The United State still lacks impartiality in its judgment about the religious situation in Vietnam, according to Pham Thu Hang, deputy spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam.
Hang made the statement on May 19, commenting on the 2023 International Religious Freedom Report recently released by the US Department of State and the 2023 annual report issued by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom.
Although the reports noted some progress Vietnam has made in promoting religious freedom and cited some official information of Vietnamese Government agencies, they have still made biased judgments based on unverified and inaccurate information about the actual situation in Vietnam, Hang said at the regular press briefing.
According to Hang, Vietnam is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country. The State consistently implements the policy of respecting and ensuring people’s freedom of belief and religion, their right to/not to follow a religion, as well as the equality and non-discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief, while protecting religious organizations’s activities by law.
These rights she said are enshrined in the Constitution of Vietnam, the 2016 Law on Belief and Religion and related legal documents, and they are guaranteed to be respected in practice.
Vietnam is ready to discuss issues of mutual concern with the US in the spirit of frankness, openness and mutual respect, contributing to promoting the comprehensive partnership between the two countries, said the deputy spokesperson.
Source: english.vov.vn
