New legislation to regulate civil society organisations in Vietnam has again been postponed, amid warnings of anti-state subversion. The National Assembly had been expected to vote on the latest draft of the bill on associations in the middle of this…
A campaign to demand accountability for one of Vietnam’s worst environmental disasters has triggered a fresh wave of repression from a government already acutely sensitive to criticism. Activists have suffered severe harassment, death threats and arrest for daring to demand…
A former senior government official has called for dialogue between the Communist leadership and dissidents, warning that failure to talk could lead to political violence. Chu Hao, a former vice-minister for technology and the environment, said the recent shooting of…
The Vietnam communist party’s intermittent campaign to tackle corruption in state companies has spluttered into life with the issuance of an international arrest warrant for a former top executive. The public security ministry said the former chairman of PetroVietnam Construction…
Vietnam’s precarious diplomatic balancing act continues this week with a six day visit to China by the prime minister, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, his first since taking office earlier this year. He will stress trade and investment during his visit, but…
Australia holds its annual human rights dialogue with Vietnam this week amid concern that western countries are easing pressure on Vietnam over its continuing crackdown on government critics. Human Rights Watch called on the Australian delegation to call for significant…
The government has said that 200,000 people were adversely affected by the toxic leak off the central coast which killed millions of fish earlier this year. It says that it has learned lessons from the disaster and attempted to reassure…
The Communist authorities have approved only two of the one hundred self-nominated candidates that had hoped to stand for seats in the National Assembly election in May. The other 98 independents that sought to challenge the party’s monopoly on power…
Vietnam is moving quickly to install its reshuffled leadership following a contentious Communist party congress in January. The National Assembly formally elected the veteran party insider, Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, as its first female chairperson. The move comes before elections…
Self nominated candidates aiming for seats in upcoming legislative elections never expected their path to be easy, and so it proved when the first of the independents underwent a mandatory vetting session. His candidature was overwhelmingly rejected at a “public…