October 29, 2024
On the afternoon of Monday, October 28 in Berlin, Vietnamese Minister of Public Security Luong Tam Quang led a high-ranking delegation to work at the German Federal Ministry of the Interior.
Minister of Public Security Luong Tam Quang and Deputy Minister of the German Federal Ministry of the Interior Hans-Georg Engelke
Notably, the counterpart of Minister of Public Security Luong Tam Quang is the German Federal Minister of the Interior, Ms. Nancy Faeser. According to diplomatic practice, he should be received by his counterpart but in reality, the Deputy Minister of the German Federal Ministry of the Interior Hans-Georg Engelke received and held talks.
The reception and talks lasted about 1 hour. “The focus was on bilateral and international cooperation, especially security issues and the fight against crime, such as drugs and human trafficking,” the German Interior Ministry spokeswoman told Thoibao.de in a very general way. She added: “The human rights situation in Vietnam was also discussed.”
Regarding other questions, including those related to Trinh Xuan Thanh and Chairwoman of Advanced International Co. (AIC) Nguyen Thi Thanh Nhan, the German Interior Ministry spokeswoman refused to answer, saying: “Please understand that we cannot give more details about the content of the private, confidential conversation between the two sides.”
Thoibao.de then contacted the German Federal Foreign Office. A spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry in Berlin told Thoibao.de: “The German Federal Government has made it clear to the Vietnamese Government that the kidnapping [of Trinh Xuan Thanh] in 2017 was completely unacceptable, it did not respect German law and under no circumstances should it happen again. The German Foreign Ministry and the German Embassy in Vietnam continue to have regular discussions with the Vietnamese Government on this issue.”
However, the spokesperson did not answer Thoibao.de’s question about whether German diplomats would visit Trinh Xuan Thanh in prison.
Thoibao.de asked this question because a Vietnamese prisoner can only leave the country for Germany after such a visit and during that time, the exit documents will be completed.
According to information from Vietnam’s state-controlled media, during the talks, the two sides agreed to coordinate in fighting the case, investigating, verifying, and arresting wanted subjects related to citizens of the two countries. And the two sides also agreed to promote the signing of the Criminal Judicial Assistance Agreement, the Extradition Agreement and the Transfer of Sentenced Persons Agreement.
Thus, it can be said that until the two countries have signed the above agreements, it is not possible to extradite Nguyen Thi Thanh Nhan from Germany to Vietnam.
Minister Luong Tam Quang and Director of the German Federal Intelligence Service Bruno Kahl.
In addition, earlier on October 28 in Berlin, Minister Quang also visited the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) and had talks with its Director Bruno Kah, in order to continue to strengthen cooperation in many areas of mutual interest to both sides.
Within the framework of the visit to Germany, on Sunday, October 27 in Berlin, Minister Quang and the delegation also met with representatives of the Federation of Vietnamese Associations in the Federal Republic of Germany, whose President is Nguyen Van Hien, owner of Dong Xuan Market in Berlin.
General Luong Tam Quang and Nguyen Van Hien, President of the Federation of Vietnamese Associations in Germany.
