Read a version of this story in Vietnamese
Vietnamese immigration authorities repeatedly attempted to extract bribes out of a well-known Chinese filmmaker when he entered and exited the country, he said on social media.
Wu Dong, better known by his stage name Huazong, expressed frustration on his X account this week, saying that immigration officers at Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport tried to hint that they wanted money for letting him enter or leave Vietnam in 2023 and 2025.
“It’s really frustrating that I had to deal with a bribe request again when entering the country,” he said in a tweet dated Feb. 4. “When I refused to pay, they sent me back to the queue.”
In another tweet that day, he posted a photo of an immigration officer sitting at an immigration counter, and wrote, “This official (face blurred) spent a long five minutes hinting at a bribe -– broken English, broken Chinese, kept his voice low. Meanwhile, a crowd of nearly 20 travelers waited behind me during this awkward standoff."
When he was asked to return to the line, another officer showed him in a translated message on his phone that “100 yuan clears you through.”
In a tweet dated Feb. 5, Wu said he had filed a complaint but he hadn’t received a response.
“I’ll keep emailing the media and inspection department,” he said. “Worst case, I might be banned from entering the country in the future. It’s shocking how long this systemic corruption has persisted.”
Radio Free Asia messaged Wu over X, who confirmed the incident but did not provide further details.
Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to emails requesting comment.
Not the first time
This wasn’t the first time that officials demanded bribes, Wu said. In tweets from 2023, he described how on three occasions similar incidents occurred.
He wrote how the immigration officers are able to ask for bribes without saying so by pointing to pictures of money on their cellphones or pointing at bills in their notebooks.
In one tweet, he said he had been asked in this way, with the immigration officer saying “xiaofei,” which means “tip” in Mandarin.
Wu wrote that he didn’t want to pay the bribe, but also didn’t want the hassle, so he offered a US$1 bill.
The officer then said “Ten,” in English, but Wu was able to talk him down to $3.
He detailed several similar incidents of immigration officials asking for bribes in Chinese or English.
Wu wrote that because multiple immigration officers had asked him for bribes during separate trips to Hanoi that he believes that corruption is system-wide.
He also wrote that after sharing his experience on social media, many other people responded with similar stories.
“I strongly recommend the Vietnamese government to rectify this problem,” he wrote. “Please install cameras at the immigration officer’s workstations as this will help curb corruption.”
Translated by Anna Vu. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.