US removes Vietnam from religion blacklist

From BBC news:

The United States has removed Vietnam from a list of countries which it says severely violate religious freedom.

The list is published annually by the state department and includes China, North Korea, Iran and Sudan.

Vietnam was removed just days before President George W Bush travels to Hanoi for a meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) forum.

However, a US bill to normalise trade relations with Vietnam failed to get approval in Congress.

Another attempt to pass the bill is expected to be made later this week.

Announcing Vietnam's removal from its countries of concern list, the US state department said there had been "significant improvements toward advancing religious freedom" in the country.

[...]

While the timing of Vietnam's removal from the list was probably motivated by the APEC forum, the situation has actually been improving for religious groups in Vietnam.

There has been a revival of religious feeling in the country. New Buddhist pagodas are springing up and the Catholic Church has ordained new priests.

But there are limits. Only religious organisations that pledge loyalty to the state enjoy freedoms and dissidents, both Buddhist and Christian, face harassment.

The rights group Christian Solidarity Worldwide said this week it had evidence of a crackdown on Protestantism among ethnic minorities in the north-west highlands.

The UK-based group said it had acquired an internal government training manual outlining a plan to "to resolutely subdue the abnormally rapid and spontaneous development of the Protestant religion" in that region.

Many Protestant Evangelical groups are extremely active in converting ethnic minorities in Asian countries. Because the minorities are marginalised from the mainstream by language, appearance, or custom, they are especially drawn to the social services offered by the Christian missionaries. Furthermore, by converting to a minor sect of Protestantism, they can also preserve their identity as a distinct group. On the other hand, the totalitarian governments in these countries often see religious conversion as an act of political subversion.

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