Vietnam denounced a European Parliament resolution that condemned the communist government's human rights record and its crackdown on religious and political freedom.
The ruling Communist Party rejected the resolution adopted by the European body on May 15 and its demands for the release of all prisoners of conscience, notably two heads of an outlawed Buddhist church and a Catholic priest.
"The brazen manner of this written text not only outrages the Vietnamese people but also outrages all religious believers," the Nhan Dan newspaper said in an editorial.
The European Union is the largest aid donor to Vietnam, but it has become increasingly vocal in its criticism of the country's human rights record.
"This attitude and this action is absolutely inconsistent with the cooperative spirit and the well-developing relations between Vietnam and the European Union," the party mouthpiece said.
It accused overseas Vietnamese "who have betrayed their own country" of engineering a smear campaign against the government.
The editorial also dismissed calls by the European Parliament resolution for the government to abolish legislation suppressing "peaceful activities that are considered to be a threat to national security".
Human rights groups have long accused Vietnam with smothering all dissent and routinely jailing democracy activists, critics of the regime and church leaders who do not recognise the state's authority over them.
Charges of "harming national security" or attempts "to sabotage the great national unity" are frequently used against such individuals.
The editorial dismissed as "absurd" the resolution's demand that Thich Huyen Quang, 86, patriarch of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV), be released, saying he had never been detained.
Although never formally incarcerated, Quang has been kept under effective house arrest in the central province of Quang Ngai since 1982 with his movements severely restricted.
Hanoi banned the UBCV in 1981 after it refused to come under the control of the state-controlled Vietnamese Buddhist Church.
In March, after weeks of refusals, Quang was allowed permission to travel to Hanoi for medical treatment. The government also orchestrated a highly publicised meeting between him and Prime Minister Phan Van Khai on April 2.
Diplomats dismissed the move as a public relations stunt to win over Vietnam's rights critics rather than the start of a new era of religious tolerance.
The Nhan Dan, however, failed to respond to the resolution's demands for the release of Thich Quang Do, the 75-year-old deputy head of the UBCV, and Catholic priest Father Thadeus Nguyen Van Ly.
Do was sentenced to two years of "administrative detention" for launching an "Appeal for Democracy in Vietnam" in June 2001. He is due to be released next month.
Ly, a lifelong critic of Vietnam's record on religious rights, was sentenced to 15 years in jail in October 2001 for "activities to sabotage the government".
His two nephews and a niece were subsequently arrested in June 2001 and charged with providing information to "reactionary" organizations in the United States about their uncle and the religious situation in Vietnam.