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FM AMEMBASSY HANOI
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INFO RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY 0668

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 HANOI 000549 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL KIRF PHUM VM
SUBJECT: CONDITIONS FACING ETHNIC MINORITY PROTESTANTS IN 
NORTHWEST PROVINCES OF LAO CAI, YEN BAI 
 
REF: HANOI 392, HANOI 395 
 
Summary and Comment 
------------------- 
 
¶1. (SBU) An Embassy and DRL/IRF team recently visited the 
Northwest provinces of Lao Cai and Yen Bai to examine social 
conditions for ethnic minorities and to advocate for the 
rapid registration of ethnic minority Protestant groups. 
Protestant leaders from the region reported that local 
officials either refused to accept applications for 
registration or refused to allow groups to worship until 
registered.  One house church leader was reportedly forced 
to renounce his faith.  Poloff repeatedly stressed the 
importance of registering groups for advancing both the 
GVN's own policy and the bilateral relationship.  For their 
part, the local authorities met by the teamseem to now 
recognize that the GVN has made resolving the issue of 
registering Protestant groups a major policy priority. 
Local and provincial officials generally denied receiving 
registration applications from Protestants, but did 
acknowledge the existence of these groups, an important 
change.  One official in Lao Cai invited Embassy officials 
to visit a local ethnic minority house church at a later 
date.  Another official in Yen Bai announced that his 
province is now ready to accept applications at any time. 
Nevertheless, there is still a great deal of local prejudice 
and official ambivalence to overcome. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Furthermore, despite (or perhaps because of) 
provincial authorities' best efforts to promote social 
progress in the region, tensions between modernization and 
traditional ways remain.  The issues of religion and 
tolerance are no exception, and addressing these will remain 
challenges both inside ethnic communities and between 
communities and their local administrators.  End Summary and 
Comment. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Following U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for 
International Religious Freedom Ambassador John Hanford's 
meetings in Hanoi February 21 (reftels), Embassy Poloff and 
DRL/IRF staffer traveled to the Northwest Highlands 
provinces of Lao Cai and Yen Bai from 22-25 February.  The 
primary purpose of the trip was to investigate conditions 
for ethnic minority religious believers in the rural 
districts of these provinces, with a particular emphasis on 
advocating for the registration of local Protestant house 
churches affiliated with the Evangelical Church of Vietnam- 
North (ECVN).  The team visited Lao Cai's Sapa District and 
met with the Lao Cai and Yen Bai provincial authorities. 
Prior to departing from Hanoi, the team also met five ECVN 
house church pastors from Dien Bien, Tuyen Quang and Lao Cai 
provinces 
 
ECVN House Church Pastors 
------------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) ECVN General Secretary Au Quanh Vinh arranged for 
five house church pastors to travel to Hanoi to meet with 
the team before departing for Lao Cai and Yen Bai.  (Note: 
Although none of the leaders gave us their names, the ECVN 
has agreed to pass us this information as needed.  The 
pastors were somewhat ill-at-ease and clearly unused to 
revealing their identities to outsiders.  They were all 
ethnic H'mong.  End Note.)  The two ECVN pastors from Muon 
Nghe District in Dien Bien Province (a relatively new 
division bordering Lai Chau and Son La provinces) noted that 
local authorities have refused to accept their application 
to register their congregation on the grounds that "there is 
no Protestantism in Dien Bien" and therefore "any 
Protestants in the province must come from other provinces 
and should apply in their home regions."  Because of this 
strong antipathy, Dien Bien Protestants have taken to 
meeting for worship in different residences and at varied 
times.  The Muon Nghe pastors also noted that many church 
leaders have difficulty traveling to Hanoi to pick up 
religious materials from the ECVN because local officials 
refuse to give them permission to leave the district and 
have threatened unspecified punishments if they are caught 
leaving. 
 
¶5. (SBU) The two pastors from Tuyen Quang Province 
(bordering Yen Bai and Ha Giang provinces) noted that 
Protestant groups in their area also have had difficulty 
getting local officials to accept registration applications, 
but in the one instance when the application was actually 
received in October, the congregation was told point blank 
not to meet for worship until the application was approved. 
The congregation had been meeting regularly, if 
 
HANOI 00000549  002 OF 006 
 
 
unofficially, before this instruction.  Since this 
application has not yet been approved, the congregation in 
question is also forced to meet in secret at different times 
and places.  Furthermore, since their application, this 
particular congregation has often been harassed by Ministry 
of Public Security (MPS) officers, despite the fact that one 
of the congregation's deacons is actually a member of the 
local security organization in the district.  Other Tuyen 
Quang congregations have been called in to MPS offices to be 
told that the applications they had submitted "were 
useless."  Church leaders who asked MPS for assistance in 
submitting "useful" application materials were detained for 
several days.  The Protestants in these areas were also told 
that only ECVN leaders in Hanoi could submit applications to 
register sub-congregations in the province and such 
applications had to be sent to provincial, not district, 
authorities, they said.  Pastor Vinh noted that the ECVN was 
told by provincial authorities that only local groups could 
submit applications, and then only to district level 
officials. 
 
¶6. (SBU) The ECVN house church pastor from Lao Cai Province 
was the most uneasy leader in the group.  He explained that 
his 33-member congregation submitted their application to 
register with local authorities on October 18, 2005. 
Officials accepted their application, but told them not to 
assemble until it was approved.  In addition, he was called 
in by the local MPS office, where he was forced to sign a 
document renouncing his faith.  MPS officials also told him, 
"You are not allowed to follow religion....If you continue 
to follow Protestantism, go somewhere else....We don't 
recognize religion in this district....If you and the others 
continue to assemble for worship we will arrest you all and 
we will throw your application to register in the fire...." 
The pastor tearfully explained that he signed the document 
of renunciation because he had no choice in the face of 
their threats. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Pastor Vinh noted that these were common stories 
reported by the 300 of the 1200 ECVN congregations in the 
Northwest Highlands that have applied to register with local 
authorities.  The ECVN gets most of its information from 
verbal updates by individual church deacons, but in general 
it takes them three days of hard travel (without permission) 
to get to Hanoi.  In general, the main problems faced by 
believers seem to come from local officials rather than 
other members of the communities in which they live, 
although there is some community friction, particularly in 
Lao Cai.  Vinh agreed to arrange similar meetings between 
Northwest Highlands house church leaders and Poloff every 
two to three weeks over the next six months to gauge the 
effectiveness of GVN efforts to implement its policy to 
facilitate Protestant registration. 
 
Sapa District 
-------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) Sapa District People's Committee Chairman Hau A 
Lenh reviewed Sapa's well known success in the area of 
tourism before addressing ethnic and religious issues.  He 
noted that 53 percent of the district's residents are of 
H'Mong ethnicity, and there are also significant Sa Pho, 
Day, Tay, Dzao and Kinh (ethnic Vietnamese) communities. 
Most ethnic minorities in the district do not speak 
Vietnamese.  The district maintains five ethnic villages for 
tourists that represent the mixed ethnic communities of the 
major groups in the area.  Although the six ethnicities in 
Sapa have substantially different customs, traditions and 
styles of living, they are "uniting together" because of the 
implementation of GVN policies aimed at reducing poverty and 
hunger and building infrastructure in the more remote areas 
of the country.  Under these policies, nearly all hamlets 
have been connected to the provincial road network and 60 
percent of all of Sapa's 43,000 houses have been electrified 
(with a goal of connecting all households by 2010). 
Nevertheless, the Chairman acknowledged that the rising 
number of tourists to the district (200,000 in 2005, with 60 
percent coming from outside Vietnam) has increased the 
pressure of outside influences on the traditional ways and 
beliefs of ethnic minority communities. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Lenh noted that the majority of ethnic minorities 
in Sapa follow traditional ancestor worship customs and/or 
Buddhist beliefs.  However, there are a small number of 
Christian followers in the district.  He stated that 
approximately 2,500 H'mong and Dau belong to the Catholic 
Church, and there are "a few Protestants, but no formally 
recognized groups."  Lenh claimed that local authorities, 
from the district to the provincial levels, are trying to 
 
HANOI 00000549  003 OF 006 
 
 
create conditions for religious believers to follow their 
faiths according to GVN law and regulations.  There is no 
discrimination against Protestants and they are treated "in 
the normal way."  Lenh also noted that Ambassador Marine had 
on several occasions referred allegations of discrimination 
against and abuse of Protestants to the Sapa People's 
Committee, but officers sent to investigate by the Chairman 
determined that many of these issues were the result of 
intrafamilial conflicts.  According to traditional beliefs, 
the chief of each hamlet or family plays an important role 
in ensuring that members of each family follow the customs 
of society.  "Wherever new religions appear, societal 
conflicts follow as a matter of course."  Lenh stated that 
problems arising over Protestantism first appeared in the 
province in 1997. 
 
¶10. (SBU) Poloff noted that during Ambassador Hanford's 
recent discussions with DPM Vu Khoan, Vice Minister of 
Public Security Nguyen Van Huong, Committee on Religious 
Affairs (CRA) Chairman Ngo Yen Thi, the GVN acknowledged 
that the Northwest Highlands remains the most problematic 
area of the country on religious freedom, particularly with 
regard to Protestants.  The GVN has also committed to 
resolving the registration of Protestants in this region 
before the President's visit in November.  Poloff encouraged 
the District Chairman to proactively resolve this issue in 
his district before the central Government is forced to 
ensure the district complies with national policy. 
 
¶11. (SBU) Lenh replied that the district has been trying to 
register Protestant groups, but that "it takes time."  The 
district does know enough about the specific Protestant 
groups operating there, but it has received several 
registration applications from some groups, and local 
officials have been instructed to forward such applications 
to the district.  However, the district is not authorized to 
grant approval as the province is the legal approving 
authority.  Furthermore, such applications "must come from 
an organized group," and none of the applicant groups is an 
"organization."  Poloff reiterated the importance of this 
issue for our bilateral relationship and predicted that the 
GVN will make registration of Protestant groups a major 
policy priority in the region over the next six months. 
 
Sapa Catholic Church 
--------------------- 
 
¶12. (SBU) Following the People's Committee meeting, the team 
visited the local parish church.  The chairman of the parish 
board (NFI) explained that the parish is divided into three 
sub-parishes:  one ethnic Kinh (Vietnamese) sub- parish and 
two ethnic H'Mong sub-parishes.  All 2,200 members of the 
three sub-parishes are ministered to by a priest from Lao 
Cai City who is only able to visit the parish once a month. 
However, Hung Hoa Diocese recently ordained thirteen 
deacons, and one of them has been promised to the Sapa 
parish.  The parish expects him to take up his benefice in 
April.  Poloff asked if parishioners have become involved in 
charitable work in the district like in other parts of 
Vietnam.  This question elicited an oddly rushed series of 
tangential responses, mainly asserting that no Catholics in 
the district use narcotics or other evil substances or 
participate in crimes, that all H'Mong are now required to 
learn Vietnamese against their wishes but only because the 
Church doesn't own any bibles published in H'mong though 
they now have many in Vietnamese and that the district has 
done a good job building roads linking believers.  In the 
midst of this performance, the district People's Committee 
observers continuously barked instructions at the 
increasingly flustered and visibly nervous parish chairman. 
The meeting broke down very quickly at this point. 
 
Ta Phin Village 
--------------- 
 
¶13. (SBU) The team visited one of the five model ethnic 
villages on the flank of Sapa Mountain.  The village of Ta 
Phin (or Ta Ping) is comprised of 379 households.  According 
to the village chairman, 264 households are Black H'mong 
ethnicity and 162 are Red Dzau, and the remainder are ethnic 
Kinh families.  He claimed that all children in the village 
have access to Vietnamese education up to grade nine, but 
far more older men than older women speak Vietnamese as most 
women "have no need to speak with Kinh people."  While 
H'Mong and Dzau are not mutually comprehensible, most 
villagers understand both languages because they grew up in 
such close proximity.  The chairman noted that the villagers 
own 500 buffaloes and grow dry-field rice during the 
region's single growing season. 
 
HANOI 00000549  004 OF 006 
 
 
 
¶14. (SBU) While visiting the village, the team observed both 
a H'mong embroidery training workshop and a Red Dzau civics 
training class.  The locally run workshop focused on 
teaching H'mong women to adapt traditional embroidery 
patterns to western-style purses for sale to tourists.  The 
Red Dzau women were being taught the perils of alcohol and 
failing to save money.  Several tourists wandered about the 
village negotiating with the inhabitants.  (Note:  No 
religious activities were visible; however the villagers 
clearly lead very traditional lives despite being showcased 
to tourists.  Education appeared rudimentary and it was not 
clear who benefited from the sale of ethnic goods like the 
handbags being made by the H'Mong women - the village 
chairman seemed to be running the production operation.  End 
Note.) 
 
Lao Cai City 
------------ 
 
¶15. (SBU) Lao Cai People's Committee Vice Chairwoman Bui Thi 
Kim Dung noted that 64.8 percent of the Province's 600,000 
people are ethnic minorities.  There are 2,033 villages 
outside of the major town areas in this mountainous border 
province.  These rural villages have been the focus of the 
provincial government's efforts to share the annual 10 
percent GDP growth within the province evenly amongst its 
inhabitants.  65 to 70 percent of provincial investment is 
focused on rural areas where most ethnic minorities live. 
Some 75 percent of ethnic villages are now connected to the 
inter-village road network, 75 percent are electrified (in 
all, 62 percent of the province's households have 
electricity) and 70 percent of the population have access to 
clean water.  She also noted that 6,970 households have been 
resettled by the state in order to undertake these 
infrastructure improvements.  These and other investments in 
agriculture and education have helped reduce overall number 
of households living below the poverty line in the province 
from 64 percent in 1991 to seven percent in 2005.  A total 
of 26,600 poor households have been raised out of poverty. 
Bui also claimed that the poverty reduction program has 
reduced unemployment in Lao Cai to 0.9 percent as the 
People's Committee has added 56,000 new jobs in the last 
five years. 
 
¶16. (SBU) Turning to religion, Bui stated that the 
provincial government has faithfully undertaken the 
implementation of all the GVN's new rules concerning 
religious freedom since they were promulgated in May 2005. 
There are only 4,000 Buddhists in the entire province; 
however, there are four major pagodas in the region that 
receive numerous visitors.  (Note:  This seems to be a low 
estimate of Buddhists in a traditionally Buddhist province 
of 600,000 people.  End Note.)  Among Christians, there are 
at least 5,700 Catholics and at least 9,000 Protestants in 
Lao Cai.  Most of the Protestants are found among the ethnic 
H'Mong, while the Catholics are scattered across all 
communities.  She also said that no Protestant groups have 
applied for registration (and none are registered), and 
explained that the province is unhappy because these groups 
appeared in response to "illegal" missionary activities. 
 
¶17. (SBU) Poloff noted that in Ambassador Hanford's recent 
discussions, the GVN acknowledged that the Northwest 
Highlands remains the most problematic area of the country 
with regards to religious freedom, particularly for 
Protestants.  He also noted that the GVN has committed to 
resolving the registration of Protestants in this region 
before the President's visit in November.  Poloff encouraged 
the provincial government to proactively resolve this issue 
in Lao Cai before the central Government is forced to ensure 
the province complies with national policy.  The Vice 
Chairwoman thanked Poloff for this information and advice, 
but made no substantive reply. 
 
Lao Cai Committee on Ethnicity and Religion 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶18. (SBU) Luong Ngoc Cap, the Deputy Director of the Lao Cai 
Department of Ethnic Affairs and Religion, reiterated much 
of the statistical information that Vice Chairwoman Bui 
provided to the team.  The province has been doing its best 
to make people aware of religious laws and to try and 
prevent social discrimination against believers. Each ethnic 
group has its own traditions and customs which they, and the 
province, guard closely.  He confirmed that Sapa parish will 
be allowed to have a new priest in April. 
 
¶19. (SBU) Regarding Protestants, Luong stated that there is 
 
HANOI 00000549  005 OF 006 
 
 
"only a tiny number in the Province."  Protestantism was 
brought to Lao Cai by individuals without legal status. 
Ethnic minorities who follow Protestantism are the cause of 
conflicts within their families and communities, despite the 
legal framework protecting them.  If missionary activity in 
the province followed legal guidelines, these conflicts 
would not exist.  "It is fully possible to arrange for 
believers to practice their beliefs in a peaceful manner," 
he said.  The Province has received some applications from 
Protestant groups to register and legalize their activities, 
but all of these applications were incomplete and "did not 
meet the criteria for approval" established by the Ordinance 
on Religion, its Implementing Decree and the Prime 
Minister's Instruction on Protestantism.  Nevertheless, he 
claimed that the provincial authorities are trying their 
best to publicize and explain these new laws. 
 
¶20. (SBU) Poloff reiterated that in recent discussions, the 
GVN agreed that the Northwest Highlands remains the most 
problematic area of the country with regard to religious 
freedom, particularly in terms of registering Protestant 
groups.  He also reiterated that the GVN has committed to 
resolving the registration of Protestants in this region 
before the President's visit in November.  Poloff strongly 
encouraged the provincial committee on religious affairs to 
proactively register Protestant congregations in Lao Cai 
before the central Government is forced to ensure the 
province complies with national policy.  Luong replied that 
Protestants in Lao Cai are already encouraged to practice 
their faith at home (in unregistered house churches) and 
gave the example of Ta Phin village (see paras 12 and 13), 
which has such a house church.  Poloff asked to return to Ta 
Phin village to visit this church and its leaders.  Luong 
demurred, saying that it would not be appropriate to visit 
them without warning, but that Lao Cai Province would be 
happy to facilitate a visit to such a church the next time 
Embassy officers are in the region.  Poloff promised to 
convey this invitation to the Ambassador and accepted it on 
his behalf in advance of Ambassador Marine's next trip to 
Lao Cai Province.  He also noted that Ambassador Hanford 
would also like to make such a visit to Lao Cai and would 
enjoy visiting a registered ethnic minority house church. 
(Note: Luong and other provincial officials appeared 
uncomfortable with the idea that we would take Luong up on 
his offer in the near future.  End Note.) 
 
Yen Bai 
------- 
 
¶21. (SBU) On the way back to Hanoi, the team made a brief 
stop in Yen Bai town, capital of Yen Bai Province.  The 
People's Committee Vice Chairwoman, Hoang Thi Hanh, 
explained that 51 percent of Yen Bai's population are ethnic 
minorities split between Tay, H'mong, Dzau and Muong 
communities, with a handful of ten other ethnicities as 
well.  This mountainous province is very rugged outside of 
the main town, and two of its seven districts are extremely 
remote.  It is much faster to travel to Hanoi from Yen Bai 
town than it is to reach these districts.  Like Lao Cai 
Province, Yen Bai is currently focusing its attention on 
reducing unemployment, poverty and hunger amongst its ethnic 
minority inhabitants.  While developing social programs to 
aid development in education and healthcare in these 
communities, and working to improve provincial 
infrastructure, the province is also trying to improve 
agricultural production (the main industry) by curtailing 
traditional slash-and-burn techniques in favor of modern 
farming methods.  The provincial committee has issued 
instructions to districts to train a new generation of 
ethnic minority cadres to take over local administration at 
the district and commune levels. 
 
¶22. (SBU) Turning to religion, the Vice Chairwoman noted 
that there are only a handful of Protestants (approximately 
100-200) in Yen Bai Province.  Most of these are ethnic 
H'mong who live very close to the border with Lao Cai 
Province in the two most remote districts.  On the other 
hand, there are over 46,000 Catholics, distributed evenly 
across the province.  She noted that there have been no 
conflicts or problems with Protestants in the region, but 
none have applied to register their congregations. 
 
¶23. (SBU) Poloff reiterated that in recent discussions the 
GVN agreed that the Northwest region remains the most 
problematic area of the country with regard to religious 
freedom, particularly in terms of registering new 
congregations.  He affirmed the importance of this issue for 
our bilateral relationship and noted that the GVN has 
committed to resolving the registration of Protestants in 
 
HANOI 00000549  006 OF 006 
 
 
the Highlands before the President's visit in November. 
Poloff encouraged the Yen Bai provincial government to 
proactively register Protestant congregations before the 
central Government is forced to ensure the province complies 
with national policy.  Hoang replied that the province is 
well aware that this is an issue of great importance to the 
central Government and noted that in a recent conference of 
provincial officials from across Vietnam, DPM Khoan 
complained strongly that local authorities have not been 
implementing the new guidelines on registering Protestants. 
 
Yen Bai Committee on Ethnicity and Religious Affairs 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
¶24. (SBU) Director Tran Duc Thang of the Department of 
Religious Affairs noted that there are no major divisions 
between religious groups in Yen Bai Province.  He 
acknowledged the presence of some Protestants, but claimed 
that the provincial government does not have any accurate 
statistics on their number because "we are not sure what 
dogma they follow."  Protestants are not clearly organized 
into recognizable groups, but 62 households in the province 
follow the religion.  Some H'Mong followers of Protestantism 
have recently converted to Catholicism or reverted to 
traditional ancestral worship.  Regardless of their number, 
Yen Bai Province respects the Protestant's beliefs by 
allowing them to worship in their homes.  Thang said, 
however, that no Protestant groups have applied to register 
themselves. 
 
¶25. (SBU) Poloff reiterated points that the Northwest region 
remains the most problematic area of the country with regard 
to Protestants and registration, and encouraged the Yen Bai 
religious affairs authorities to proactively register 
Protestant congregations before the central Government is 
forced to ensure the province complies with national policy. 
Thang asserted that any groups who apply now will be 
welcomed and approved by the local government.  Poloff 
thanked Thang for this positive news and promised to inform 
the ECVN that Yen Bai province will now accept applications 
from their sub-congregations. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶26. (SBU) Our overall impression is that the provincial and 
local authorities in this middle part of the Northwest 
Highlands are coming to recognize that the central 
Government has made resolving the issue of registering 
ethnic minority Protestant groups a major policy priority. 
Unfortunately, the ECVN house church pastors' disturbing 
reports underscore how much local prejudice and official 
ambivalence the GVN must overcome to effect real change for 
the better.  Nevertheless, it is encouraging that local 
officials are starting to acknowledge that Protestant 
believers actually exist in their areas of responsibility. 
 
¶27. (SBU) Furthermore, despite (or perhaps because of) 
provincial authorities' best efforts to promote social 
progress in the region, tensions between modernization and 
traditional ways remain.  The issues of religion and 
tolerance are no exception, and addressing these will remain 
challenges both inside ethnic communities and between 
communities and their local administrators.  End Comment. 
 
MARINE