Vietnam Relied on Environmentalists to Secure Billions. Then It Jailed Them

Solar panels at the Sao Mai power plant in An Giang Province, Vietnam, last year. The country has been awarded $15.5 billion in grants and loans in exchange for a commitment to renewable energy.
Picture: Agence France-Presse / Getty Images

In an article by The New York Times, Sui-Lee Wee reports the intensifying crackdown on climate advocates in Vietnam.

Activists and academics say that Vietnam appears to be emboldened by its growing importance to the West and has taken the opportunity to clamp down, knowing there will be few repercussions. The country has presented itself as an increasingly important geopolitical player, and one of the few Southeast Asian nations that has publicly pushed back against China. President Biden visited Vietnam in September, elevating ties to a new strategic relationship that he said would “be a force for prosperity and security in one of the most consequential regions in the world.”

The authorities in Vietnam have long persecuted people who are viewed as overt threats to one-party rule. But Mr. Trong’s administration has gone much further, targeting people who were previously given some room to operate.

Vietnam rejects any suggestions that the prosecutions are politically motivated. Pham Thu Hang, a spokeswoman for the Vietnamese foreign ministry, said last month that the environmentalists’ cases were “investigated, prosecuted and tried in accordance with the provisions of Vietnam law.”