EU Seen Opening Up Trade to Vietnam, Closing Door to Cambodia

Editorial by Khmer Circle: 


A widely noted irony and joke about the state of civil rights under Communism, with specific reference to newly established Soviet government in the former Soviet Union and its subsequent Eastern European satellite nations, has it that a number of expectant and even friendly but naive independent labour union leaders had approached the new regimes in office and asked for labour rights to be independently represented by being given the license to form independent workers' unions; a request to which the new revolutionary authorities flatly rejected, pointing out:'..but aren't we your representatives already?!' 

Of course, it had been in workers' name and sake that these revolutionary regimes came into being in the first place, and they as a social class embodies that proletarian masses whose emancipation from the chains of oppression under exploitative capitalism and their nemesis - the bourgeoisie - formed the priority and raison d'être of the revolution.

A young Vietnamese revolutionary by the name of Ho Chi-minh through his prolonged sojourn and travels in Europe and contacts with members of European Communist parties there would later adopt the same slogan by naming his movement 'The Indochinese Workers Party' as a direct riposte to French colonial rule in his country, but also to appeal to a wider international socialist sentiment and establishments. It's interesting that Ho had not limited himself to only representing his own nation - Vietnam - but also to all three countries of Indochina who differed - and still do - widely in culture and historical evolution. In doing this, Ho's own imperial ambition is clearly betrayed; an historical Vietnamese imperial design dating back several centuries from the time the Annamese people first established themselves in what is known as the Red River Delta [North Vietnam] and, historically, a place of tenuous abode under threat from a thousand years of Chinese enslavement and oppression. Thus, Ho's movement would subsequently not only lead to the re-unification of North and South Vietnams - the sacrifice and effort to which ordinary Vietnamese had devoted, at least, this is a point many a Vietnamese nationalist never tires of reminding the rest of the world over the war with France and later the US. So to retain Vietnam's de facto historical and recent territorial as well as hegemonic gains off the other smaller Indochinese states, Ho and his followers would pursue this sub-imperial scheme that his Indochinese Workers' Party had first inferred and sought to materialise through manipulation and distortion of these weaker states' body politics and representation.

This is a long story, but the reader might be well advised to cast a critical glance upon the EU's decision to reward Hanoi with trade privileges in the hope of gaining reciprocating leverage over workers and their labour rights under its totalitarian rule. At any rate, that is what we are hearing from Brussels! In other words, this EU strategy could be either extremely wise and tempered or extremely foolhardy or callously selfish. It's not surprising in this context alone that some EU critics believe that the emphasis and priority the EU places on trade override the concern over human rights or lack thereof under a regime that - by its very nature and temperament - stands diametrically opposed to liberal notions such as 'freedom of assembly' for workers, free trade unions or associations, "labour guarantees" and so forth - even if the EU decision-makers use the liberal brush to paint the picture.

Is it not obvious that nothing in the way of civic rights and indulgences can be 'guaranteed' under this monolithic top-down state, except, perhaps, as has usually been self-evident, on paper? Even Communism or Socialism as the world-view and supposedly operative doctrine of the Party itself is being betrayed by the minority who control that party in the citizens' - nay, the masses' - name! Does one need to elaborate as to why and how this is so? No. We agree...       


^^^$$$

By Reuters

Feb. 11, 2020

STRASBOURG/BRUSSELS — The European Union is expected to open its markets to Vietnam on Wednesday, while closing its trade doors with Cambodia, rewarding the former for progress on labor guarantees and sanctioning the latter for human rights abuses.

The moves mark Europe's increased insistence that trading partnerships go beyond liberalization and be coupled with commitments to environmental, labor and social standards. On Wednesday, it will display both its carrot and stick.

In Strasbourg, EU lawmakers will vote on a free-trade agreement struck with Vietnam, the EU's most comprehensive such pact with a developing country and its second with a member of the Association of Southeast Asian nations (ASEAN).

Initial backing from the international trade committee of the European Parliament last month suggested the parliament as a whole would back it.

Critics have taken issue with Vietnam's record on human and labor rights. Human Rights Watch urged lawmakers to delay approval until Vietnam fulfilled a pledge to allow freedom of assembly for workers and reformed a penal code that it says puts government critics in jail.

EU trade commissioner Phil Hogan told lawmakers in a debate on Tuesday that Vietnam's human rights situation was "certainly an area of concern", but said that forums such as an annual human rights dialogue were the way to address shortcomings.

The deal, which could take effect in July, would eliminate 99% of tariffs, although Vietnam will have a transition period of up to 10 years for some imports, such as cars and beer.

Many Vietnamese goods benefit from preferential access to EU markets under a scheme offered to poorer developing countries. However, this applies to duties on two-thirds of product types. Tariffs still apply, albeit at a lower rate, to garments.

By contrast, the European Commission is set to withdraw trade preferences from Cambodia under its "Everything But Arms" (EBA) scheme for the world's poorest 48 countries. The EU executive said in a report on Tuesday that Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen's government had cracked down on opposition, civil society groups and the media over the past three years.

Global clothing and shoe brands have written to Cambodia's long-time leader urging reform, but on the eve of the decision, Sen said his nation would not "bow down" to foreign demands.

Cambodia was the second-highest beneficiary of the EBA in 2018, behind only Bangladesh. Its total exports to the EU reached 5.25 billion euros ($5.73 billion) in 2018, a 14% rise from 2016.

Withdrawal of preferences could, for example, see tariffs for key clothing imports into the EU rise to 12% from zero.

(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop, additional reporting by Jakub Riha; editing by Larry King)