Vietnam appears to be becoming more corrupt despite the high profile anti-corruption being led by President Nguyen Phu Trong. The latest annual survey by Transparency International saw Vietnam slip ten places in the global corruption table (to 117 out of…
Vietnamese religious groups and NGOs have joined Human Rights Watch to call for the postponement of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA). The groups wrote to the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, and Bernd Lange of the European…
Vietnam has expressed frustration at China’s conduct of talks in the South China Sea as it adopts a bolder tone with Beijing over their territorial disputes. The Foreign Minister, Pham Binh Minh, told state media that Vietnam was trying to…
Vietnam has emerged as the favoured location for the proposed second meeting between President Trump and the North Korean leaders, Kim Jong-un. Both the US and North Korea are reported to have suggested Vietnam as a likely site, with Chinese…
Vietnam has accused Facebook of violating its new cyber security law by allowing posts that criticised and defamed the government. The government’s direct challenge to Facebook comes just days after Vietnam’s restrictive new internet law came into effect. State media…
Local officials backed by hundreds of police moved into a residential district north of Ho Chi Minh City at daybreak and used bulldozers to begin demolishing houses. Reports said the police drove out protesting residents and arrested some of those…
The police have a central role to play in maintaining Vietnam as a one-party state. That was the gist of new year message from President Nguyen Phu Trong as he addressed a national security conference in Hanoi. He urged the…
Vietnam’s beleaguered bloggers are looking for international support as they face renewed repression by the communist government, but they received little comfort from a visiting British minister this week. The Foreign Office Minister responsible for Asia and the Pacific, Mark…
Vietnam’s drive to roll back freedom of expression on the internet has entered a new phase with the coming into effect of its new cyber security law. The law gives the state extensive new powers of control over Facebook, Google…
Vietnam is openly challenging China’s growing dominance in the South China Sea according to documents seen by the Reuters news agency. Hanoi wants to ban many of the actions taken by China in recent years to strengthen its grip on…