Observers Concerned Over Purported Vietnamese Directive

FILE - Women walk past Vietnam national flags hoisted along a street in Hanoi on May 18, 2020. Concern is growing over a purported internal Vietnamese directive which is said to order government agencies to increase surveillance of citizens and crack down on civil society.

Experts and activists are voicing concern over a purported internal Vietnamese Politburo directive, which they say could worsen already deteriorating human rights and the toll on the economy caused by increased scrutiny of foreign companies.