Observers Concerned Over Purported Vietnamese Directive

Experts and activists are voicing concern over a purported internal Vietnamese Politburo directive, which they say could worsen already deteriorating human rights and the toll on the economy caused by increased scrutiny of foreign companies.

The 88 Project, a U.S.-based nonprofit focusing on human rights in Vietnam, disclosed the document, entitled Directive 24, which it said orders government agencies to increase media censorship, crack down on civil society, increase surveillance of Vietnamese citizens, and quell the influence of outside powers and foreign businesses operating in the country.

The rights group published its analysis along with the English translation of the directive on March 1.

Vietnam’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, in a March 19 response to a query from VOA’s Vietnamese service, did not address the document specifically, but expressed its opposition to “false information” aimed maliciously at Vietnam, which it called interference in internal Vietnamese affairs.

The document is dated July 13, 2023, and its stated goal is to ensure “national security in the context of comprehensive and deep international integration.”

It orders government ministries to closely monitor Vietnamese who travel and study abroad, and to stop the formation of independent political movements, labor organizations, and protests. It also states the need for heightened surveillance and awareness to prevent national security threats, including ideological shifts and cultural erosion that it asserts could be caused by closer ties with outside nations.

Tran Anh Quan, a Ho Chi Minh City-based social activist, told VOA March 13 that he believes the directive will further degrade the rights of Vietnamese citizens.

“Directive 24 is a springboard for the police force to use force to suppress people more strongly,” he wrote in Vietnamese via the messaging app Telegram. “The Communist Party is determined to eliminate human rights in Vietnam.”

Zachary Abuza, Southeast Asia expert and professor at the National War College in Washington, told VOA the same day that the crackdown on civil society is not novel for the regime. But, he said, portraying foreign enterprises and the tens of thousands of Vietnamese studying abroad as a threat is a turn for Hanoi.

While the government’s ability to closely monitor Vietnamese traveling and living abroad is limited, Abuza said he worries the increased surveillance of foreign businesses could hinder the economy.

“Vietnam’s security and economic growth is completely dependent on internationalization,” he said. “They really, really need to be doing whatever they can to make foreign investments. … Yet they’re sending completely the wrong signal.”

Moving toward Beijing’s treatment of enterprises

Abuza said he sees the message in the directive as moving closer to Beijing’s treatment of foreign enterprises, which could be a hindrance to the flow of capital into Vietnam as corporations look to “de-risk” from China.

“For them to put into writing and say these firms need to be carefully watched and managed, so that they do not foment any color revolution – to me that is something that clearly shows China’s influence. I’ve never seen that in a Vietnamese document,” he said.

The directive orders government entities to be wary of foreign investors that “’hide in the shadows,’ take over domestic markets and businesses and occupy vital economic sectors, while holding influential positions in defense and security that adversely affects our independence, economic autonomy and political stability.”

Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, a Vietnamese activist known by her pen name Mother Mushroom, told VOA March 14 that it is not a coincidence that Hanoi issued Directive 24 in July, roughly three months before it upgraded ties with Washington to the highest level in its diplomatic hierarchy.

She said Hanoi sees closer ties with the United States and other countries as the best means to improve the economy but also as the potential downfall of the Communist Party.

“Directive 24 is just to protect the communists,” she said from Texas, where she has been living since she was allowed to travel to the United States in 2018 after being jailed in Vietnam on anti-state charges. “The government is very afraid of civil society, especially when the connection between Vietnam and the U.S. changed.”

Human rights

Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia Division, told VOA in a March 13 email that implementation of the directive is well underway and is the clearest evidence to date that the Communist Party sees human rights as a threat to its hold on power.

“The human rights and democracy activist movement has been essentially wiped out, leaving only the relatives of those imprisoned to commiserate and organize solidarity for one another, and even those actions are coming under hostile scrutiny by the state,” Robertson wrote.

He added that individuals with no history of political activism are being arrested for complaining online about local government.

Quynh, the activist, also stated that people in Vietnam are fearful and the government is going after people she knows who were involved in early civil society movements approximately a decade ago but have not been open critics of the government.

“People now are more scared,” she said. “It looks like we are back to zero on the steps to democracy.”

Despite the clampdown, Ho Chi Minh City-based Quan said the worsening environment for human rights may lead to future political movements.

“When people are oppressed to the extreme, there will inevitably be resistance,” he said. “People may not talk about politics in the short term, but in the long term there will be many protests that the authorities cannot predict.”

‘False and fabricated information’

In its statement to VOA, Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson said the ministry opposes “false and fabricated information with malicious intentions aimed at Viet Nam,” which it called “an interference in Viet Nam’s internal affairs, plotting to sabotage Viet Nam’s socio-economic development and separating Viet Nam from the international community.”

The consistent line of Vietnam and its Communist Party, the statement said, is that Vietnam “continues to proactively engage in a comprehensive and extensive international integration as a responsible member of the international community” and is committed to its international commitments, including those in trade and human rights.”

“Taking account of the complicated developments of the world and the region, Viet Nam has issued various documents and conducted different measures to strengthen its national security, including close coordination with other countries with a view to safeguarding national security, human security, and to ensuring the peaceful and happy life of the people,” the statement said.

VOA’s Vietnamese Service contributed to this report.