In one of the more memorable sound-bites from the Eighth Party Congress, Deputy Foreign Minister Vu Khoan deflected a Western reporter's question on the Hanoi government's human rights record by remarking: "You like a human rights whisky, I prefer alcohol made from rice. Let's drink together."
The Hanoi communist leaders routinely use culture differences to explain away Vietnam's lack of human rights. Perhaps the time is right for Mr. Khoan and his ruling circle to revisit some Ho Chi Minh thought.
On September 2, 1945, following the Communist takeover, Ho Chi Minh spoke to the nation from Hanoi. He began the address known as the "Declaration of Independence" by asserting:
"'All men are created equal. They are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness'.
"This Immortal statement was made in the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America in 1776. In a broader sense, this means: All the peoples on the earth are equal from birth, all the peoples have a right to live, to be happy and free.
"The Declaration of the French Revolution made in 1791 on the Rights of Man and the Citizen also states: 'All men are born free and with equal rights, and must always remain free and have equal rights.' Those are undeniable truths."
Ho Chi Minh clearly established that Liberty is a universal right. What's more, he appealed to the American Declaration of Independence and the French Declaration on the Rights of Man and the Citizen to argue that all peoples on this earth--whether they prefer whiskey or rice wine--have fundamental rights as human beings.
Given the leading role of Ho Chi Minh thought for the Vietnamese Communist Party, the sly response by Mr. Khoan seems all the more unconvincing.
Indeed, Deputy Foreign Minister Vu Khoan should be honest and acknowledge that Ho Chi Minh did not mean what he said in his most important speech or that there is validity in those words--in which case, the Vietnamese people live without their human rights today not because of a cultural disposition, but simply because of the misfortune of living under a repressive dictatorship.