As part of his lame-duck foreign-policy push, Obama has sought to establish friendlier relations with Laos, a nation that is still a one-party Communist state.
In a speech to the people of Laos on Tuesday announcing a $90 million payment from the U.S. for the removal of unexploded ordnance dating back to the Vietnam War, he nodded at the fact that Laos is not a free country:
As we do around the world, the United States will continue to speak up on behalf of what we consider universal human rights, including the rights of the people of Laos to express yourselves freely and decide your own future. Yet even as our governments deal candidly with our differences, I believe, as we have shown from Cuba to Burma to Vietnam, the best way to deliver progress for all of our peoples is by closer cooperation between our countries.
Obama also discussed the country’s government corruption. “We believe that there needs to be good governance, because people should not have to pay a bribe to start a business or sell their goods.”
But why would a Communist regime that is ranked 139 out of 165 in public-sector corruption abide by the Obama administration’s wishes for good governance?
Obama’s comparison of Laos to Cuba is instructive. The level of government control over Lao citizens is comparable to that in Cuba, and we’ve seen how, since the Obama administration reestablished ties with Cuba last year, the Castro regime has continued to censor and oppress Cubans without fear that the United States will do anything about it. That’s because there is nothing to fear — Obama has not made a commitment to improving human rights a condition of friendlier relations with these regimes. This was abundantly clear in Cuba when the Castro regime rounded up pro-democracy activists during Obama’s visit to Havana last March. On Tuesday, Reuters reported that Cubans can’t even send a text message with phrases such as “democracy” and “human rights” without the government intercepting the message before delivery.
Laos has taken similar measures against its own people. In 2014, the Laotian government passed a law to create criminal penalties for anyone who publishes information on the Internet that is intended to discredit the Laotian government. Those who even so much as post an article on Facebook with content viewed as disrupting “social order” can have their accounts blocked. In 2012, Laotian democracy activist Sombath Somphonen was abducted by what appeared to be government security forces and has not been heard from since.
As with Cuba, it’s unlikely that the Laotian government will change its oppressive behavior following warmer relations with the U.S. That would require that it be held accountable for violations of human rights, something the Obama administration has shown no interest in doing.