Việt Nam President Tô Lâm faced criticism and resurrected kidnapping allegations from a major Danish media outlet during his state visit to Denmark.
The Latest: On Oct. 19, TV 2, one of Denmark’s two largest broadcasters, covered President Tô Lâm’s visit to Copenhagen with the headline “Royal Couple Hosts Leader of a Regime That ‘Can Get Up to Some Pretty Nasty Things.’”
- The coverage centered on human rights concerns, with Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen stating, “It was a topic we raised and discussed briefly.”
After Denmark, Tô Lâm is scheduled to travel to Brussels this week for meetings with the EU and Belgium.
The Details: Sjöberg, the Asia correspondent for the daily Berlingske who sourced the remark in the TV2 headline, asserted that Tô Lâm now holds more power than any Vietnamese leader since Hồ Chí Minh, arguing that Denmark requires a serious debate about how close it should get to Việt Nam.
- Additionally, the newspaper Information, founded in 1943, published an editorial headlined “Steak, Kidnapping and Bamboo Diplomacy: Việt Nam’s Strongman Honored in Denmark.”
From Other Organizations: On Oct. 19, Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged leaders of the EU, Belgium, and Denmark to raise human rights issues with Tô Lâm.
- “The EU and its member states should stop allowing Việt Nam to repress its citizens,” stated Patricia Gossman, HRW’s associate Asia director.
- HRW named several political prisoners, including journalist Phạm Đoan Trang, land rights activist Cấn Thị Thêu, and independent journalists Phạm Chí Dũng and Nguyễn Tường Thụy.
In a separate report by the newspaper Politiken, Helena Huong Nguyen, a resident of Denmark and member of Việt Tân, criticized the Danish royal family, stating that receiving Tô Lâm amounted to turning a blind eye to the repression of human rights activists and democracy advocates in Việt Nam.
The Background: The TV2 report also recalled the case of Trịnh Xuân Thanh, a former Vietnamese official who was seeking asylum in Germany.
- In 2017, he was abducted in broad daylight in Berlin and taken back to Việt Nam.
- According to the TV 2 report, this operation was orchestrated by Tô Lâm, who served as the minister of public security at the time.
Furthermore, HRW highlighted the broader human rights situation, noting that Việt Nam is currently holding at least 160 political prisoners.
- In the first nine months of 2026, at least 28 activists were convicted.
- HRW stated that this crackdown violates several commitments Việt Nam made to the European Union under the 2020 EU-Việt Nam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA).
Why It Matters: On Oct. 20 in Copenhagen, Tô Lâm and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen issued a joint statement upgrading bilateral ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership during a state visit running from Oct. 19 to 21.
- This makes Denmark only the second European Union country, following France, to establish this level of relationship with Việt Nam.
- Notably, the joint statement includes commitments on security and justice that domestic media in Việt Nam did not mention
Thành Phương wrote this news article in Vietnamese and published it in Luật Khoa Magazine on October 21, 2026. The Vietnamese Magazine translated it into English.
