Office of Senator James Webb Confirms that Issue of Vietnam Human Rights Bill Not Discussed in Meeting with Vietnam Defense Minister General Phung Quang Thanh

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

General Phung Quang Thanh, Vietnam’s Defense Minister, following a meeting with U.S. Senator James Webb on December 15, 2009, said he asked the Senator not to submit the Vietnam Human Rights bill to the U.S. Senate and, according to General Phung, Senator Webb agreed to it.

When asked by Dr. Ngai Nguyen, the Vice Secretary of the Democratic Party of Vietnam, if Senator Webb made this statement in his meeting with General Phung Quang Thanh, the Senator’s office confirmed that the issue of the Vietnam Human Rights Bill was NOT raised in their meeting. According to Dr. Ngai, “This contradicts completely what the Vietnam Defense Minister has been saying in interviews with the Vietnamese media.” Also, when Dr. Ngai met with Senator Webb on September 16, 2009, the Senator reaffirmed his more than thirty years of support for improved human rights in Vietnam.

Dr. Ngai also said, “I am surprised and shocked that the Vietnam Minister of Defense would quote a U.S. Senator about a subject not even discussed in their meeting.”

The Mission of the Democratic Party of Vietnam is, through peaceful means, to secure democracy, human rights, religious freedom and free and fair elections in Vietnam.