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RR RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHHI #0395/01 0530931
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 220931Z FEB 06
FM AMEMBASSY HANOI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0863
INFO RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY 0572
RUEHZS/ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 HANOI 000395 
 
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TAGS: PHUM KIRF PGOV VM
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR HANFORD MEETS VIETNAM MPS VICE MINISTER 
 
 
HANOI 00000395  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  United States Ambassador-at-Large for 
International Religious Freedom John V. Hanford told Vice 
Minister of Public Security Nguyen Van Huong that he is 
encouraged by developments in Vietnam related to religious 
freedom, but remains concerned about the slow pace of church 
registration and recognition in the north and a few specific 
cases of individuals in prison or facing restrictions caused 
by their religious activities.  General Huong echoed earlier 
GVN statements that the pace of implementation of the legal 
framework on religion will pick up after the GVN 
concentrates its efforts to "educate" local authorities in 
the Northwest Highlands, but cautioned that some incidents 
of religious freedom abuse reported in the Northwest 
Highlands are deeply rooted conflicts within communities and 
sometimes even within families, and may thus be difficult to 
eradicate completely.  VM Huong provided information on a 
number of our cases of concern; of 15 total cases of 
individuals facing travel or other restrictions, he 
pronounced 13 "free without any restriction" and provided an 
explanation why some continued restriction would be 
necessary on the remaining three.  He made a stern pitch for 
Vietnam's swift removal from the list of Countries of 
Particular Concern for religious freedom violation.  End 
Summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International 
Religious Freedom John V. Hanford, accompanied by Ambassador 
Marine, met February 21 with Vice Minister of Public 
Security (and Police Lieutenant General) Nguyen Van Huong. 
Ambassador Hanford told General Huong that after 
participating in the U.S.-Vietnam Human Rights Dialogue 
(HRD) (septels), he is encouraged by developments in the 
area of religious freedom in Vietnam.  All religious groups 
he has met with report that conditions have improved, and 
there is a "significant degree of freedom" for the large 
majority of Vietnamese seeking to practice their faith. 
 
¶3. (SBU) The United States has seen Vietnam enact 
significant new laws and regulations protecting freedom of 
religion, and the GVN has dealt with the issue of forced 
renunciations of faith in a positive way, Ambassador Hanford 
continued.  Most of the individuals on the United States' 
list of prisoners of concern had been quickly released, with 
one exception:  Ma Van Bay.  The United States also had a 
list of 15 individuals subject to varying degrees of 
administrative restriction that it had passed to the GVN at 
the HRD with the request that these individuals be given 
freedom to move about and carry out their lives.  The GVN's 
positive actions on prisoners of concern are of great 
interest to the American people and the Congress, and the 
CPC issue is of high-level importance.  In May 2005, the 
exchange of letters on religious freedom issues helped to 
make the conditions for Prime Minister Phan Van Khai's 
historic visit to the United States as positive as possible. 
In November 2005, the Secretary discussed religious freedom 
issues with Foreign Minister Nguyen Dzy Nien in Busan and 
promised to send Ambassador Hanford back to Vietnam for 
another review of the religious freedom situation.  Now, he 
said, he is back in Vietnam with the intention of working as 
hard as possible to remove religious freedom as a bilateral 
irritant. 
 
¶4. (SBU) The most challenging remaining issue is the 
reopening of closed churches and the registration of 
peaceful places of worship in the north, Ambassador Hanford 
explained.  There have been significant achievements in this 
area in the Central Highlands, but the Northwest Highlands 
in particular remain an area of concern.  It is impossible 
for the GVN to simultaneously train officials from every 
part of Vietnam; with this in mind, the statement by the 
GVN's Committee on Religious Affairs that it will 
concentrate its next effort on the Northwest Highlands is 
welcome.  The stories coming out of the Northwest Highlands, 
however, have been worrisome.  The Evangelical Church of 
Vietnam-North (ECVN) reported that it has had more than 300 
of its affiliated churches submit the paperwork for 
registration, but not a single application has been 
accepted.  Worse, some of the local authorities have used 
the applications to target the individuals named, and 
leaders have been told to renounce their faith.  In some 
cases, beatings have been reported.  The GVN has 
demonstrated its good intentions in the Central Highlands 
and now must work in the Northwest Highlands to instruct 
local officials on the law, Ambassador Hanford urged. 
 
¶5. (SBU) General Huong thanked Ambassador Hanford for his 
positive assessment and recognition of the difficulty of 
moving so quickly in the Central Highlands.  Success in the 
Central Highlands was a result of the new law coming 
 
HANOI 00000395  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
simultaneously with the successful implementation of a plan 
of social and economic development that allowed people to 
move beyond their physical needs and concentrate on their 
spiritual needs.  With the improvement of living standards 
in the Central Highlands, more attention can be paid to the 
development of the people's spiritual lives.  One year ago, 
General Huong recalled, Ambassador Hanford and he had 
discussed improvements in the Central Highlands.  Now most 
churches have been reopened and registered, and even those 
that have not yet registered have enjoyed full official 
support.  One example was the provision of resources to host 
successful Christmas celebrations in 2005, a benefit 
extended to both registered and unregistered churches.  The 
Vice Minister predicted that the pace of rebuilding and 
registration will accelerate in coming months and years as 
living standards improve even more.  More than 100 new 
pastors have been trained, with even more in the pipeline. 
Those religious workers have various freedoms, including 
permission to go abroad.  One of the important factors in 
the development of religion in the Central Highlands was 
Ambassador Marine's statement making it clear that the 
United States does not support individuals or groups with a 
separatist agenda.  That helped to stabilize the region. 
 
¶6. (SBU) The GVN still sees problems in the Northwest 
Highlands, General Huong acknowledged.  The Protestant 
church is a relatively new arrival in the Northwest 
Highlands, and in many cases is arriving in traditional 
ethnic minority communities that have been following their 
own religion and customs for a long time.  The new religion, 
especially when practiced by young people, can seem 
disruptive and challenging by the elders.  This change in 
religious practices and faith generates divisions and 
conflicts in communities and even families; when the adults 
and elders who are resisting change are also local 
authorities or police, then their reactions can easily be 
misunderstood as officially sanctioned forced renunciation 
of faith.  Reports of problems like this in the Northwest 
Highlands can be traced to this kind of phenomenon; "police 
beatings of believers" might be one brother fighting another 
over a family dispute about religion, or a (local official) 
father striking a (Protestant believer) disobedient son, 
Vice Minister Huong explained. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Freedom of religion is important to the GVN, but so 
is the maintenance of harmony and stability in communities, 
he continued.  Religious conflicts worldwide have the 
reputation of being particularly bloody, and Vietnam has no 
desire to precipitate that kind of unrest in its own 
territory; the situation gets even more complicated when you 
consider that it is an area with many ethnicities.  "We 
believe we can solve the problem peacefully without the 
conflict seen in the rest of the world, but we do not 
believe we can do it quickly," General Huong warned.  It 
could take several years before the Northwest Highlands 
shows progress similar to the Central Highlands.  The GVN 
will act to protect religious freedom in the Northwest 
Highlands, he pledged, and congregations there will be 
recognized, but the GVN does not want to hurry the process 
for fear of causing conflicts among groups in those areas. 
 
¶8. (SBU) Regarding the USG's prisoners of concern, General 
Huong had case-by-case information on each of the names 
Ambassador Hanford presented.  He started with Ma Van Bay, 
the last "religious prisoner" still in prison.  Bay, he 
said, is an ordinary criminal.  He was sentenced to three 
years in prison for stealing property, and then attempted to 
escape; for that, he received three more years.  Because Bay 
has just begun the second part of the sentence, General 
Huong explained, he is not yet eligible for an amnesty. 
However, knowing of the USG's interest in the case, he said 
he would "see what he can do" for Bay before President 
Bush's visit. 
 
¶9. (SBU) General Huong stated categorically that, of the 15 
persons on the list of individuals subject to travel and 
other restrictions, only Thich Quang Do and Father Nguyen 
Van Ly are under any type of restriction.  The other 13 are 
free and "completely without restrictions."  Father Ly, 
released after serving only three years of his 15-year 
sentence, is on supervised probation for the next three 
years.  Despite this, the GVN has allowed him to travel, and 
even to meet with other "dissidents" such as Nguyen Dan Que 
and Tran Khue, in addition to U.S. Consulate General staff 
in Ho Chi Minh City.  "Father Ly does not seem to be in a 
normal condition, and we do not view him as a threat to 
national security," General Huong said.  However, he warned, 
if Ly crosses the line and calls for his religious followers 
to rise up against the Government, he will be "punished 
 
HANOI 00000395  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
again." 
 
¶10. (SBU) Regarding the ongoing restrictions on Thich Quang 
Do, General Huong said this is related to a specific 
incident in which Do was found in possession of a secret GVN 
document.  He refused to cooperate in the investigation of 
the circumstances of how he came to possess the document, 
and so the investigators restrict his freedom.  They are not 
restricting his religion, allowing him to stay in his pagoda 
and engage in religious activities.  He wants to see 
Buddhist patriarch Thich Huyen Quang to coordinate stories 
on the secret document; investigators cannot permit this, 
and so have prevented this meeting until they get the 
explanation they are seeking and can conclude the matter. 
The GVN acknowledges that Do is old and not in good health, 
which is why "harsh restrictions" have not been imposed. 
News of Do's arrest was untrue, General Huong stated, adding 
that expatriate Buddhist activist Vo Van Hai counseled Do to 
try to provoke a reaction by GVN authorities in advance of 
Ambassador Hanford's visit.  It is important that Ambassador 
Hanford understand how some people are manipulating his 
visit. 
 
¶11. (SBU) General Huong went on to praise the capability of 
faith-based organizations to provide charitable and social 
services.  "Religious followers are good at charity," he 
observed, "and the areas where religious organizations 
operate enjoy positive social circumstances and people are 
well taken care of."  HIV/AIDS and other serious diseases 
are examples of issues that religious groups deal with well, 
and religious groups help to reduce "the presence of social 
evils."  The Vice Minister pointedly declared that the GVN's 
view is that religious acts and religious persons "make a 
contribution to society." 
 
¶12. (SBU) In light of the substantial developments in 
religious activity in Vietnam, General Huong said, it is 
appropriate to remove Vietnam's CPC designation.  No country 
can be completely free of religious freedom problems, but 
the assessment of Vietnam should be positive.  Ambassador 
Hanford said he agreed that many positive developments have 
been recorded in Vietnam, and that the principal issue that 
remains is that of registration and recognition of churches 
and congregations in the north, not all of which needs to 
happen in the sensitive Northwest Highlands.  The GVN should 
work with the ECVN to make an effort to accommodate the 
thousands of people who are currently illegally practicing a 
legal religion in the north.  Further effort and instruction 
by the GVN of local authorities should go far in 
demonstrating Vietnam's successful implementation of the new 
legal framework, and that will make it much easier to 
explain to U.S. constituencies why Vietnam should be removed 
from the CPC list.  "I am sure you will see improvement," 
General Huong concluded, "because people in the north are 
now implementing the new law.  Vietnam has a unified policy, 
and no local official who is educated about the policy will 
act against it.  If he does, he will be punished." 
 
MARINE