"Human Rights Watch regularly produces fabricated information that fails to reflect the real situation in Vietnam. We totally reject the wrongful remarks by Human Rights Watch in its press release on March 9, 2007," said Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Le Dung.

Spokesman Dung made the statement on March 22 while answering foreign reporters' questions on Vietnam's reactions to the Human Rights Watch's wrongful remarks on Vietnam's reality, including the so-called "crackdowns on dissidents".

"Although the State of Vietnam respects the rights to freedom and democracy of all citizens, the country never accepts the abuses of those rights to freedom and democracy to carry out activities that violate Vietnamese laws. Recently, Vietnamese relevant agencies have started legal proceedings against people who committed illegal acts to sabotage Vietnam. These proceedings comply with the law. These are normal and necessary measures to ensure national security and the community's common interest," he said.

"In Vietnam, there are no political crackdowns, no one is arrested for his or her political viewpoint, only those who violate the law will be dealt with in compliance with Vietnamese laws," the spokesman reaffirmed.

Answering foreign reporters' questions on Vietnam's reactions to information on the activities of Thich Huyen Quang and Thich Quang Do, Foreign Ministry's spokesman Le Dung said: "From Feb. 20 to May 9, 2007, Monk Thich Nhat Hanh and a delegation of monks, nuns and followers of the "Lang Mai" (Plum Village) returned to Vietnam for their second visit at the invitation of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha. This is only a religious activity. The visit is an illustration of the policy and freedom of religious beliefs in Vietnam.

He continued to say: "The congregation of the "Vietnam United Buddhist Church" came into being in January 1964 in Saigon. Since 1981, the "Vietnam United Buddhist Church" and other Buddhist congregations in Vietnam have unified into the "Vietnam Buddhist Sangha". Now the "Vietnam Buddhist Sangha" is the sole existing organisation of Vietnamese Buddhists."

"At present, Thich Huyen Quang and Thich Quang Do are leading their life and practicing religion as usual, they are by no means under house detention or probation," he noted. (VNA)