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

270459Z Feb 06

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FM AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 0477
INFO NSC WASHDC
AMEMBASSY HANOI 
ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE
AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY

UNCLAS  HO CHI MINH CITY 000214 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM KIRF SOCI VM HUMANR RELFREE SOE WTO DPOL
SUBJECT: DRL A/S LOWENKRON AND THE HUMAN RIGHTS DIALOGUE DELEGATION'S 
VISIT TO HO CHI MINH CITY 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  In an intensive one-day visit February 21, 
DRL Assistant Secretary Barry K. Lowenkron met with HCMC Party 
Secretary Nguyen Minh Triet, HCMC MFA representatives, prominent 
 
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political dissidents and protestant house church leaders.  He 
also met with civil society, local NGO, and legal reform experts 
at a dinner hosted by the Consul General.  Assistant Lowenkron 
reviewed for his official hosts the results of the 
just-conducted Human Rights Dialogue in Hanoi and stressed that 
human rights and religious freedom must be an integral part of 
the fabric of our overall bilateral relationship.  He called for 
tangible progress on human rights concerns in advance of the 
President's trip to Vietnam to attend the APEC Summit.  Triet 
and HCMC External Relations Officials stressed their commitment 
to improved bilateral relations and welcomed continued dialogue 
on human rights. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Summary Continued:  House church leaders told the 
Assistant Secretary that conditions for their congregations had 
improved throughout much of Vietnam, although they face sporadic 
problems with poor local implementation of Vietnam's new legal 
framework on religion.  In contrast to general improvements 
elsewhere, conditions in the Northwest Highlands remain acute. 
Until the GVN ensures that the legal framework is implemented 
fairly and consistently, they will hold off on registration. 
HCMC political dissidents were firm that there could be no real 
political or religious freedom reform without ending the Party's 
monopoly on power.  The dissidents favored Vietnam's WTO 
accession, but called for continued international engagement to 
ensure increased personal freedoms for Vietnamese.  The 
Assistant Secretary was accompanied throughout by Susan 
O'Sullivan, DRL Senior Advisor, Patricia Davis, National 
Security Council, Michael Orona, Deputy Director, DRL, and John 
Adams, EAP/MLS Vietnam desk officer. 
 
PARTY AND HCMC ERO 
------------------ 
 
¶3. (SBU)        In a friendly and relaxed meeting, subsequently 
highlighted in HCMC press, HCMC Party Secretary and Politburo 
member Nguyen Minh Triet told the Assistant Secretary that he is 
happy that the U.S.-Vietnam bilateral relationship is "being 
consolidated."  Vietnam's policy is to not focus on our troubled 
past history, but to focus on future cooperation.  Triet wanted 
the U.S. to contribute more to Vietnam's development, 
especially, economic.  He noted positively, Intel Corporation's 
decision to open a new chip-making facility in HCMC. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Turning specifically to human rights issues, Triet said 
that although differences remain, both sides are talking openly 
and frankly and are building a better mutual understanding.  He 
maintained that the vast majority of Vietnamese enjoy broad 
freedoms, religious groups are expanding rapidly, and the 
Vietnamese press is becoming increasingly active and assertive. 
In this context, the complaints of a few individuals such as 
Quang Do (General Secretary of the outlawed Unified Buddhist 
Church of Vietnam) or Nguyen Dan Ly must be put into the 
appropriate context.  Triet stated that Vietnam's legal system 
must be respected and "law breakers" punished.  The U.S. 
assessment of human rights conditions in Vietnam should be based 
on the experience of the majority, not on the complaints of a 
small minority, Triet stated.  Vietnam has suffered much in the 
past; above all, the Vietnamese people need and want stability 
and development. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Looking ahead to the President's trip to Vietnam in 
November 2006 to attend the APEC summit, the Assistant Secretary 
emphasized that the USG was committed to building the best and 
most comprehensive relationship possible with Vietnam.  Prime 
Minister Phan Van Khai's historic meeting with the President in 
June 2005, has led to greater progress on economic, political, 
regional, social, health and other fronts.  The United States 
looks forward to Vietnam playing a more robust leadership role 
in the ASEAN region on issues such as Burma. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Human rights and religious freedom are a key component 
of this mosaic and a focus of the President, Secretary Rice and 
Congress, the Assistant Secretary told Triet.  There are real 
gaps in our views approaches on human rights issues that need to 
be discussed -- the Human Rights Dialogue that the U.S. and 
Vietnam resumed the day before in Hanoi (reftels) was a good 
beginning in what needs to be a results-oriented process.   He 
told Triet that Ambassador-at-large for religious freedom John 
Hanford had stayed behind in Hanoi to build on progress and to 
seek to resolve outstanding religious freedom concerns. 
 
¶7. (SBU) The Assistant Secretary outlined the Secretary's three 
fundamentals of democratization for Triet:  the ability of 
people to organize themselves and to debate issues freely in an 
open and fair political process; the ability of NGOs to 
contribute to the building of society; and, the development of 
effective government that responds to people's needs.  Our 
engagement with Vietnam and other nations on human rights issues 
is conducted within that framework.  However, there is no one 
path or formula to democracy and the Secretary has said clearly 
that democracy cannot be imposed from the outside, points that 
Triet welcomed.  Previewing his upcoming meetings with political 
dissidents and Protestant house church leaders (that the GVN 
earlier had sought to block), the Assistant Secretary emphasized 
that it is vital that he be able to hear the entire gamut of 
views -- minority as well as the majority -- in Vietnam. 
Shaking hands with the Assistant Secretary, Triet said that he 
looked forward to building a strong partnership with the United 
States. 
 
MEETING WITH HOUSE CHURCH LEADERS 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) The Assistant Secretary and his delegation met with 
three key leaders in HCMC's Protestant house church community; 
Pastor Pham Dinh Nhan, Chairman of the United Gospel Outreach 
Church and President of the Vietnam Evangelical Fellowship; 
Pastor Doan Trung Tin, Director of the Vietnam Good News 
Mission; and Pastor Nguyen Ngoc Hien, Chairman of the Vietnam 
Baptist Fellowship Church.  The three leaders noted that overall 
conditions for house churches had improved substantially over 
the past 18 months.  International pressure, field visits by 
U.S. Mission officers within Vietnam, and the GVN's promulgation 
of a new legal framework on religion led to these positive 
developments.  Harassment of house church communities has 
declined substantially.  Local church leaders increasingly find 
that if they push back, the police increasingly generally 
back-down.  However, some communities still face a climate of 
fear that dissuades some parishioners from attending services. 
In other cases, local officials remain intransigent and continue 
to obstruct the operations of specific congregations. 
 
¶9. (SBU) All three pastors noted that conditions in Northwest 
Highlands are the exception to the overall positive trends in 
expansion of religious freedom.  They cited a series of 
incidents -- especially in Ha Giang province -- in which local 
police officials issued orders to disrupt prayer meetings and 
obstruct the registration process for those churches that wish 
to legalize their activities under the new legal framework.  For 
example, local church leaders were detained and possibly beaten 
for seeking to travel to Hanoi to obtain certificates of 
affiliation with the GVN-recognized Evangelical Church of 
Vietnam (North).  The certificates are needed in the 
registration process, the pastors explained.   In other cases, 
local officials deny religious groups identity documents or 
assistance if they openly affiliate with Protestantism.  Pastor 
Tin also asked the Assistant Secretary to press the GVN to 
release imprisoned Pastor Ma Van Bay.  (Note:  Pastor Bay was 
included in the list of prisoners of concern that the Assistant 
Secretary handed to the GVN during the Human Rights Dialogue.) 
 
SIPDIS 
 
¶10. (SBU) Neither Pastor Nhan nor Pastor Hien have moved forward 
to register their congregations under the new legal framework. 
They explained that the Committee for Religious Affairs (CRA) 
and the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) have imposed 
requirements that contradict the legal framework.  For example, 
the Ordinance on Religion and Belief requires churches with 
operations in more than one province to submit a unified 
application to the central-level CRA.  However, in reality, the 
CRA has mandated that the churches register first at the 
provincial level.  Provincial authorities require that churches 
submit a list of worshipers as a precondition for registration 
even though this is not required by the legal framework. 
Moreover, in some instances, worshipers have faced local police 
harassment following submission of the registration application. 
 In an extreme case in the Mekong Delta province of Kieng Giang, 
one house church was forced to cease operations completely after 
it submitted its registration request.  Pastor Hien noted that 
central-level MPS and CRA officials told him that all of 
Vietnam's Baptist organizations must merge into one group prior 
to registration and recognition or face a "delay" in the 
registration process would be delayed.  The pastors underscored 
their willingness to register in compliance with the legal 
framework but the process must be  "clean, transparent and 
consistent." 
 
¶11. (SBU) In response to a question from the Assistant 
Secretary, the pastors noted that they did not think that 
 
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religious freedom violations were orchestrated by the central 
government.  However, while pointing the finger at incompetent 
local officials, central-level officials were not doing enough 
to ensure even implementation of the law.  They bemoaned the 
fact that while MPS officials continue to keep them under close 
surveillance and urge them not to deal with USG and 
international press, they do not act proactively to halt local 
abuses when those come to their attention.  Hien said that he 
told MPS officials that "goodwill has to come from both sides." 
 
¶12. (SBU) Pastor Tin spoke about his upcoming participation in a 
meeting in the United States with the Institute For Global 
Engagement (IGE). The Institute's president, Chris Seiple, 
invited him to discuss differences in religious laws between 
Vietnam and the United States.  Tin and a Pastor of the Southern 
Evangelical Church of Vietnam (Siu Y Kim) were invited along 
with five GVN representatives.  Tin said that he requested to 
travel separately from the GVN delegation, but the GVN refused. 
Tin added that the Chairman of U.S.-Vietnam Friendship 
Organization invited Tin and Kim to Hanoi last week to meet with 
the GVN delegation to discuss the visit.  Tin said he was 
reluctant to go, but the GVN said that Seiple made such a 
meeting a precondition of the visit.  During the meeting in 
Hanoi, the two pastors were reportedly told that they were 
expected to act as members of a unified delegation and to uphold 
Vietnam's image overseas.  Tin's statements at the conference 
and any individual meetings would be approved by the GVN head of 
delegation.  Tin said that, despite the pressure and his 
reservations, he would travel to the United States, but if he 
remained silent during the conference, it would be a sign that 
he was not allowed to tell the truth. 
 
¶13. (SBU) The Assistant Secretary emphasized that religious 
freedom is high on the President's agenda and an integral part 
of the U.S. human rights agenda.  That is why the Secretary 
asked Ambassador Hanford to participate in the Human Rights 
Dialogue with Vietnam.  The Assistant Secretary noted that the 
pastors' reports confirmed what he had previously heard: 
central-level officials may be somewhat more tolerant, but the 
emphasis is still to find ways to make Vietnamese citizens 
conform.  The Assistant Secretary said that he would do 
everything in his power to advance the pastors' efforts in 
Vietnam. 
 
DISSIDENTS 
---------- 
 
¶14. (SBU) Human rights and democracy activists Nguyen Dan Que, 
Tran Khue, Do Nam Hai (aka Phuong Nam) told the Assistant 
Secretary that they were determined to continue the struggle to 
 
SIPDIS 
bring political reforms to Vietnam.  Que said that the 
Vietnamese people have no freedom of expression and have no 
opportunity to change their government. The Vietnamese people 
are "fed-up" with corruption and question the competence of 
government leadership. There has been 20-years of economic 
reform (Doi Moi) but Vietnam is still backward. 
 
¶15.  (SBU) The dissidents welcomed Vietnam's accession to the 
WTO as Vietnam's participation in a rules-based system will 
hasten the decline of the Communist Party.  That said, the GVN 
must accept the universal values of human rights and democracy 
as part of WTO membership.  Que said that the USG's negotiating 
strategy on WTO should be designed to "tip the balance" from the 
State-Owned sector to the private sector (to weaken the GVN and 
Party's hold on Vietnamese society).  Que called on the U.S. to 
find and promote new possibilities for enhanced cultural and 
information exchange, which are particularly significant for 
Vietnam's youth.  Que also said that the USG should focus on 
strengthening the independence of the National Assembly and of 
weakening the hold of the Party over the GVN.  Citing the series 
of strikes in the HCMC area in the early 2006, Que called on the 
USG to support the creation of independent labor unions in 
Vietnam.  Que requested President Bush to meet with leading 
dissidents when he visits Vietnam for APEC in 2006: such a 
meeting would send a powerful signal to the Communist regime, he 
said. 
 
¶16. (SBU) Former Communist Party member Tran Khue said that he 
and other dissidents thank the USG for its support for 
democracy, freedom, and a lawful Vietnamese constitution.  Khue 
and Do Nam Hai welcomed USG engagement with Vietnam on human 
rights issues and the restarting of the Human Rights Dialogue. 
Khue told the Assistant Secretary that in December 2005, he and 
Do Nam Hai helped launch an e-newspaper, the "Voice of 
Democracy," which would be the official publication of democracy 
activists in Vietnam and an effort to promote freedom of 
expression in Vietnam.  Khue said that in near future he and 
other dissidents would establish a National Association of 
Vietnamese Against Corruption. They also plan to form a 
Vietnamese Democratic Party.  Following formation of the party, 
they would call for a free general election in 2007 to be 
monitored by the international community to elect members of the 
National Assembly.  On February 23, Khue would travel to Hanoi 
to visit other activists.  While conservatives in the Communist 
Party continue to block reform to protect their vested 
interests, Vietnam's democratization is moving ahead. 
Vietnamese want to become "owners" of their country, through a 
process of peaceful dialogue and grassroots organization. 
 
 
¶17. (SBU) Do Nam Hai added that while he welcomed USG and 
international support for Vietnam's democratization, the 
Vietnamese people themselves must drive and lead the process. 
He told the Assistant Secretary that, following the launch of 
the "Voice of Democracy" website, he was detained and questioned 
by police for 24 hours and subsequently fined 20 million Dong 
(USD 1,300) under GVN Decree 31 "for the distribution or intent 
to distribute" unapproved materials, (which happened to be 
copies of his own manuscript calling for political reform and a 
referendum on one-party rule in Vietnam).  Khue noted that 
authorities prevented him from traveling to the Netherlands to 
attend a human rights conference and that he was blocked when he 
tried to visit dissident Hoang Minh Chinh in his home in Hanoi 
late last year. 
 
¶18. (SBU) The Assistant Secretary praised the activists for 
their efforts and stressed that while Vietnam had made 
substantial economic progress over the past twenty years, it was 
the USG's view that Vietnam could not reach its potential unless 
it made corresponding progress on human rights and democracy. 
The Assistant Secretary added that he fully concurred with Do 
Nam Hai's assessment that Vietnamese must shape and lead of 
democratization efforts.   That said, the U.S.-Vietnam 
relationship would include a full and frank discussion of human 
rights to encourage and support indigenous efforts. 
 
¶19. (U) A/S Lowenkron has cleared this message. 
WINNICK 
 
 
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