By Anh Vu and Mac Lam, RFA
Authorities in Vietnam have come under fire from dissident groups for blocking peaceful anti-China rallies in the capital Hanoi and the economic hub Saigon only weeks after permitting such demonstrations, which had turned violent and tarnished the country’s image among foreign investors.
A policeman uses a megaphone asking people not to gather on a street near to the Chinese embassy in Hanoi on May 18, 2014. A call for further anti-China protests appeared to have fizzled in the capital, with authorities deploying heavy security around the Chinese embassy and other suspected protest sites. (Photo: HOANG DINH NAM/AFP/Getty Images)
Activist Nguyen Anh Tuan said the authoritarian government of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung had “taken advantage” of last week’s violence when enraged mobs torched or otherwise damaged hundreds of foreign-owned businesses, killing two Chinese nationals and injuring about 140.
He said that a text message sent to Vietnamese cellphone users at the weekend saying Dung had ordered the security forces to prevent any illegal acts following the violence in Binh Duong and Ha Tinh provinces implied that the government associated the violent unrest with peaceful rallies that were planned in Hanoi and Saigon on Sunday and that were eventually barred.
He said peaceful protests are key to preventing China from making territorial gains against Vietnam following Beijing’s deployment of a giant oil rig in disputed waters off the coast of Vietnam on May 1 which ignited the anti-China riots and caused the worst breakdown in ties between the two Communist neighbors since a short border war in 1979.
“It shows that they are very cunning, but to me this is unwise because one needs to employ a smarter strategy against China’s [actions],” Tuan said.
Vietnamese Catholic priest Dinh Huu Thoai, of the Saigon Redemptorist Church in Saigon, also criticized the government’s response.
“This was not a wise move by the government—it was a cowardly and stupid thing to do,” he said.
“If they keep doing this, the risk of losing our country will become more obvious. How can we defend our nation when there is no resistance from the people?”
Dissidents said Vietnamese were becoming increasingly frustrated with their government’s internal response to the territorial spat with China.
“When they forbid the people to voice their opinion, then who will tell the world about Vietnam?” Hanoi-based writer Thuy Linh asked.
“I feel that the Vietnamese have become lonelier than ever before. We have no friends, no allies. Who will stand up for our country when invaders come?” she said.
Linh said that Dung’s text message, which also urged the Vietnamese people to maintain their patriotism and defend their country’s sovereignty, was a contradiction and had left the public confused.
“It’s been like this for a long time and this is just the peak of [the government’s] flip-flop behavior,” she said.
“Now the people are frustrated, weary and almost desperate because of their policies. With all the suppression [by the government], the situation is just like a bubbling cauldron that can explode at any time.”
Weekend crackdown
At the weekend, police in Hanoi closed off streets and a park close to the Chinese Embassy and dispersed journalists and protesters.
Police were also stationed outside well-known dissidents’ houses, preventing them from leaving, according to activists.
Read the full story by Anh Vu and Mac Lam from RFA.
