Thayer Consultancy Background Brief:

ABN # 65 648 097 123

Human Rights in the Australia-
Vietnam Relationship
June 5, 2023

With the forthcoming official visit of the Australian Prime Minister, Mr. Anthony
Albanese, to Vietnam scheduled for the 3rd and 4th of June, we want to ask for your
perspective on some related issues.
The visit suggests an imminent enhancement of bilateral ties between Australia and
Vietnam. Are there any concerns that the Australian Government may overlook the
prevailing human rights issues in Vietnam?
Specifically, we would like to ask about the case of Mr. Chau Van Kham, a Vietnamese-
Australian political prisoner. He is currently serving a 12-year sentence in Vietnam due
to political charges.
For some Vietnamese-American citizens who the Vietnamese government imprisons
in political cases, they will normally be released early because of lobbying by the US
government.
Q1.How do you evaluate the Australian government's efforts in advocating for Mr.
Kham's release?
ANSWER: Australia and Vietnam have been holding an annual human rights dialogue
since 2002. In 2009, when Australia and Vietnam raised their bilateral relations to a
formal comprehensive partnership, they agree to expand political ties and public
policy exchanges as the first of six major areas of cooperation. Under this heading,
they reaffirmed “their shared interest in maintaining the annual Human Rights
Dialogue and associated program of technical cooperation as providing an opportunity
for frank ad constructive discussion.”
In 2015, Australia and Vietnam issued A Declaration on Enhancing the Australia Viet
Nam Comprehensive Partnership. This Declaration contained five areas of
cooperation. The first area was simply titled Bilateral cooperation. Under point 1.4:
Australia and Viet Nam reaffirm their shared interest in promoting human rights and
our commitment to uphold the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights. This includes continued support for the Australia-Vietnam Dialogue
on International Organisations and Legal issues, including Human Rights, as a means to
develop mutual understanding and cooperation between the two countries.
In 2018, Australia and Vietnam elevated their relations to a Strategic Partnership in a
Joint Statement that included two major areas of cooperation – Bilateral Cooperation
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and Regional and International Cooperation. Bilateral Cooperation enumerated four

areas (1) political; (2) economic and development; (3) defence, law and justice,
intelligence and security; and (4) education, science and technology, labour, social
affairs and cultural cooperation and people-to-people links. Under the heading
Political Cooperation the Joint Statement pledged to
strengthen political engagement through annual ministerial meetings aimed at
maximising opportunities to exchange views, ideas and initiatives on strategic issues.
These regular high-level exchanges will be complemented by existing bilateral
meetings, which include the 2+2 Strategic Dialogue, Viet Nam-Australia Human Rights
Dialogue, Viet Nam-Australia Consular Consultations and Viet Nam-Australia
Agricultural Forum.
The Albanese Labor Government was elected in May 2022. This government has given
priority to Australia’s relations with Southeast Asia in general and Vietnam in
particular. Since May 2022, there have been a flurry of high-level visits and virtual
meetings.
In June 2022, Foreign Minister Penny Wong visited Hanoi and met with her
counterpart Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son and made a courtesy call on President
Nguyen Xuan Phuc. In both meetings she raised the case of Chau Van Kham and
requested his release on humanitarian grounds due to his age and health. According
to Australian government sources, Minister Wong’s intervention was the latest in over
seventy representations to Vietnam at all levels since Kham’s arrest in 2019.
After his election, Prime Minister Albanese sent a letter to Prime Minister Pham Minh
Chinh requesting leniency for Kham. He followed up when he held a face-to-face
meeting with PM Chinh on the sidelines of ASEAN Summit in Cambodia in November
2002.
Since Kham’s arrest, there have been three Australia-Vietnam Human Rights
Dialogues, the 16th in August 2019, the 17th in December 2021, and the 18th in April
2023. Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade issued a statement after
each dialogue summarising the general issues discussed. No specific mention was
made of individual cases, including Kham’s. However, a DFAT Vietnam Country Brief
contains a section on human rights cooperation and notes in particular that the
bilateral Human Rights Dialogue “facilitates frank discussion about key human rights
issues, including…specific cases of concern.”
It must be presumed that the Australian Government, which has consular access to
Kham, continues to raise his case with Vietnamese counterparts.
Prime Minister Albanese’s current official visit to Hanoi marks the next step that is
very likely to lead to an elevation of bilateral relations from a strategic to a
comprehensive strategic partnership. If diplomatic protocol is followed, Australia
should receive reciprocal visits by Vietnam’s president and prime minister following
the visits by Australia’s Governor General and Prime Minister, respectively.
Visits to Australia by high-ranking Vietnamese officials could provide an opportunity
for Vietnam to release Kham on humanitarian grounds. Or, Vietnam’s custom of
issuing pardons to prisoners on National Day (2nd September), every year could
provide a suitable occasion for releasing Kham.
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Alternately, visits by Vietnam’s leaders could become a lightning rod for Australian
human rights activists and liberally inclined Members of Parliament to raise their
concerns and/or protest in public.
Q2. The Australian government has repeatedly called on the Vietnamese government
to release Kham. However, so far, Kham has not been released, and it is unknown
when he will be able to return to Australia.
So is it because the Australian government has not really made efforts to advocate for
Kham's freedom, or is it because Australia's relationship with Vietnam does not bring
many benefits to Vietnam, not enough for Vietnam to meet Australian government
requirements?
ANSWER: During a doorstop interview in Hanoi on 3 June, a journalist asked Prime
Minister Albanese “will you also raise human rights concerns including two Australians
detained in Vietnam?” Albanese replied, “First, can I say that Australia always raises
issues of human rights for Australian citizen, and we raise them appropriately and
diplomatically in order to try and secure a positive result for Australian citizens.”
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported that Albanese “confirmed on
Saturday that he would also press Vietnam over jailed Sydney man Chau Van Kham
during the meetings.”
Successive Australian governments cannot be faulted for raising Chau Van Kham’s
case with Vietnamese authorities more than seventy times since his arrest in 2019. If
Prime Minister Albanese raised this issue with his counterpart this would be the
second time Albanese has put his prestige on the line.
At the end of Albanese’s visit it was reported that there were four major outcomes:
(1) inaugural Australia-Vietnam Trade Ministers’ Dialogue, (2) Australian commitment
of $105 million to assist Vietnam’s clean energy transition, (3) agreement on
intelligence sharing on money laundering and terrorism financing, (4) and increased
cooperation on digital economy, science commercialisation and innovation policy
development. Prime Minister Albanese also agreed to give consideration to an
agreement on special skilled migration visas for Vietnamese workers to come to
Australia. In addition, the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology announced
investment of $250 million in its Vietnam’s operations including the expansion of its
Ho Chi Minh City campus. In sum, Vietnam has received considerable benefits from its
relations with Australia.
Successive Australian governments have refrained from making human rights the “be-
all, and end-all” of bilateral relations. Also, successive Australian governments have
eschewed “megaphone diplomacy” (public hectoring) as counter-productive.
While it could be argued that the Australian government has not pressed Vietnam
hard enough to obtain Kham’s release, the sticking point is likely to reside in domestic
Vietnamese politics. Kham was convicted under Article 113 of the Penal Code for
conducting “terrorism against the people’s government” and sentenced to twelve
years in prison. This is a serious offense and some officials may be reluctant to release
an unrepentant prisoner, particularly one who has not served half of his sentence.
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On 5 June, Prime Minister Albanese was interviewed by Sarah Ferguson on the ABC’s
7:30 Report about his trip to Vietnam. Ferguson asked what progress had been made
on the cases of Australians citizens detained in Vietnam. Albanese replied that there
was “a substantial breakthrough” in two cases where Australian citizens were
sentenced to capital punishment and were seeking clemency. “I made representations
to the Prime Minister yesterday morning, and by yesterday afternoon the President
had signed the clemency orders, ” he stated.
Ferguson followed up asking, “what was decisive in this case? They’ve been pressing
for clemency for some time. What changed?” Albanese replied, “Australia is building
a strong relationship with our ASEAN partners, and in particular Vietnam. The visit
provided an impetus for this outcome.” Albanese then mentioned that Australia had
“made representations on behalf of Chau Van Kham who was convicted of other
offences. That’s a different case. We were after an international prisoner transfer, and
we’re hopeful in that case. But we’ll continue to work on those issues."

Suggested citation: Carlyle A. Thayer, “Human Rights in the Australia-Vietnam

Relationship,” Thayer Consultancy Background Brief, June 5, 2023. All background
briefs are posted on Scribd.com (search for Thayer). To remove yourself from the
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Thayer Consultancy provides political analysis of current regional security issues and
other research support to selected clients. Thayer Consultancy was officially
registered as a small business in Australia in 2002.