INTERNATIONAL
BUDDHIST INFORMATION BUREAU
(BUREAU INTERNATIONAL D'INFORMATION
BOUDDHISTE)
Official information service of Vien Hoa Dao,
Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam
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For
immediate release
As tensions rise over Chinese claims of
sovereignty on the Paracel and Spratly islands:
Buddhist
dissident Thich Quang Do calls for democratic rights and freedoms to guarantee
territorial integrity in Vietnam
PARIS, 28th December 2007 (IBIB) - In the wake
of widespread demonstrations staged by students and young people outside
Chinese Embassies in Hanoi and Saigon, and strong protests by the
Vietnamese community overseas, the Most Venerable Thich Quang Do,
prominent dissident and Deputy leader of the outlawed Unified Buddhist
Church of Vietnam (UBCV) has issued a strong statement on the
controversy over the disputed Paracel and Spratly archipelagos. Sent
clandestinely from the Thanh Minh Zen Monastery in Saigon, it was received by
the International Buddhist Information Bureau in
Writing on behalf of the UBCV’s Bi-Cameral
leadership (the Institute of the Sangha and the Institute for the Dissemination
of the Dharma), Thich Quang Do called on the Hanoi authorities to “pass
the reins of power to the people in a society based on the separation of the
three powers, multi-party democracy and the rule of law” as the best way to
safeguard Vietnam’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Because “three
million Communist Party members and a 500,000-strong army have neither the
authority nor the power to defend the homeland by military means, nor sufficient
prestige and courage to expand political and diplomatic efforts to mobilize
international support in our defence… they need the full participation of the
85 million Vietnamese population and the support of the Vietnamese Diaspora
worldwide”. As a first step,
Thich
Quang Do emphasized the role of Buddhism as an essential element in this
process : “With our responsibility as Vietnamese citizens, and as
representatives of a religion that has contributed to the foundation and
development of our nation over the past 2,000 years, the Council of the
Bi-Cameral Institute of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam
cannot stand by silently whilst our country is in danger. We therefore solemnly
appeal to the Vietnamese intelligentsia, inside and outside
The
full text of the statement is below:
DECLARATION
By the Council of the Bi-Cameral Institute of the Unified Buddhist
Church of Vietnam
on Chinese encroachment on the Paracel and Spratly Archipelagos
For the first time in thirty two years,
breaking free from silence and oppression, students and young people in
Sixty-two years ago, this cry was immortalized
in a popular refrain: “Compatriots take heed, our homeland is in danger!”.
These words were on the lips of our whole population as they rose up to win
independence after one hundred years of French colonial rule.
Today, aware of the dangers threatening our
homeland,
the Council of the Bi-Cameral Institute of the
Unified
- concerned that, since 1956, following
stateless Communist ideology under the leadership of Ho
Chi Minh,
the Hanoi authorities have renounced their sovereignty over
Vietnamese territories, erased the sea-borders traced by our ancestors, and
given away our lands and waters in offering to China. In 1956, Foreign
Minister Ung Van Khiem declared that
- disturbed that under two recent
Vietnam-China border treaties, i.e. the land border treaty signed on 30.12.1999
and the Tonkin Gulf Treaty (sea border) signed on 25.12.2000, Vietnam conceded thousands of
square kilometers of lands and seas that our forefathers painstakingly founded
and sacrificed their lives to defend;
- whereas, from 2004 onwards, the Socialist
Republic of Vietnam has shown itself to be cowardly and spineless, making no efforts
whatsoever to protect the people’s security. It is incapable of protecting the
lives and basic security of Vietnamese fishermen earning their livelihood on
the seas between Thanh Hoa and Quang Ngai in the vicinity of the Paracel and
Spratly archipelagos;
- whereas the Communist Party and the Socialist
Republic of Vietnam are solely concerned with protecting Socialism, not with
protecting our homeland’s borders, nor ensuring the security and happiness of
85 million Vietnamese; they are concerned about losing the Party, not the
Nation.
Hereby solemnly appeals
1. To all Vietnamese at home and abroad to rally together in
a united movement to defend our territorial sovereignty and our people. We urge
Vietnamese inside the country to stand firmly together to demand the right to
life and the right to participate in safeguarding and protecting our country.
We urge Vietnamese overseas to wholeheartedly support the struggle movement in
2. To the Vietnamese Communist Party and
government to draw lessons from the democratic example handed down by our
forefathers when the country was in danger, and apply this lesson to the XXI
Century by urgently summoning a “Diên Hồng Conference”[1] in order to:
2.1 – recognize that three million Communist
Party members and a 500,000-strong army have not enough authority or power to
defend the homeland by military means, nor sufficient prestige and courage to
expand political and diplomatic efforts to mobilize international support in
our defence. To succeed, they need the participation of the 85 million
Vietnamese population and the support of the Vietnamese Diaspora worldwide;
2.2 – having recognized this fact, to
immediately abrogate Article 4 of the Vietnamese Constitution [on the political
monopoly of the Communist Party], and thus enable all sectors of the Vietnamese
population, including all religious and political families, to freely and fully
participate in the process of national salvation;
2.3 – convene an Assembly of the entire
population with representatives of all religious communities and different political
parties founded since the beginning of the XX century to initiate a process of
reconciliation, settle all rivalries and antagonisms stemming from imported
ideologies that have torn our society apart for the past 60 years, and prepare
for a democratic transition, to pass the reins of power to the people in a
society based on the separation of the three powers, multi-party democracy and
the rule of law.
Throughout our history, whenever the whole
population has risen up to push back foreign aggression, a period of peaceful
rule has ensued in which our territories have been preserved, sovereignty
protected, our independence guaranteed, and our civilization has flourished.
This quintessential law is our guiding principle. It has inspired us constantly
to defend our sovereignty and cultural identity, and protect the freedom,
welfare and happiness of our people. This is why, only when the voice and the
will of the whole people speak out as one can foreign aggression be
successfully repelled. The history of
With our responsibility as Vietnamese
citizens, and as representatives of a religion that has contributed to the
foundation and development of our nation over the past 2,000 years, the Council
of the Bi-Cameral Institute of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam
cannot stand by silently whilst our country is in danger. We therefore call upon
the Vietnamese intelligentsia, inside and outside
Thanh Minh Thien Vien,
Saigon, 27.12.2007
On behalf of the Supreme Patriarch
and the Council of the Bi-Cameral Institute
of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam
President of the Institute for the Dissemination of the Dharma
(signature and seal)
Sramana THICH QUANG DO
[1] In 1283,
