Vietnam Slams US Report on Religion

HANOI, Oct. 10 (Xinhuanet) -- Vietnamese newspapers carried commentary and articles on Thursday, slamming the 2002 report on international religious freedom released by the US State Department last Monday.

The Vietnamese Communist Party's daily Nhan Dan (People) held that the United States has exploited the mask of religion to interfere in internal affairs of other countries.

What the United States did has not deluded the public opinion but ignited indignation of other countries, Nhan Dan stressed.

The rights of religious or non-religious freedom of the Vietnamese people are guaranteed. The guarantee is not only confirmed in the country's constitution and laws but also demonstrated in the reality of life, the daily noted.

The Vietnamese People's Army (Quan Doi Nhan Dan) newspaper alsosaid that the release of the US report is not going to improve religious freedom in Vietnam but aims to create uncertainties in the country.

The report makes people more clearly see that while Vietnam-US relationship was normalized, there are still some ill-willing political forces in the United States, who wish to obstruct, even damage the relationship between the two countries, the newspaper stressed.