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Nguyen Hoang Hai, who blogs under the alias of Dieu Cay, was arrested April 19 for tax fraud. According to the group Reporters Without Borders or RWB (French: Reporters sans frontières, Spanish: Reporteros Sin Fronteras or RSF, German: Reporter ohne Grenzen or ROG) a Paris-based international non-governmental organization that advocates freedom of the press. Authorities accused Nguyen Hoang Hai of not paying taxes for 10 years on a property that he owns.

“Tax fraud was just a pretext(excuse) to prevent Dieu Cay from demonstrating when the Olympic torch went through Ho Chi Minh City and from criticizing the communist party online,” said RSF.

Nguyen Hoang Hai or Dieu Cay’s arrest came 10 days before the torch passed through Ho Chi Minh City (the former Saigon). The said blogger is known for his opposition to China’s claim of rightful status over the Paracel and Spratleys archipelagos in the South China Sea that Vietnam also claims.

The Spratlys are a group of more than 100 reefs and islands occupying in total less than five square kilometres and spread over more than 400,000 square kilometres of sea. This small islands are occupied by military forces from China, Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam but has not made any formal claim. While Paracel Islands are a group of small islands and reefs in the South China Sea administered by the People’s Republic of China but also claimed by Vietnam.

Nguyen Hoang Hai also posted on his blog about the China’s policy in Tibet.

Since last year, anti-Chinese opinion had burst in rallies and debated on weblogs because of the Spratly and Paracel islands issue. At the beginning Vietnam allowed peaceful demonstrations outside Chinese diplomatic missions but later being stop.