(Bloomberg) -- A senior labor ministry official seen as advocating for some independence of trade unions has been detained over allegations of deliberately disclosing state secrets.

Hanoi police arrested Nguyen Van Binh, head of the labor ministry’s legal affairs department, according to a statement on the police website. The investigation is continuing, said the statement, which did not elaborate on his alleged wrongdoings.

Representatives for Binh were not immediately available and calls to the ministry went unanswered. The profile of Binh, who oversaw the ministry’s legal department, is no longer on the ministry’s website.

Binh worked on a proposal to amend Vietnam’s labor law, including the right for workers to organize and for collective bargaining, according to his profile on the website of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. He was involved in efforts for Vietnam to endorse the UN International Labor Organization Convention 87, which calls for worker guarantees to form independent trade unions, according to the human rights group The Project 88.

Binh’s detention comes as Vietnam seeks greater access to US consumers. Vietnam, one of 12 economies classified by the US as non-market along with China and Russia, is looking to change its status to help Vietnamese exporters offset a global slowdown in demand. US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh during his September trip to Washington she would push for Vietnam market economy status. This followed President Joe Biden’s trip to Hanoi to forge closer US ties with the Communist country amid growing tensions with China.

The arrest also occurred amid an anti-corruption campaign sweeping the nation and resignations of high-level government officials. The government has previously been criticized by the US and United Nations over the jailing of environmentalists on tax evasion charges.

Vietnam has repeatedly denied jailing people for activism, but for violating the law. Asked about Binh’s arrest during a Hanoi press briefing, Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ spokesperson Pham Thu Hang referred to local media reports about his detention, which did not provide detailed information about his work.  

Binh had pushed for labor reforms and some independence of trade unions, according to a May 8 posting on the website of Human Rights Watch. Vietnamese labor unions are overseen by the Fatherland Front, an organization led by the Communist Party.

(Updates the story with market economy status in the fifth paragraph.)

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.