This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

130504Z Jan 06

ACTION EAP-00   

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                  ------------------7E42A5  130508Z /38    
FM AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 0233
INFO AMEMBASSY HANOI 
AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY

UNCLAS  HO CHI MINH CITY 000042 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: AMGT CMGT PREL KFRD VM
SUBJECT: PROPOSED REPLY TO GVN CONSULAR TRAVEL NOTIFICATION 
REQUIREMENT 
 
REF: A) 2/12/97 ANDERSON LETTER B) 2/20/97 PHUC LETTER 
 
¶1.  (U) This is an action request for EAP and CA.  Please see 
paragraph 9. 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) In a diplomatic note dated December 22, 2005, the Ho 
Chi Minh City (HCMC) External Relations Office (ERO) complained 
that the Consulate General was not informing the ERO of the 
names and addresses of Vietnamese citizens consular officers 
might need to meet when conducting normal operations outside of 
the formally recognized consular district (i.e., HCMC only, not 
other provinces).  This note appears to be motivated by some 
local officials' objections to consular officers performing 
fraud prevention investigations in their locales.  The Consulate 
General proposes to reply to this note by confirming that it is 
operating according to the 1997 exchange of letters (Refs A, B) 
that established the HCMC and San Francisco Consulates General. 
 
Fraud Prevention Investigation Difficulties and Necessities 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Approximately three-fourths of the fraud prevention 
site visits performed by HCMC consular officers and Fraud 
Prevention Unit (FPU) staff involve suspected sham divorces by 
immigrant visa applicants.  The success of these site visits 
(approximately 80 percent of which determine conclusively that 
the applicant engaged in a sham divorce) depends upon an element 
of surprise.  Recent cases in which local Vietnamese officials 
in Thua Thien-Hue and other provinces have harassed and briefly 
detained FPU investigators (e.g., Ref C) also involved the 
officials warning visa applicants of consular officers' presence 
in the area, which made the site visits useless if they were 
possible at all.  The recent frictions between FPU investigators 
and some local officials seem to have motivated the ERO to send 
its latest diplomatic note concerning the process of notifying 
the ERO about consular travel. 
 
Travel Notification Procedures 
------------------------------ 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Department will recall that the GVN does not recognize 
HCMC's consular district as extending beyond the city, pending a 
promised, allegedly imminent change in GVN rules.  However, the 
GVN committed to facilitating official consulate travel from Hue 
on south, subject to prior notification.  For representational 
travel by the CG or reporting travel, we generally notify ERO 
and the province several weeks in advance in order to secure 
official meetings.  We usually let the province know informally 
what unofficial meetings we plan but we do not seek permission 
or ask assistance with those meetings.   In the case of consular 
fraud investigations, we send a note to the External Relations 
office in HCMC two working days prior to a trip notifying only 
the travelers and the provinces to be visited, for "routine 
consular business." 
 
The External Relations Office's Diplomatic Notes 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶5.  (SBU) The English text of ERO's note 5616/NV-LS-QHLS follows. 
 
Begin Text: 
Complimentary opening...and as a follow-up to diplomatic note 
3250/NV/LS dated July 19, 2005, hereby discusses the following 
issue: 
 
Recently, the Consulate General has sent many delegations of 
consular officials on routine consular work trips to localities 
outside of the consular district.  The Consulate General's 
diplomatic notes before the trips only informed the names of 
consular officials, time and destinations but did not specify 
either the content of the work or name and address of the 
Vietnamese citizens that consular officials intended to meet. 
This fact has created difficulties for security protection and 
local cooperation when the delegations arrived. 
 
Therefore, the Ho Chi Minh City Office of External Relations 
hereby requests the Consulate General to provide future 
diplomatic notes on routine consular work trips in adherence to 
the agreement between Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Consular 
Section and the United States Embassy in Hanoi. (Please see 
attached diplomatic note number 523/LS-QH dated May 26, 2005 
from the Consular Section, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.) 
 
The HCMC Office of External Relations hopes to receive 
cooperation from the Consulate General in the above-mentioned 
issue and once again avails itself of this opportunity to renew 
to the General Consulate the assurances of its highest 
consideration.  END TEXT. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) MFA's Diplomatic Note 523/LS-QH of May 26, 2005 to 
 
 
Embassy Hanoi: 
 
Begin Text: 
Complimentary opening 
 
In accordance with the UN Vienna Convention in 1963 on consular 
relations, Vietnamese government's regulations as well as 
bilateral agreement on activities of the General Consulate in Ho 
Chi Minh City, Vietnam has always been ready to facilitate the 
US Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City to carry out its 
activities outside of its consular district. 
 
However, in order to enable Vietnamese authorities to cooperate, 
assist, and provide security for the Consulate's General 
delegations outside of the consular district, we ask that the 
United States Embassy requests the United States Consulate 
General in HCMC to inform HCMC Office of External Relations in 
advance the proposed schedule before every trip, in adherence to 
the Dip note numbered 142/NG-LS that Ministry of Foreign Affairs 
sent to the Embassy on May 9, 2001.  End Text. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) MFA Diplomatic Note No. 142/NG-LS of May 9, 2001 (text 
below) was sent to all diplomatic missions.  It defines the 
consular district of consulates in HCMC as the urban and 
suburban areas of HCMC.  It specifies consular officers must 
seek permission by diplomatic note and receive an affirmative 
response before conducting consular business elsewhere.  Post 
does not follow this practice. 
 
¶8.  (U) English text of MFA Diplomatic Note No. 146/NG-LS of May 
9, 2001 sent to all embassies and consulates. 
 
Complimentary opening. 
Over the past period, a number of foreign consular offices, 
especially those based in the area of Ho Chi Minh City, 
conducted activities outside their consular districts without 
asking the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for permission in advance. 
In order to facilitate the activities of the foreign consular 
offices in Vietnam in accordance with Vietnamese laws and 
international laws and practices, the Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs would like to reiterate the following principles: 
¶1. The consular district of a foreign consular office in Vietnam 
is clearly specified in the Consular Acceptance Document issued 
by the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam to the 
chief of the consular office.  The consular district of foreign 
consular offices in Ho Chi Minh City is Ho Chi Minh City with 
its urban and suburban areas. 
¶2. Pursuant to the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, 
consular officers shall only perform their consular function 
within their consular district. 
¶3. In cases of necessity, only when permitted by the Government 
of Vietnam shall consular officers have the right to perform 
their function outside their consular district.  Procedures to 
apply for such permission are as follows: 
For consular offices based in Hue and northwards, their 
Embassies in Ha Noi shall send their diplomatic notes to the 
Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  For 
consular offices based in Da Nang and southwards, the consular 
offices shall directly send their diplomatic notes to the 
Foreign Affairs Department of Ho Chi Minh City. 
Each diplomatic note should clearly specify its request 
regarding time, location(s) to be visited, visit program, the 
consular officer(s) authorized to perform consular function, 
means of transport (if any). 
Within 05 working days, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (its 
Consular Department, the Foreign Affairs Department of Ho Chi 
Minh City) shall consider and reply via a diplomatic note 
(giving its approval or disapproval).  The consular officer(s) 
shall only be permitted to perform consular function outside the 
consular district after being approved by the Ministry of 
Foreign Affairs. 
In special urgent cases, the foreign diplomatic missions and 
consular offices can fax their requests in advance and send 
their official diplomatic notes later.  The Consular Department 
and the Foreign Affairs Department of Ho Chi Minh City shall 
consider and reply as soon as possible (right after receiving 
the requests). End Text. 
 
ACTION REQUEST - ConGen HCMC's Proposed Reply 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶9.  (SBU) The ERO's assertion that notification of consular 
travel outside the formally recognized consular district must 
include provision of the names and addresses of Vietnamese 
citizens to be visited is nowhere mentioned or implied in the 
1997 exchange of notes establishing the consulates general. 
This appears to be nothing more than a unilateral assertion by 
both the MFA and the ERO, one which has been repeated in 
periodic diplomatic notes to all HCMC consulates and which we 
have and shall continue to ignore.  Consulate General proposes 
the following reply to the ERO's note and 
requests Department concurrence.  Embassy Hanoi has cleared this 
 
 
message. 
 
Begin Text. 
 
The Consulate General of the United States of America in Ho Chi 
Minh City presents its compliments to the Ho Chi Minh City 
Office of External Relations and has the honor to reply to 
diplomatic note 5616/NV-LS-QHLS dated December 22, 2005. 
 
With respect to its routine consular work in the provinces of 
Thua Thien Hue and southwards, the Consulate General shall 
continue to operate according to the exchanges of letters 
establishing consulates general in Ho Chi Minh City and San 
Francisco between Charge d'Affaires Desaix Anderson and 
Assistant Foreign Minister Bui Hong Phuc in 1997.  The Consulate 
General has the honor to recall that the Socialist Republic of 
Vietnam committed to facilitate consular activities by the U.S. 
Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City from Thua Thien-Hue south, 
pending a Government of Vietnam decision formally to recognize 
this area as the Ho Chi Minh City consular district.  In this 
regard, the Consulate General requests an update on the status 
of this decision which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had 
informed the Embassy of the United States was to have been 
resolved several years ago.  The Socialist Republic of Vietnam 
and the United States of America further agreed that the sending 
country would inform the receiving country of its intention to 
conduct normal consular operations outside of the formally 
recognized consular district as the need might arise for such 
operations. 
 
The Consulate General once again avails itself of this 
opportunity to renew to the Ho Chi Minh City External Relations 
Office the assurances of its highest consideration. End Text. 
WINNICK 
 
 
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