The announcement followed Wolf's July 10 remarks, which argued that the administration's policy towards the Southeast Asian country "has failed every citizen of Vietnam and every Vietnamese-American who cares about human rights and religious freedom."
In 2004 and 2005, Vietnam was listed by the State Department as a "Country of Particular Concern," or CPC, in part for the Communist government's persecution of Catholic and Buddhist individuals and communities. The classification allowed trade and funding sanctions, such as increased human rights protection requirements for all non-humanitarian aid to the country.
In 2006, that designation was lifted, following the Bush administration's assertion that the country had made significant steps in improving its religious freedom violations and other human rights concerns.
In recent years, the U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom, along with other human rights groups, has asked the State Department to reinstate Vietnam's "Country of Particular Concern" status, claiming "that abuses continue and that lifting the CPC label removes an incentive for Vietnam to make further improvements."
Wolf acknowledged that the Obama administration's policies have not differed greatly from those of the Bush administration, but he claimed that human rights abuses have increased during the current president's tenure, quoting an ABC News story which stated that "more than 50 people have been convicted and jailed in political trials" in 2013 alone.
The congressman described several examples of persecution and repression in the country, pointing in particular to a 2012 situation in which a Vietnamese-American activist and U.S. citizen, Dr. Nguyen Quoc Quan, was "arbitrarily detained and imprisoned" in Vietnam during a visit to the country.