(CNSNews.com) – Vietnam’s communist government on Friday was holding yet another trial of a democracy activist, despite appeals by U.S. lawmakers and a warning by the American ambassador that its suppression of dissenting views was having an adverse effect on bilateral relations.
 
Hanoi’s expanding clampdown comes at a time when the country is preparing to mark the 15th anniversary of the normalization of ties with the United States, and to assume the chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. President Nguyen Minh Triet has invited President Obama to attend an ASEAN summit scheduled for October.
 
Tran Khai Thanh Thuy, a writer, has been detained since last October, when she was arrested after attending the trial of fellow democracy advocates.
 
According to human rights groups, the 49-year-old and her husband were assaulted by “thugs” outside their home while undercover police looked on – and she was then herself arrested and charged with assault.
 
At the time of the incident, the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi voiced concern, saying that “no individual should be beaten, arrested, or jailed for exercising the right to free speech.”
 
“The thugs who attacked her, the people who sent them, and the police officers who refused to intervene should all be brought to justice,” Human Rights Watch Asia director Brad Adams said in a statement.
 
Thuy is reported to be suffering from tuberculosis and diabetes, and has not been allowed family contact since her arrest.
 
Thuy’s trial on Friday is the latest in a series that began four months ago, targeting writers, lawyers and bloggers who had been critical of government policies. Since then at least 17 Vietnamese have been imprisoned for offenses like  “propaganda against the socialist state.”
 
Last Friday another writer, Pham Thanh Nghien, was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment followed by three years’ house arrest after she was found guilty of spreading anti-state propaganda.
 
A week earlier, four men including Le Cong Dinh, a prominent lawyer, were sentenced to jail terms ranging from five to 16 years, for “activities aimed at overthrowing the people’s administration.”
 
The U.S. Embassy responded to their sentencing by saying the action raised “serious questions about Vietnam’s commitment to rule of law and reform.”
 
The ‘peaceful evolution’ threat
 
One of the accusations leveled at Le Cong Dinh and the other three was that of promoting “peaceful evolution.”
 
The term has become a key one for the government in recent years. It suspects that outside forces – notably Vietnamese-American activists – are helping those in the country to push for political transitions like those that took place in Ukraine and Georgia in 2003 and 2004.

In 2007 the government seized thousands of pamphlets in Ho Chi Minh City, citing developments in Ukraine, Georgia and elsewhere and suggesting methods of non-violent action to bring about democracy in Vietnam, including reducing productivity at work, writing appeals and petitions, and distributing news and information via the Internet or mobile phone.
 
The official Voice of Vietnam in a report on “peaceful evolution” defined it as an “important part of hostile forces’ global counter-revolutionary strategy aimed at combating socialist nations,” comprising mostly “non-military” measures such as the use of media.
 
Throughout the spate of trials over recent months, members of the U.S. Congress have written letters to the Vietnamese government appealing for the dissidents’ release – to no avail.
 
Most recently, Republican Reps. Chris Smith of New Jersey, Ed Royce of California and Vietnam-born Ahn Cao of Louisiana in a letter Friday Hanoi to free Thuy, and voicing concern about her state of health.
 
“We urge the Government of Vietnam to allow Ms. Thuy familial visitation so that she can be provided with the necessary medication,” they wrote.
 
Earlier, California Democrats Sen. Barbara Boxer and Reps. Loretta Sanchez and Zoe Lofgren in letter to Triet urged the release of Thuy and fellow writer Nghien.
 
“It is time for Vietnam to allow its citizens to fully exercise the internationally recognized rights of freedom of assembly, expression, association and religion without fear of retribution from their government,” they said.
 
On Wednesday, U.S. Ambassador Michael Michalak said at a press conference that the human rights situation as well as the economic and political situations in Vietnam affected the way the American people, government and Congress view the country.
 
“The way that Congress looks at Vietnam is very important in terms of the levels of development assistance that we receive from Congress,” he said. “It’s very important in terms of, for instance, if the Vietnamese military wants to buy armaments from the United States – we’d need congressional approval for that.”
 
The official Viet Nam News daily’s report on Michalak focused on his comments on strengthening bilateral ties, but ignored the remarks on human rights.
 
No consequences seen
 
Despite the interventions by lawmakers and expressions of concern by the embassy, the clampdown has continued without any visible consequences for Hanoi.
 
In December, Vietnam’s defense minister traveled to Washington, in only the second such visit since the Vietnam War. Gen. Phung Quang Thanh and Defense Secretary Robert Gates agreed to begin a ministerial-level dialogue in 2010 “to discuss strategic and policy related issues of bilateral and regional concern.”
 
Critics of the regime questioned the wisdom of strengthening ties with a military that can be used to quell political dissent. (In a speech on December 5, Communist Party general secretary Nong Duc Manh called on the military to fight “peaceful evolution.”)
 
The deepening military-to-military relationship is the latest sign of significantly improving relations between the two former foes since normalization in 1995.
 
Since the early 2000, the U.S. has been the largest market for Vietnamese exports. The U.S. in 2006 granted Hanoi permanent normal trade relations (PNTR), paving the way for its accession to the World Trade Organization the following year.
 
Also in 2006, the State Department removed Hanoi from a list of “countries of particular concern” for egregious abuses of freedom of religion, citing improvements. An independent statutory religious freedom watchdog called the move premature and has called ever since for it to be reversed.
 
President Clinton in 2000 became the first president to visit Vietnam since the war. President Bush went in 2006.
 
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there were around 1.6 million Vietnamese-Americans in the U.S. in 2007. Around 40 percent lives in California.