Posted on 09/04/2009 10:52:00 PM PDT by Jet Jaguar
Vietnamese police have arrested two bloggers and a journalist for their involvement in a plan to print T-shirts opposing China's investment in a bauxite mining project and its claims over disputed islands, sources said.
The arrests underscore how sensitive Vietnam considers relations with China while highlighting the challenge Hanoi faces in keeping public opinion in check as Internet usage blossoms -- and where it draws a line on organized dissent.
Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, 30, who blogged under the name "Me Nam," or Mother Mushroom, was arrested on September 2 for "abusing democratic rights" and harming national security, her mother said by telephone from the beach town of Nha Trang.
"About 10 or 15 police came to arrest her at around midnight," said the mother, Nguyen Thi Tuyet Lan.
Last Friday, police in Hanoi arrested Pham Doan Trang, a journalist with the pioneering online news portal Vietnamnet, saying she had "violated national security," editor-in-chief Nguyen Anh Tuan said.
Those two arrests followed the detention of Bui Thanh Hieu, who blogged under the name "Nguoi Buon Gio," or Wind Trader.
Like many Vietnamese, the three opposed China's claims of sovereignty over the Spratly and Paracel Islands in the South China Sea. They were also critics of a government plan to partner with a Chinese state-owned company to exploit bauxite reserves in Vietnam's Central Highlands.
The bauxite issue came into the spotlight last year when war hero Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap urged the government to reconsider it.
But Hieu, Quynh and Trang went a step further, said a diplomat who closely follows dissident issues. They promoted a campaign to print and give away T-shirts that said "SOS, keep green and keep Vietnam's SNIP The Communist leadership "apparently thought it was an escalation," he added.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Daughter and I landed in Danang APR 2000 and everyone aboard whips out their cellphones.
Big changes, Vietnam.
Teddy Kennedy's legacy.
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