Staying Relevant on Human Rights

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s recent statement in Hanoi that the U.S. is concerned about human rights violations in Vietnam is precisely the kind of rhetoric for which human rights and democracy activists have been calling. Demonstrations of U.S. concern about these issues made by high level officials is an integral part of efforts to improve human rights in countries like Vietnam. Clinton’s remarks also signify, if not a shift, than certainly a break from comments she made in 2009 in China where she seemed to indicate that China’s human rights violations were not all that important to the U.S. suggesting that for the U.S. and China “it might be better to agree to disagree” on those issues. Clearly, China plays a different global role than Vietnam and the U.S., as Clinton pointed out on that trip, has a number of other very important issues on which it needs to work with China, but the change in the tone of her remarks is striking.