Socialist Republic of Vietnam

A US State Department report on international religious freedom contains biased judgments on the religious situation in Vietnam, said a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry.

The spokesman, Le Dung, on Friday answered an AFP correspondent's question on Vietnam's re-action to the US Department of State's 2003 report on international religious freedom which includes judgments on Vietnam's religious situation.

He said though acknowledging positive developments in Vietnam, the report "still contains biased remarks on the religious situation in Vietnam based on erroneous information that we have repeatedly rejected. This runs against the positively-growing relations between Vietnam and the US. Existing differences in the relations between the two countries should be solved through negotiations."


The spokesman stressed "The freedom of belief and of religion and the freedom of non-belief and religion are inscribed in Vietnam's Constitution and guaranteed in reality. The Vietnamese State creates favourable conditions for religions in Vietnam to develop. The Vietnam's law strictly bans discrimination against citizens because of belief and religion reasons. In Vietnam, nobody is arrested, detained or kept under house arrest for religious reasons. Nevertheless, like other countries in the world, Vietnam cannot accept any acts or actions in violation of the law or abusing religion for political purpose and personal ambitions." (VNA)