Vietnam's government said it ``strongly protested'' the U.S. designation of the Southeast Asian nation as one of eight countries that most deprive their citizens of religious freedom.
Under the 1998 U.S. International Religious Freedom Act, countries named as those ``of particular concern'' face actions that may include economic sanctions. The U.S. State Department yesterday added Vietnam to the list, citing worsening conditions for groups including minority Protestants.
``It is a wrongful decision, based on erroneous information and an inaccurate reflection of Vietnam's situation,'' the country's Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The decision ``by no means benefits the common efforts of the governments and peoples of Vietnam and the U.S. to build a relationship of stability and lasting cooperation.''
Vietnam and the U.S. opened diplomatic relations in 1995, two decades after the fall of the former Saigon marked the end of a civil war between the Communist-controlled north and the U.S.- backed south.
Since then, economic relations have blossomed, with Vietnam moving last year onto the list of the top 40 U.S. trading partners. Military ties are also improving. Last year, for the first time since the war, a U.S. Navy ship visited Vietnam and Vietnam sent its defense minister to Washington.
The two countries still disagree over human-rights issues, with the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi often raising with Vietnamese officials the cases of prisoners whom the U.S. regards as political or religious dissidents.
`Deep Distrust'
``There are strong differences of opinion on human rights and religious freedom,'' outgoing U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam Raymond Burghardt told the American Chamber of Commerce in Ho Chi Minh City last month, according to the U.S.-Vietnam Trade Council Web site. ``There is deep distrust in the U.S. on Vietnam, and vice- versa.''
Several thousand Protestants in Vietnam's Central Highlands demonstrated in April in support of religious freedom, and ``authorities reportedly violently suppressed the protests, including beating or killing some of the protesters,'' the State Department said.
Both Protestant and Catholic leaders in the Central Highlands said ``restrictions on religion added to an already volatile situation caused by land disputes, local corruption, and historical discrimination in education and employment,'' according to the U.S. report.
Vietnam holds at least 44 religious prisoners and detainees, with at least 11 others held in conditions resembling house arrest for reasons related to the expression of religious beliefs, the U.S. said.
Vietnam's government said the Central Highlands protesters were ``deceived and induced to take part in acts that caused public disturbances.'' The government respects freedom of religion and there are no religious prisoners in the country, the Foreign Ministry said today.
The U.S. shouldn't ``undermine the broad interests of the two countries,'' the ministry said.