has continued to construct artificial islands and install military assets in Vietnamese and Philippine waters in the region.

Up to 78 percent of businesses have been positive about Vietnam’s economy, according to a survey on the private equity (PE) sector conducted by Grant Thornton Vietnam, which provides assurance, tax and advisory services.

In this survey, the 16th edition, the respondents expressed optimism towards Vietnam’s investment outlook with regards to the increase in investment attractiveness and level of investment activities. Vietnam has been seen as the second most preferred destination for PE investors in Southeast Asia.

The transportation and logistics sectors gain more interest from PE investors, increasing seven percent compared to the firm’s previous survey.

Meanwhile, the retail and food and beverage maintain the position as the top two most attractive sectors for PE transactions, the survey revealed.

With the growth of the middle income class among its population of 94 million, the influence of western lifestyle and increasing disposable incomes, food and beverage remains the prominent industry in terms of rapid growth and foreign investment inflow.

Besides the increase of e-commerce, the sector is growing and expanding rapidly in terms of retail store chains, distribution channels, and retailing culture which is attracting attention from foreign retail giants such as Emart, AEON, Big C, Lotte and 7-Eleven which has entered the market through franchise agreements.

In terms of sources of deals, the equitisation of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) has made its way to the top, with 52 percent agreement from PE participants.

Equitistation provides PE investors with opportunities to penetrate the Vietnamese market through investment in key areas such as telecommunications, oil and gas trading, infrastructure and retail.

It is forecast that there will be a focus more on quality of companies being equitised rather than quantity in 2017.

The report shows that in terms of investment attractiveness, PE investors consider Vietnam’s investment environment to be more attractive and extremely attractive accounting for the largest proportion, with 72 percent illustrating a similar trend as in 2016.

Despite the expected demise of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, the respondents claimed that it will not negatively impact the Vietnam economic situation as Vietnam is party to 16 other free trade agreements, including those with the Republic of Korea (RoK), the EU, Russia and ASEAN.

Therefore, 87 percent of survey responses foresee an increase in the level of investment activity in Vietnam in the next 12 months.

The formation of the ASEAN Economic Community is also expected to bring about more opportunities for Vietnam.

Apart from advantages such as abundant labour force and the development of the middle income class, the survey, however, pointed out that corruption, constraint of the national budget, weak competitiveness from small-and medium-sized enterprises as well as restrictions on infrastructure are potential problems for the economy in the future.

President Tran Dai Quang visits Most Venerable Thich Pho Tue, Supreme Patriarch of the VBS

President Tran Dai Quang on May 4 paid a visit to Most Venerable Thich Pho Tue, Supreme Patriarch of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha (VBS) on the occasion of the Buddha’s 2561st Birthday Festival 2017.

On behalf of the Party and the State, President Tran Dai Quang extended greetings to Most Venerable Thich Pho Tue and all Buddhist dignitaries, monks and nuns and followers in the country.

The President spoke highly of the practical and significant contributions the VBS and all monks, nuns and followers have made to the nation’s great unity and national defence and development over the past years.

He stressed that Buddhism has established a firm position in the country’s history since it was first introduced to Vietnam nearly 2,000 years ago, thanks to its spirit of “safeguarding the country, bringing peace to the people”.

Building on its tradition, the VBS has encouraged monks, nuns and followers across the nation to lead an upright religious life, observe the Party’s policies and the State’s laws, and actively participate in patriotic emulation campaigns and charity activities, he said.

The President affirmed that the Party and the State have continuously respected and protected the freedom of religion and belief of all people, and facilitated religious practice of religious people and dignitaries, including Buddhists.

He noted that the 8th National Buddhist Congress for the 2017-2022 will take place this year, when the VBS will review their work and set orientations for the coming time as well as elect the Patronage Council and the Executive Council for the new tenure.

In this spirit, President Quang expressed his hope that Most Venerable Thich Pho Tue will continue leading the VBS under the motto of “Religion – Nation – Socialism” while actively contributing to the nation building and development.

Vietnam is now home to more than 12 million Buddhist followers and 50,000 Buddhist monks and nuns, who are practicing the religion in over 17,000 Buddhist places of worship.

Buddhism is the oldest religion, and has the largest number of followers in Vietnam

According to statistics, up to now, Vietnam has had 858 print newspapers and magazines, 105 online newspapers, 207 news and information websites, 66 radio and television broadcast stations. Today, Vietnamese people and foreign people living in Vietnam could access  big press agencies. Vietnam is now broadcasting 75 foreign television channels, including CNN, BBC, TV5, NHK, Australia Network, KBS, Bloomberg. Via Internet, Vietnamese people now could get access to famous news agencies of the world, such as AFP, AP, BBC, VOA, Reuters, Kyodo, The Economist, Financial Times, and so on.

According to experts, Vietnam is ranked among the top countries in the region that have most rapid Internet development, especially Facebook. According to statistics of Facebook, Vietnam now has 35 million Facebook users, accounting for 1/3 of its population. Vietnam ranks third in terms of total number of Internet users in Southeast Asia.

Third, it is stated in the Report that “Vietnamese people have no rights to change government through free elections”. It is not true at all. The General Election of Deputies to the 14th National Assembly and the People’s Councils at levels for 2016 – 2021 term ensured all civil and political rights of the people. The percentage of eligible voters reached 99.35%. Among the NA deputies elected, there are 86 ethnics, 133 women, 21 are not party members. The rate of woman and ethnic deputies in the Vietnam National Assembly is high in comparison with those in many regional countries. Vietnam has had a National Assembly Woman Chairman for the first time.

Fourth,  “Corruption is rampant in Vietnam” is a proven evaluation of the Report. However, it is also an evaluation of the Party and the State of Vietnam. “The degradation of political ideology, morality and lifestyle among a portion of cadres and party members has been not curbed yet, even more complicated; corruption, wastefulness and negative phenomena are still severe, mainly among party members holding high positions in the State apparatus”. Many cases of corruption and group interest have been detected by the press, then investigated and punished by the Communist Party of Vietnam.

Those who drafted the Human Right Report (for 2016) should have changed their perspectives on the notion of human rights; avoid the assessment human rights practice via or from opinions of several individuals and social groups. Unfortunately, those who drafted the Report did not care about human rights that 92 million Vietnamese people are enjoying. Those are the immense human rights of a society - the rights of the whole community, particularly in the field of social welfare. The Government’s Program 135 on social and economic development for the most hardship commues is an example. The third phase of the Program 135 has changed the appearance of 2,331 communes, 3,059 villages, 415 border communes and 190 communes of Tuyen Quang province, with nearly 20,000 vital infrastructural projects (transport, power and water supply, schools, clinics, community centres, rural markets). There are also loans from the Vietnam Bank for Social Policy for the poor and poor students.

It is believed that every country has its sensitive issues on human rights which even lie in political and legal thought of the state. On March 8th 2017, in his speech at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva (Switzerland), Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights criticized the US President Donald Trump’s new immigration ban. He confirmed that this ban violated human rights, “discriminating religious and ethnic groups in the US”.

To conclude, we would like to convey a message to those who drafted the Report for 2016 that they should renounce the thought of the Cold War era and stop prejudice and discrimination against the political regime led by the Communist Party of Vietnam. Moreover, they should notice that Vietnam and the US have established a comprehensive partnership that is being deepened by the two Governments. Thus, they should not act against the benefits of the two sides.

“The Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 2016” recently released by the US Department of State continues to make wrongful judgements about Vietnam’s democracy and human rights. It is still prejudiced against Vietnam’s democracy and human rights practices.

Like previous years, the countries listed in the report have voiced protests agaist the US Report. Some country has strongly opposed the Report with responded statements of the Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and shown evidences on the US systematic violation of human rights; others have responded by keeping silence which is also a way to protest the Report.

Though some of the cases stipulated in the Report did exist, they were trivial ones, did not represent the nature of Vietnam’s human rights practice. Many contents of the Report related to Vietnam are erroneous, due to its prejudice and discrimination against Vietnam. On March 13th 2017, Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam answered questions asked by reporters relating to the Report: “Vietnam consistently advocates protecting and promoting basic human rights of its people. The country’s efforts have been acknowledged and highly valued by the international community. Vietnam is always willing to discuss in a frank, open, and constructive manner with all countries,  including the US, any remaining differences. So far, Vietnam and the US have held 20 rounds of annual bilateral dialogue on human rights. The US State Department’s Human Rights Report for 2016 acknowledged some of Vietnam’s achievements in human rights protection but still makes some prejudiced remarks that do not reflect the real situation in the country. The following points will help us understand more clearly.

First, the Report criticized the Vietnam National Assembly for the delayed approval of several laws; however, this is necessary. The reason for this delay is that there remain errors in both details and contents of the laws. That clearly proves the responsibility of the NA deputies.

As for the Law on Associations, deputies and the press have pointed out its errors. Moreover, there remain different views on articles of the Draft Law on Associations, i.e. the prohibition on receiving foreign aid, and several other contents. As for the Penal Code, Vice Chairman of Judicial Affairs Committee of the National Assembly Nguyen Van Luat revealed that “The Penal Code 2015 got technical mistakes. If it is enacted, it may lead to cases of unjust judgements”.

The Human Right Report for 2016 showed that the U.S. deliberately “ignored” the Vietnam National Assembly’s efforts to protect rights of the people, including the passing of the Law on Belief and Religion (2016). The law has expanded the subjects enjoying the right (it covers all citizens, not only Vietnamese citizens). It has limited complicated formalities when religious organizations practise their rituals. The Law on Belief and Religion (2016) had one chapter for the right to freedom of belief and religion. It stipulates that the right to freedom of belief and religion is recognized, respected, ensured and protected under the Constitution and law by the Vietnam Government. It also specifies basic principles of the right to freedom of belief and religion, rights and obligations of belief and religion followers and religious organizations.

Second, the Report stated that “Vietnam tightly controls and censors the press and the Internet”. This evaluation follows an old path and repeats existed bias. The freedom of speech, press and  Internet in Vietnam and other countries must satisfy the two requirements: ensuring the right of speech and press of the people and preventing the activities taking advantage of this right to violate the rights and the benefits of the State and the society. That is also stipulated in many international conventions on human rights. Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states: “1. Everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference. 2. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice. 3. The exercise of the rights provided for in paragraph 2 of this article carries with it special duties and responsibilities. It may therefore be subject to certain restrictions, but these shall only be such as are provided by law and are necessary: (a) For respect of the rights or reputations of others; (b) For the protection of national security or of public order (ordre public), or of public health or morals”.    

Superstitious birth

As a responsible member of the United Nations and many human rights organizations under the UN, the Party and State of Vietnam always respect people’s rights of speech, express, religious freedom. Last year, Vietnam issued the Law on Belief and Religion to promote the religious freedom rights. Unfortunately, some hostile elements have abused these rights to undermine the national security and the ruling of the State. The Dương Văn Mình (Duong Van Minh) faith or belief, it self-claims as a religion, is one of this such kinds.

Who is Duong Van Minh? Duong Van Minh, an Hmong, was born in 1961 in Cao Bang and initially lived in Cao Bang. Later, he moved to Ngoi Sen Hamlet, Yen Lam Village, Ham Yen District, Tuyen Quang Province. In 1989, Duong Van Minh suddenly told his wife that he was God's youngest son and God had sent him to instruct mankind for 3 months. God told him that the Hmong worship of spirits had come to an end and shamans were no longer needed. In 1990, Minh had a gate erected and a signpost showing a cross and stars. Later, he had a building erected, with a cross on the roof, and invited Hmong people to join him in prayers to God. Many Hmongs who advocate for the Duong Van Minh faith in Cao Bang, Bac Kan and Tuyen Quang said that they do not know if the Duong Van Minh faith is a religion or not. However, according to the law, the Duong Van Minh faith is not eligible for registration and for conducting religious activities. Therefore, Duong Van Minh organization is not recognized as a legitimate religious organization. And, because it lacks official permission, in any countries this is obviously viewed as "illegal".

For his philosophy, Duong Van Minh is actually a follower of the Vàng Chứ faith which is an Hmong variant of the Evangelical religions. To know more about Vàng Chứ, the article will provide you history and background of Hmong’s religious life. Aside from ancestor worship, the Hmong believe in several gods and spirits, e.g., the local god of the soil, the god protecting each village, the spirits of trees and stones, etc. In the late 1980s, after they listened to evangelical programs broadcast from abroad, numerous Hmongs converting to Protestants, a religion that the United States has used to boost a goal of a peaceful evolution aiming to overthrow of the Communist government in Vietnam. At that time, the Hmong's Vàng Chứ (the King appears) faith was born as a movement for the re-establishment of an independent Hmong State by the Hmong minority, which would include those living in China, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar.

Vàng Chứ is practised illegally. The practitioners do not follow the dogma and rules of Evangelism and do not observe the baptismal rituals and do not have pastors. The areas of their operation are not approved by the local government. During their operation, "Vàng Chứ" stir splits among ethnic groups and encourage ethnic minorities not to fulfil their citizen's obligations. They have upheld the use of force to establish another fatherland. They also use some superstitions to frighten and deceive the ethnic minorities whose educational standard remains very low. It has become highly a politicized reactionary organization.

According to them, if you follow America you get help, the Soviet Union has collapsed, socialism is about finished – follow the Party and the Revolution and you will always be poor. Only by following the Lord can you escape your poverty. The highland peoples need their own land and need to establish their own country and resist the invasion of the Vietnamese, and so on. They even spread superstition, and scare people with stories about the end of the world, use force and threats to coerce people to follow these religions. Because of this, the development of these religions in the minority areas seems exploitative and takes on the appearance of political opposition and is fraught with the danger of causing social unrest, dividing the peoples, and alienating them far from our regime. The minority peoples, for a whole variety of reasons, have followed these religions and don’t understand the poisonous plot of the evil gang./. (to be continued)

Last month, there were some so-called Vietnamese activists have been named to awards from foreign organizations which sparked disputes whether these individuals were deserved or not while many of them are convicted and being in prison for violating the Vietnamese law. It’s so inappropriate and illegitimate to award criminals of other countries.

First, in March the U.S. State Department presented the International Women of Courage Award for Nguyễn Ngọc Như Quỳnh, a Vietnamese blogger known as Mẹ Nam, or Mother Mushroom, who was charged under the Article 88 of the 1999 penal code for spreading propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. But the United States Department of State said it recognized Mother Mushroom for “her bravery for raising civil society issues, inspiring peaceful change, calling for greater government transparency and access to fundamental human rights, and for being voice of freedom of expression” which is so ridiculous and unreasonable.

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Le Hai Binh said bestowing an award on someone being investigated for breaking Vietnam’s law was “not suitable and beneficial to the development of the two countries’ relationship.”

Second, The Dublin-based organization Front Line Defenders has selected Vietnamese blogger Phạm Thanh Nghiên as one of its five final contenders for its Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk this year, the human rights advocacy group announced on its website. In 2008, blogger Pham Thanh Nghien was arrested and later sentenced to four years in prison on charges of “anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of Vietnam’s Penal Code. She was judged for her postings fake information and distorting the Vietnamese State’s policy on the South China Sea dispute to incite people protesting and causing disorder to the society. Following her release, she must be kept under house arrest, but during which time she still carried out anti-government campaigns, especially she co-founded the reactionary Vietnamese Bloggers’ Network along with jailed blogger Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh above.

Last but not least, the German Association of Judges, a group known in German as Deutscher Richterbund (DRB), has named the detained Vietnamese lawyer, Nguyễn Văn Đài, as recipient of its human rights prize for 2017. Who is Dai? He is also a criminal, who is still in prison for his crimes. A decade ago, Dai and Lê Thị Công Nhân were both convicted for misinterpreting government policy on trade unions and laborers in Vietnam, illegally participating in the democracy movement and the progressive party, teaching so-called courses on human rights, and possessing and disseminating documents propagating democracy and human rights. Dai received a four-year prison sentence and four years of house arrest, while Nhan received a three-year prison sentence and three years of house arrest.

In 2015, Dai was arrested for being accused of conducting propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The authority confiscated three computers and USB sticks and later charged Dai with under Article 88 of Vietnam’s penal code. How can a criminal like that was nominated for a prize of a legal group like DRB? Don’t they understand laws, international and Vietnamese laws? They should know what they have done do not make any positive progress for Vietnam but undermine the relations between Vietnam and those host countries. Let hope that there will be no crap awards like these and human rights prizes should be thoroughly assessed and given to deserved individuals, not criminals./.

About two weeks after the Dong Tam commune incident, in which villagers held over 30 people hostages including police officers, local officials and some journalists. The stand-off started on Saturday in My Duc's Dong Tam commune after police came to restore order and stability due to land dispute in the area.

According to the law, all land in Vietnam is ultimately the state’s ownership, people have rights of users but must give back for the country’s infrastructure and defence projects. Unfortunately, for times land disputes have erupted due to land users’ refusal because of inappropriate compensation or misbehaviours of local authorities.

Land disputes have increased as the government of Vietnam pursues its development goals, often turning over large swathes of state-owned agricultural land to commercial interests and national firms. However, the violent nature of the My Duc incident is rare. Despite multiple dialogues and attempts to resolve the situation, "the situation is escalating." However, whatever reasons were, the capture of officials and policemen was totally wrong and violated laws. If there are mistakes or fraud, it’s the authority’s tasks to deal with, the people should not spontaneously act like the Dong Tam’s case.

To understand more about the incident, let review the whole story about this land dispute in Dong Tam commune, My Duc district.

In 1980, an area of 50.03 hectares spanning My Luong, Tran Phu and Dong Lac communes of Chuong My district and Dong Tam commune in My Duc district was allocated to the Ministry of Defence to build Mieu Mon airport. Since October 2014, the entire area has been used by the Air Defence-Air Force Service as the base of Brigade 28. Under Decision 551/QD-TM dated March 27, 2015, the Ministry of Defence recovered the land, including 46 hectares in Dong Tam commune, and allocated it to the military-run telecommunication Viettel Group to use for the AI defence project. Earlier, due to poor management of the local government, a number of residents in Hoanh village, Dong Tam commune, had trespassed on the military-managed land farming and building residential structures. When the Ministry of Defence reclaimed the land, many of the residents lodged their complaints on the issue to authorized district and municipal agencies.

The administrations of My Duc commune and Hanoi have been holding dialogues and various communications measures to settle the matter but those residents failed to strictly abide by legal regulations related. Since late 2016, security and social order in Dong Tam commune has been complicated mostly due to those locals’ activities to “retrieve” the land piece, which has been confirmed by the authorized agencies of My Duc district, Hanoi and the Ministry of Defence as military land. They organized various activities causing disorder in the locality, especially when the Viettel Group received the area to implement the project. Hanoi Police and the Criminal Investigation Agency under the Ministry of Defence and other relevant agencies have gathered documents and evidence relating to the organized violations as these are serious, negatively affecting local security and social order as well as normal operation of local agencies, enterprises and schools.

On March 30, 2017, the Hanoi Police started legal proceedings against the case on “causing public disorder” under Article 245 of the 1999 Criminal Code while the Criminal Investigation Agency under the Ministry of Defence launched legal proceedings for the case on “resisting against on-duty officials” and the case on “violating regulations on land use” in line with Article 257 and Article 173, respectively, of the Code. The Hanoi Police Department summoned those pertaining to the cases three times but they did not show up and continued opposing activities. On April 15, 2017, the Hanoi police arrested four violators to serve the investigations into the “causing public disorder” case, but their vehicles were held and damaged, and 38 city policemen and officials of My Duc were illegally apprehended. Municipal leaders came to the locality, explained the illegal actions to the locals and requested them to release the captured officials and police. At the same time, the city also sent two working groups to the commune to work with the locals, who, however, did not cooperate and even threw sand and rocks to the officials, injuring some of them. On April 18, four citizens arrested on April 15 were released as they showed signs of repentance.

But, claiming that the disputes are being handled by corrupt local officials, the villagers refused to cooperate. There were also a lot of dangerous acts carried by Hoanh’s villagers, not only detaining police officers and threatening to kill them if security personnel attack again. Some sources reported that the farmers said they treated the detainees well, though some so-called activists and rights group Defend the Defenders said that the farmers kept them in a closed room and were prepared to “burn them with petrol” if authorities attacked the village.

Hanoi authorities have since appealed for the hostages to be released, calling on villagers to stand on the right side of the law. The authorities quickly took measures to rein in the situation with priority given to rescuing the detained officers. Local authorities also urged the residents to stay calm and cooperate and ensure the safety of the officers. Yet Dong Tam’s people refused to cooperate and required to talk with the Hanoi’s municipal administration. The situation fell into stand-off for nearly a week.

In this incident, we also saw how quickly hostile forces and reactionary elements sensed and took advantages of it to launch anti-government campaigns. Nearly after the stand-off began, some opportunist so-called activists like Lã Việt Dũng, Lê Mỹ Hạnh, Trịnh Bá Phương (son of Cấn Thị Thuê, who was judged and sentenced to prison on public disorder charges for protesting government-sanctioned evictions used to clear the way for commercial development in Duong Noi, sending her back to prison to serve a 20-month term imposed two months earlier.) and some opportunist lawyers like Trần Vũ Hải recorded clips and posted comments on some websites and social networks Facebook. Taking sand to a beach, hostile forces like BBC, CNN, VOA, RFA, RFI, etc and many other social network accounts, inside and outside the country, jumped in with wave of distorted and slanderous posts and articles about the incident aiming to undermine the Vietnamese government’s image, blaming for the State and the country’s political system and incited people to protest all over the country.

As Ha Noi Moi newspaper reported that “outside forces,” including lawyers and civil society workers, were working to incite the Dong Tam farmers by posting information about the standoff on social media “in the name of democracy”. Fortunately, Dong Tam’s people recognized these plots and deterred them from entering the village. Not just that, like vultures many anti-Vietnam organizations and groups such as Viet Tan also tried to exploit the incident to conduct their wicked schemes and steered it into false direction against the Vietnamese State’s policies.

To diffuse the heat and protect the hostages’ lives, also respecting the people’s rights and interests, the Chairman of Hanoi’s people committee Nguyen Duc Chung quickly responded to meet Dong Tam’s people and held an open-minded talk with them. At the meeting, Chung listened to the people’s aspirations and requirements and made pledges to launch a fair investigation about the management and use of land in My Duc District’s Dong Tam Commune and guarantee the people’s rights. With these tolerant and appropriate approaches, the Hanoi’s authority has settled the case smoothly and properly which has reassured the whole country. The residents were satisfied and freed all of the remaining hostages. Now, let the authorities do their jobs.

After this incident, it’s believed that the government and all local authorities in the country would have more experience in managing and serving the people, especially in land clearance. To people, we should be aware of fake news and distorted and slanderous information from toxic websites and sources. Do not let hostile forces and reactionary elements deceive and take to wrong activities against the State./.