Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, November 19, 1993                   TAG: 9311190046
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-11   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: HANOI, VIETNAM                                LENGTH: Medium

RIGHTS ISSUE STIRS ANEW IN VIETNAM

Vietnam accused Australia of meddling by proposing to send an Australian delegation to Vietnam to investigate charges of rights violations. But officials said the investigators would be allowed in.

Human rights is among the most sensitive political issues in Vietnam. The United States also raised the issue in meetings in Washington in October and this month with high-ranking Vietnamese officials.

Washington has told Vietnam that human rights abuses could slow the lifting of the U.S. trade embargo and the establishment of normal relations sought by Hanoi. The United States has no embassy in Vietnam.

Australia does have diplomatic relations with Hanoi, and its defense minister, Robert Ray, had said Tuesday he hoped to send a delegation of academics and politicians from the Vietnamese community to Vietnam next March to review abuse allegations.

Reacting to the request, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry said in a statement that such a probe constituted interference in Vietnam's internal affairs.

But the statement said Hanoi is ready to talk with all foreign delegations.

The most prominent case that has caught Washington's attention is that of Nguyen Dan Que, arrested and imprisoned twice since 1978 on charges of trying to overthrow the government.

He is serving a 20-year term, and human rights groups have charged he is being forced to perform hard labor despite being in poor health. Vietnam has denied the charges.

Sen. Charles Robb, D-Va., sought to see Que while on a visit to Vietnam in August, but the government canceled the meeting.