FED: Buddist church starts Khai visit protests with letter

AAP General News (Australia)
04-01-1999
FED: Buddist church starts Khai visit protests with letter

Protests about today's visit of Vietnamese Prime Minister PHAN VAN KHAI have begun early
with an open letter calling for him to free the head of the Unified Buddist Church of Vietnam.

The church's Australian representative, the Venerable THICH QUANG BA, has raised the issue
in an open letter to Mr KHAI printed in the Canberra Times.

He says the 81-year-old leader of the church in Vietnam has been held under house custody
in a remote area since 1982 for objecting to participation in a government-created Buddhist
body.

Mr KHAI'S visit is the first to Australia by a senior Vietnamese official since 1995.

He'll hold discussions with Prime Minister JOHN HOWARD while members of Australia's
140,000-strong Vietnamese community demonstrate outside Parliament House, where Mr KHAI will
be feted at an official luncheon.

A statement by the Vietnamese community says their protest is against ongoing and
escalating human rights violations in Vietnam.

AAP RTV msl/mcm

KEYWORD: VIETNAM AUST LETTER (CANBERRA)

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