VZCZCXRO8787
RR RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHNH RUEHPB
DE RUEHHI #0894/01 1100925
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 200925Z APR 06
FM AMEMBASSY HANOI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1534
INFO RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY 0977
RUCNARF/ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 HANOI 000894 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS, DRL/IRF 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL KIRF PHUM VM
SUBJECT: RELIGIOUS FREEDOM: PROTESTANT EFFORTS TO REGISTER; 
UNEVEN PROGRESS IN NORTHERN VIETNAM 
 
REF: A) HANOI 549; B) HANOI 392; C) HANOI 395; D) 05 HANOI 
 
1051 
 
HANOI 00000894  001.2 OF 004 
 
 
Summary and Comment 
------------------- 
 
¶1. (SBU) House church leaders affiliated with the 
Evangelical Church of Vietnam (ECVN) recently updated Poloff 
on their efforts to officially register the activities of 
their congregations in Vietnam's northern provinces. 
Progress in registration and other improvements in 
conditions for Protestants have been slow, with most 
problems stemming from recalcitrant local officials rather 
than from official policies.  Each case outlined by the 
deacons seems to reflect delaying tactics adopted by 
district and commune officials in the face of unpopular 
provincial and central Government policies.  Many of these 
deacons identified local problematic individuals rather than 
local government as the source of their problems.  Systemic 
prejudice reported in Lao Cai and Ha Giang provinces is 
worrying, but across the region the growing official neglect 
is a modest but noteworthy improvement over past official 
hostility to Protestants.  We will follow up previous travel 
to the region with further fact-finding visits in late April 
and early June to directly investigate conditions and to 
press local officials at the district level to change their 
approach to Protestants.  End Summary and Comment. 
 
¶2. (SBU) On April 5, ECVN General Secretary Au Quanh Vinh 
arranged for eight H'mong house church deacons to travel to 
Hanoi to meet with Embassy Poloff in keeping with our 
request for regular updates on the situation for Protestants 
in the provinces in northern Vietnam with large ethnic 
minority populations (reftels).  These include the Northwest 
Highlands provinces of Cao Bang, Dien Bien, Ha Giang, Lai 
Chau, Loa Cai, Son La, Thai Nguyen, Tuyen Quang and Yen Bai, 
in addition to Bac Kan, Lang Son, Quang Ninh and Thanh Hoa. 
Vinh stated that since the GVN promulgated its new framework 
for religion last year, there have been improvements in 
religious freedom in some northern provinces, but most 
Protestants in the region still do not trust local officials 
and are afraid to seek registration.  In some provinces, 
conditions are downright bad, with Ha Giang and Lao Cai 
provinces the worst.  Ha Giang officials will not even 
accept letters requesting registration application materials 
from local congregations or from the ECVN itself.  Vinh 
showed Poloff two letters sent to the People's Committee 
(PC) in Quan Binh Distict of Ha Giang (one sent by a 
congregation and the other directly by the ECVN).  Both 
letters were returned unopened in official PC envelopes. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Vinh noted that, according to ECVN's latest 
records, there are 120,536 Protestants in the thirteen 
provinces listed above.  Out of a total of 1,027 H'mong 
Protestant house churches, over 600 have applied to register 
their activities.  To date, not a single group has been 
allowed to formally register.  Although the ECVN had 
initially planned to instruct only one-third of the groups 
to apply in order to gauge official receptivity to 
applications, the ECVN has now decided to encourage all 
remaining groups to submit their applications out of concern 
that groups that wait will have greater difficulties later. 
Though each house church leader is free to decide whether to 
apply or not, the ECVN strongly desires they do so.  The 
ECVN is also encouraging groups to conduct religious 
services "in a normal manner" (i.e., assembling regularly 
for worship at local residences) as often as possible.  All 
churches are prepared for a possible strong reaction from 
local officials across the north resulting from the ECVN's 
new policies, he added. 
 
Thai Nguyen Province 
-------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) Thai Nguyen has a total of sixteen house churches 
comprising 319 families, or 2,189 total members.  House 
church Deacon Ly Van Vanh from Vo Nhai District stated that 
his congregation has not had difficulties with officials at 
the commune level, the lowest administrative unit. 
Authorities do not acknowledge letters or other 
communications from the congregation, but they also do not 
interfere with their activities so long as the group keeps 
its services low key.  The Protestants' main problems come 
from district-level officials, the next administrative level 
up.  In particular, a few ethnic H'mong police officers have 
made vague threats against house church leaders for 
"corrupting the traditions of the H'mong people."  These 
problems do not seem to originate with PC officials, but 
 
HANOI 00000894  002.2 OF 004 
 
 
rather seem to derive from the initiative of individuals. 
Ethnic minority church members who speak Vietnamese have 
been able to enlist local PC protection and have resolved 
their problems with these policemen, but a majority of 
church followers in the area only speak H'mong.  Intra- 
H'mong problems persist for these believers, Vanh said. 
Thai Nguyen is among the group of provinces the Ambassador 
will visit during his next two trips north, tentatively 
scheduled for late June and early July. 
 
Tuyen Quang Province 
-------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) Tuyen Quang has a total of fifty-one house churches 
comprising 596 families, or 2,477 total members.  House 
church Deacon Thao Seo Din from Yan Son District of Tuyen 
Quang stated that his congregation has long since finished 
filling in all the necessary forms for their registration 
application, but local officials claim that they are not 
authorized to approve the application and will not accept 
it.  The officials are "waiting to hear from provincial 
authorities."  Protestants are allowed to assemble for 
worship without difficulties in this district, but some 
local authorities have told house church leaders that 
Protestants still aren't trusted because they "are followers 
of an American religion," he said.  The Ambassador also 
intends to visit Tuyen Quang during his July trip. 
 
Ha Giang Province 
----------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Ha Giang has a total of 126 house churches 
comprising 2,178 families, or 13,010 total members.  Deacon 
Din noted that his district in Tuyen Quang borders Vi Xuyen 
District in Ha Giang, which is a far more problematic 
province for Protestants.  Din has been assisting the Vi 
Xuyen congregation in their efforts to register.  Local 
authorities fined the Vi Xuyen house church pastor VND 
500,000 (USD 32), or more than half of his monthly salary, 
for traveling to Hanoi to pick up registration forms from 
the ECVN.  (Note:  On average, it costs a church leader from 
this district VND 400,000 (USD 25) to travel to Hanoi. 
Members of the church usually contribute to pay for these 
costs.  End Note.)  In addition, lay deacons of the church 
were fined VND 100,000 VND (USD 6) each for "being 
Protestant" and for signing documents requesting 
registration for their group.  Despite these fines, local 
officials do not even open application letters from the Vi 
Xuyen church, Din said. 
 
¶7. (SBU) House church Deacon Lo Seo Su from Xin Man District 
in Ha Giang stated that district-level authorities have told 
his unregistered congregation that, "if five or more of your 
members gather together, we will prosecute you."  The group 
has submitted an application to register, but has not yet 
received any official response to their request.  At this 
point, most members of the congregation are afraid to 
assemble for worship, although local authorities allow 
members to practice their religion at home.  Su noted that 
neighboring district villages are allowed to assemble 
without any problems.  The Ambassador has twice written to 
Ha Giang provincial authorities to seek clarification on 
reports of abuse of Protestant believers; we have yet to 
receive a response. 
 
Lang Son Province 
----------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) Lang Son has only two house churches comprising 
forty-four families, or 292 total members.  House church 
Deacon Ly Van Sung of Bac Son District noted that the 
problems Protestants face in his area seem to be based on 
ethnic differences.  An ethnic Dzao Protestant church has 
been registered and operating for "a long time," while a 
neighboring H'mong church has not been registered despite 
repeated applications to do so.  Three days after the first 
of these applications, local officials told church leaders 
that, "if you operate as described, you will be punished." 
However, followers in the district are still able to 
assemble for worship.  Authorities insist that church 
leaders must seek permission to travel (which is never 
given) any time they wish to visit Hanoi to receive 
registration assistance from ECVN headquarters, though 
deacons and pastors routinely ignore this requirement. 
Another serious problem Protestants face in this area is 
that only Vietnamese language bibles are legal, but very few 
followers speak Vietnamese, he said.  The Committee on 
Religious Affairs confirms that only Vietnamese or English 
 
HANOI 00000894  003.2 OF 004 
 
 
language translations of the bible are currently legal 
across Vietnam. 
 
Yen Bai Province 
---------------- 
 
¶9. (SBU) Yen Bai has a total of five house churches 
comprising seventy-five families, or 429 total members. 
House church Deacon Giang A Lau of Van Yan District stated 
that there are only three Protestant congregations in all of 
Yen Bai.  Two of these groups have applied to register, but 
local authorities have not approved either application. 
None of the groups have encountered problems since the 
applications were submitted, although a district-level 
policeman told some church members that, "it is okay if you 
follow religion now, but if international attention is drawn 
to your groups, we will arrest your leaders."  Local 
authorities at the district level also said that if 
Protestants fail to obey instructions and continue to follow 
"illegal religions and elements that want to take advantage 
of religion to do bad things," they will make trouble for 
house churches.  Lau noted that officials seem mainly 
concerned that outside groups will take advantage of 
ignorant H'mong believers in the province.  Poloff visited 
in February and met with provincial officials to discuss 
religious freedom issues (Ref A).  The Ambassador also 
intends to visit Yen Bai during his June trip. 
 
Lao Cai Province 
---------------- 
 
¶10. (SBU) Lao Cai haQ total of 122 house churches 
comprising 2,108 families, or 10,808 total members.  House 
church Deacon Chu Seo Cu from Huyen Bao District stated that 
officials in five out of Lao Cai Province's ten districts 
are hostile to Protestants.  In late 2005, the pastor of 
Huyen Bao congregation acquired application forms from the 
ECVN and submitted them to district authorities.  He was 
told "it is okay for you to apply, but you need approval 
from the grassroots level" before the district PC gave 
permission.  No further explanation of what constitutes 
"grassroots level" approval was offered by the officials. 
Since this exchange, Protestants in this district have been 
prevented from assembling for worship and told by police 
that, "if you get together in someone's house, we will 
punish the owner of that house," he said. 
 
¶11. (SBU) Cu noted that Protestants in Bao Thuc District 
have not been allowed to celebrate Christmas since 1990.  In 
2005, they were required to seek permission from local 
authorities for their Christmas celebrations, but just 
before the holiday, local authorities ordered the 
congregation to take down all decorations.  Around the same 
time, two deacons in Bat Sat District who traveled to Hanoi 
were fined VND 500,000.  In addition, two deacons from Phung 
Hai District who recently acquired application forms from 
the ECVN were arrested on their return from Hanoi and held 
for 16 days.  These individuals were fined VND 2.5 million 
(USD 160 USD) and VND five million (USD 320) respectively 
for possession of illegal H'mong language bibles, he said. 
 
¶12. (SBU) According to Cu, officials in Bac Ha District 
refuse to even forward the local congregation's registration 
application to higher officials.  The officials have also 
encouraged non-Protestant relatives to harass believers 
until they give up their religion.  In one case, police 
refused to intervene when the brother of a Protestant woman 
repeatedly beat her husband, hinting that, "since you are 
Protestant, it is okay for him to beat your husband until he 
and you renounce your faith."  This couple has now moved to 
another district.  In Baa Yen District, officials even went 
as far as "threatening to use guns" if Protestants persist 
in following their "illegal American religion," he said. 
The Ambassador has twice written to Lao Cai authorities to 
seek clarification of allegations of religious freedom 
violations and received responses denying all charges.  The 
Ambassador traveled to Lao Cai in April 2005 and met with 
provincial leaders to discuss religious freedom issues (Ref 
D).  Poloff also traveled to Lao Cai in February 2006 to 
raise religious freedom issues (Ref A). 
 
Cao Bang Province 
----------------- 
 
1Q(SBU) Cao Bang has a total of 144 house churches 
comprising 2,015 families or 9,846 total members.  House 
church Deacon Lyu A Tuu of Bao Luc District in Cao Bang 
stated that the two Protestant congregations there face two 
 
HANOI 00000894  004.2 OF 004 
 
 
problems.  The first is an official list of five "can'ts" 
recently promulgated by some local authorities to guide 
officials on how to handle Protestants.  According to these 
guidelines, Protestants 1) cannot assemble, 2) cannot let 
outside people visit their homes, 3) cannot conduct 
missionary activities, 4) cannot contribute money to their 
church and 5) cannot read bibles to themselves or to others. 
Local authorities have also officially notified Protestants 
at the commune and district level that they are only allowed 
to acknowledge receipt of applications.  Provincial 
officials are the only people who can actually approve 
applications.  The congregations in the province are still 
waiting for provincial approval, he said. 
 
Dien Bien Province 
------------------ 
 
¶14. (SBU) Dien Bien has the largest Protestant population in 
the Northwest Highlands with a total of 430 house churches 
comprising 11,133 families or 71,103 total members.  Deacon 
Lyu A Pao of Muon Nghe District in Dien Bien stated that he 
was arrested in 2005 after he returned to the district from 
Hanoi carrying ECVN documents.  Officials of the Border 
Protection Force (BPF) justified his arrest by saying that 
"he was not allowed to travel that far to get documents from 
the ECVN" even if he asked permission first.  Since this 
event, a special task force of BPF personnel has been living 
in Protestant villages to watch villager activities and to 
confiscate all H'mong language bibles they find.  Despite 
these problems, Pao noted that the situation in Dien Bien 
has improved compared with the era of frequent beatings of 
Protestants in the 1990s.  Nonetheless, many house church 
congregations are still not allowed to assemble for worship. 
Also, house church pastors and deacons are required to 
perform manual labor for BPF units in order to make them 
less willing to serve the church, he said.  The Ambassador 
traveled to Dien Bien in April 2005 and met with provincial 
leaders to discuss religious freedom issues (Ref D).  He has 
also written twice to provincial leadership on allegations 
of abuse of Protestant adherents.  There has been no 
response to date. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶15. (SBU) While progress in registration and other 
improvements in conditions for Protestants has been slow in 
Vietnam's northern provinces, it is evident that the 
majority of their problems stem from recalcitrant local 
officials rather than from official policies.  Each case 
outlined by the ECVN deacons seems to result from delaying 
tactics adopted by district and commune officials in the 
face of unpopular provincial and central government 
policies.  It is also significant that many of these deacons 
identified local problematic individuals rather than local 
government as the source of their problems.  The systemic 
prejudice highlighted in Lao Cai and Ha Giang is worrying, 
but across the region the growing official neglect is a 
modest but noteworthy improvement over past official 
hostility to Protestants. 
 
¶16. (SBU) To follow up previous travel to the region, Poloff 
and Pol Assistant will visit Lao Cai and Ha Giang April 23- 
24 to investigate these reports and to press district level 
official to change their approach to Protestants.  In 
addition to meetings with provincial officials, Poloff will 
visit Bat Xat, Bao Thang, Bao Yen, and Xin Man districts in 
Lao Cai, and Vi Xuyen and Bac Quang districts in Ha Giang. 
Lao Cai and Ha Giang provincial officials have already 
agreed to facilitate visits with individual house church 
leaders in each district, and the Committee on Religious 
Affairs has pressed both provinces to be as open as possible 
with the team.  A second trip is planned to Lai Chau and 
Dien Bien provinces later this spring.  End Comment. 
 
MARINE