The bad teachers of Vietnam

Three human rights activists have been arrested in Vietnam. They are Tran Hiep, a Vietnamese national holding an Australian passport; Nguyen Duc Thuan, a Vietnamese national holding a Norwegian passport; and Thai Cong Truong Son. The first two had travelled to Cambodia to meet with dissident Vietnamese activists for training purposes. The Hanoi government claims that they were arrested whilst entering Vietnam from the Cambodian border, and that they confessed to being members of Viet Tan, a pro-democracy organisation which the Hanoi government classifies as a terrorist group. In a statement, Viet Tan said it “strongly condemns the abduction of two of its members in Cambodia and the fabricated charges levelled by the Vietnamese communist authorities to mask an act of transnational repression”. The Australian government has also intervened, having been alerted by Hiep’s wife, who had not been able to contact him since 18 September. Viet Tan states that it aims to “overcome the dictatorship and lay the foundations for a sustainable democracy” and that it is “committed to a peaceful and non-violent struggle”.

In recent years, Vietnam has stepped up its crackdown on dissidents: in 2025, over 55 activists were arrested, and on 18 September, Human Rights Watch reported that over 160 political prisoners were being held in Vietnam. Viet Tan claims that the charge of illegal entry is a ‘blatant fabrication’ designed to disguise an abduction. Yet among one-party states, Vietnam remains the West’s great hope: the economy is flourishing, the population is growing, and over the years the Party’s authoritarianism has smoothed out some of the most glaring problems. But examples of authoritarian parties that go unpunished no matter what they do are on the rise, and Vietnamese President To Lam must have realised that the carrot and stick approach pays off more than a long road towards openness. The recent arrest of activists is also a problem for the EU, which was due to implement the free trade agreement with Vietnam – which came into force six years ago – from next year.