A Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman on Dec.18 rejected a US resolution on religious freedom, saying it is not objective and fails to reflect correctly the current situation in Vietnam.
Spokeswoman Nguyen Phuong Nga made the comment while answering correspondents’ query about Vietnam’s reaction to the US House of Representatives’ Dec.17 approval of the resolution H. Res.20 which demands bringing Vietnam back to the list of “country of particular concern” (CPC) in terms of religious freedom.
“Vietnam is a multi-religious country, with 80 percent of its population having beliefs, of whom 22.3 million people are followers of different religions, and 25,000 religious establishments and places of worship,” Nga said.
According to the spokeswoman, most of the world’s major religions such as Buddhism, Catholicism, Protestantism and Muslim have been present and developed in peace in Vietnam .
Nga also affirmed the Vietnamese State’s consistent policy of respecting and creating favourable conditions for all people to perform freedom of religion and belief.
“The right to freedom of religion and belief as well as freedom of non-religion and non-belief is prescribed in Vietnam ’s Constitution and legal documents, and guaranteed in reality,” she said.
“Vietnam is ready to continue holding dialogues with parties, including the US, to narrow and deal with the outstanding differences,” the spokeswoman concluded.
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