Australian Foreign Minister’s Vietnam Trip Should Promote Rights

This week, Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong will travel to Vietnam to meet her counterpart, Bui Thanh Son. Australia’s relationship with Vietnam is important given Vietnam’s impressive economic growth and its geopolitical position as a bulwark against China’s growing influence in Southeast Asia. But it’s critical that Australian policymakers don’t lose sight that Vietnam is also one of the region’s most repressive countries. During her trip, Wong should publicly raise human rights concerns, particularly Vietnam’s more than 170 political prisoners, a number of whom need urgent medical care. For instance, the internet commentator Nguyen Thai Hung, 53, was sentenced to four years in prison for commenting on sociopolitical issues online. He is suffering from tuberculosis. Le Dinh Luong, a 59-year-old Catholic activist who campaigned for human rights, democracy, and in support of political prisoners, is currently serving a 20-year sentence and suffers from spinal degeneration and chronic stomach pain. Other political prisoners who need adequate medical treatment include Can Thi Theu, Le Huu Minh Tuan, Tran Duc Thach, and Hoang Duc Binh.

These cases are stark reminders of Vietnam’s intolerance for dissent. As a recent Human Rights Watch report shows, the prosecution of those who criticize the government on social media has skyrocketed. Article 331 of the penal code on “abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the state” has increasingly been used to target those who use social media to raise issues including religious freedom, land rights, rights of Indigenous people, and corruption by the government and the ruling Communist Party. Between 2018 and February 2025, Vietnamese courts sentenced at least 124 people to harsh prison terms under article 331.

The Australian government should recognize that raising human rights concerns only at the annual Australia-Vietnam closed door human rights dialogues—the most recent of which occurred on August 12—is wholly inadequate. So far, two decades of dialogues have failed to show any measurable progress in human rights. Foreign Minister Wong should use her visit to voice concerns about Vietnam’s worsening human rights record and signal that failing to reverse its repressive trend will harm the bilateral relationship. Ultimately, not only will the Vietnamese people benefit from having a government that is responsive to its citizens’ concerns and respects human rights and the rule of law, but so too will Australia.

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References:

• https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/08/10/australia-set-human-rights-benchmarks-for-vietnam
• https://www.hrw.org/report/2025/04/21/well-all-be-arrested-soon/abusive-prosecutions-under-vietnams-infringing-state
• https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/08/06/vietnam-free-imprisoned-activists-at-medical-risk
• https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/06/20/vietnam-free-prominent-journalist-at-medical-risk
• https://www.hrw.org/video-photos/interactive/2025/07/23/free-vietnams-political-prisoners
• https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/08/11/submission-to-australias-department-of-foreign-affairs-and-trade-ahead-of-the-20th
• https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/04/21/vietnam-crackdown-dissent-intensifies