VZCZCXRO3332
RR RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHHI #1412/01 1580957
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 070957Z JUN 06
FM AMEMBASSY HANOI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2301
INFO RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY 1308
RUEHZS/ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM COLLECTIVE
RUEHROV/AMEMBASSY VATICAN

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 HANOI 001412 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS, DRL/IRF, EUR/WE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL KIRF PHUM PGOV HUMANR VM
SUBJECT: VIETNAMESE CATHOLICS SEE SOME PROGRESS, SOME 
REVERSES IN RELIGIOUS FREEDOM 
 
REF: A)HANOI 1113; B)HANOI 715; C)HANOI 35 
 
HANOI 00001412  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY. On June 6, the Hanoi Archbishop updated 
Poloff on conditions for Catholics in the North.  Despite 
some overall progress, conditions for believers in provinces 
in the mountainous border regions remain difficult.  There 
is also an apparent slackening of local level officials' 
efforts to comply with religious freedom requirements since 
April.  Property issues are proving difficult to resolve 
under a new land law and charitable works remain very 
limited in scope.  We need to remind the GVN that CPC status 
and PNTR remain important unresolved bilateral issues.  We 
will continue to press for access to the most difficult 
provinces to reiterate our concerns with local leaders and 
investigate reports of violations of religious freedom. 
Post reiterates request that Ambassador-at-Large for 
International Religious Freedom John Hanford visit Vietnam 
this summer.   End Summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) On June 6, Poloff met with Hanoi Archbishop Ngo 
Quang Kiet at the Hanoi Archdiocese offices to discuss 
recent developments for Catholics in Vietnam.  Poloff and 
Pol Assistant also met with Sister Mary Nirmala, Superior- 
General of Mother Theresa's Sisters of Mercy Missionaries of 
Charity who was visiting Hanoi to seek permission to re- 
establish a chapter house for the order. 
 
HANOI ARCHBISHOP KIET 
--------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) Poloff asked Kiet to provide an update on 
conditions for Catholics in the provinces, particularly in 
the focus border province of Ha Giang.  Kiet noted that, 
despite poloff's recent request (ref A) the Archbishop has 
not been allowed to visit Ha Giang to discuss the re- 
establishment of Ha Giang Parish with the Provincial 
People's Committee (PPC).  In January, the Archdiocese 
submitted the visit request per a petition of parishioners 
from the province, but according to Kiet, rather than 
discuss the visit with the Church, provincial authorities 
have harassed the parishioners to force them to withdraw 
their signatures from the petition.  In March, the 
Archdiocese sent a second request to the GVN's Committee on 
Religious Affairs (CRA) and to the PPC in a letter that also 
highlighted various violations of the religious freedom of 
Catholics in the province (NFI).  By April harassment of 
Catholics had ceased and the PPC finally sent a response 
that the Archbishop's visit would be welcome in May.  The 
Archbishop immediately replied with a proposed date in late 
May, however the PPC never officially responded to this 
letter.  Just before the proposed visit, provincial 
officials informally notified the Archbishop's office that 
"the local leadership is busy." 
 
¶4. (SBU) Kiet equated his experience with the Ha Giang PPC 
with the general status of conditions for Catholics across 
the North.  Overall conditions are better.  There has even 
been some progress in reducing the harassment of Catholics 
in problematic provinces; however local officials in the 
border areas still erect obstacles against the church.  For 
example, a visiting bishop in Son La Province tried to get 
permission to hold a mass recently, but the PPC there said 
that the sub-parish chapel was not in good enough repair to 
hold a mass.  The Church then asked to build a new church so 
that future masses could be held, but the PPC said that 
since there is no permanently assigned priest in Son La, 
there is no need to build a new church.  Despite official 
catch-22s like this, Kiet believes that, in the long run, 
provinces like Ha Giang and Son La will have to accommodate 
the church the way other Northern provinces have.  These 
mountainous provinces have already compromised "a bit" by 
improving conditions for local parishioners in response to 
outside pressure from the GVN, the Church and the 
international community, despite that fact that local 
officials really do not want to allow Catholics to worship 
because they do not think religion is a spiritual need for 
the common people, Kiet said. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Kiet noted that the GVN routinely refers to three 
border provinces in particular as "non-religious provinces." 
Officials from Son La, Lai Chau and Dien Bien make this 
claim despite the sizable communities of Catholics (and 
other believers including Protestants and Buddhists) in each 
province.  For example, there are at least 3,000 Catholics 
in Son La alone.  Kiet said there has been no response to 
Hung Hoa diocese's recent request that Son La PPC allow the 
Hoa Binh town parish priest to minister to Catholics in Son 
 
HANOI 00001412  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
La (ref B).    The Bishop of Hung Hoa recently asked 
permission to visit all three provinces along the Laos 
border, but received the standard answer that Son La, Lai 
Chau and Dien Bien are non-religious provinces and it would 
therefore "not be appropriate" for the bishop to visit.  The 
PPCs in each province gave this response despite the fact 
that in 2005, the CRA convinced all three provinces to 
accept a visit from the Hung Hoa bishop before Christmas. 
(Note: During that visit the bishop was not allowed to leave 
the PPC guest house compound in any of the provinces. 
Despite this constraint, he did try to hold a mass in Son La 
as reported above. End Note.) 
 
¶6. (SBU) In sum, Kiet asserted that "many people have 
recognized that the situation for Catholics improved since 
last Christmas," but since Easter 2006, the situation seems 
to have gotten worse.  He attributed the initial improvement 
to GVN concerns that poor conditions for Catholics would 
jeopardize a deal with the United States over Vietnam's WTO 
accession.  Since it was clear before April that a deal 
would eventually be struck this summer, however, local 
officials may feel "no need to behave themselves anymore." 
Kiet pointed to the fact that Northern Catholics were 
allowed to assemble for worship at Christmas and New Year's 
Eve but were not allowed to assemble at Easter this April. 
He also stated his belief that Ha Giang's promise before 
Easter to let him visit in May and the subsequent refusal 
after Easter of the promised visit can be attributed to the 
same cause. 
 
Property, Training and Charitable Issues 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) Poloff asked if there has been any action on the 
Archdiocese's recent request to reclaim the former Papal 
Nuncio property adjoining the Hanoi Cathedral compound, an 
important pre-condition for the eventual re-establishment of 
Vatican-GVN diplomatic relations.  Kiet said there has been 
no response to the most recent request submitted in April, 
although PM Khai promised the Church that the issue would be 
resolved quickly at the beginning of the year. (Note: The 
Ambassador sent a letter in support of this request to the 
CRA and MFA in May, so far with no response.  End Note.) 
Kiet noted that it has become difficult to discuss 
ecclesiastical property issues with local authorities (who 
have responsibility for land issues) since the 2005 
promulgation of the new Land Law which makes clear that all 
land is owned by the state.  Until the new law, the GVN 
generally acknowledged church title to former ecclesiastical 
properties, but now local authorities are only willing to 
discuss land-use rights of these former possessions.  This 
is most problematic for discussion of the acquisition of new 
training facilities for clergy, he said. 
 
¶8. (SBU) Poloff asked if the Church has ordained any new 
priests since the mass ordination of fifty-seven priests 
during last November's visit of Vatican Missionary Minister 
Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe.  Kiet said only one additional 
priest had been ordained since Sepe's visit, but the low 
number is not due to any GVN interference.  Only one deacon 
has been ready for ordination since November.  At the moment 
four Catholic deacons are in training and will probably by 
ordained by the end of 2006. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Poloff asked if the Church has been able to 
increase charitable works since December.  Kiet noted that 
some local authorities have recently allowed Catholic orders 
to undertake healthcare work at State-run facilities, 
particularly in HIV/AIDS relief.  However, officials treat 
charitable workers as employees and the scope of involvement 
at these facilities remains very limited.  In the realm of 
education, Catholics are still only allowed to operate 
kindergartens. 
 
Sisters of Mercy 
---------------- 
 
¶10. (SBU) Following the meeting with Archbishop Kiet, Poloff 
met with Sister Nirmala (of India) and with several other 
nuns of the Sisters of Mercy.  She noted that her delegation 
came to Hanoi to seek permission to re-open a chapter house 
in Hanoi so that the order might train nuns to minister to 
the poorest of the poor in Vietnam.  At least three 
postulants in Vietnam would immediately join such a house if 
established.  Nirmala noted that the GVN has not been open 
to the order's desire to re-establish a mission since Hanoi 
expelled the sisters in 1993.  Nirmala's initial requests 
 
HANOI 00001412  003 OF 003 
 
 
for meetings with the CRA, MFA and Ministry of Labor, 
Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) were rebuffed and she 
had made up her mind to travel to Ho Chi Minh City when the 
CRA reversed itself and offered a courtesy meeting on June 
¶8.  Father Thuy of the Archbishop's office reports that CRA 
told the sisters that they are welcome to apply to work in 
Vietnam, but will need to submit an application to do so. 
(Note: It is unlikely that the GVN would approve such an 
application. End Note.)  The sisters replied that they will 
only work in Vietnam if invited to do so by Vietnam's 
Catholics, but will not work for the GVN and so will not 
apply. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶11. (SBU) The Archbishop's comments confirm that the 
mountainous provinces along the borders with Lao and China 
remain problematic for religious freedom even for Catholics, 
who normally worship relatively freely.  We will continue to 
focus our outreach efforts in these areas over the summer. 
It will not be simple: a planned trip to Dien Bien province 
on June 12 has been postponed until at least the end of June 
due to stalling by the People's Committee.  We have heard 
via the MFA that PPCs in Son La, Dien Bien, Lai Chau and Lao 
Cai are complaining loudly that "there have been too many 
visits" recently.  (Note: An EU-troika mission to Lao Cai, 
Lai Chau, and Dien Bien modeled on poloff's Ref B trip is 
currently underway.  We will report septel as soon as 
details are available. End Note) 
 
¶12. (SBU) Comment Cont.: It is also worrying that the 
Catholics have noted a slackening of concern about religious 
freedom issues from local officials since April.  They 
believe that this is partly due to the GVN's perception that 
it's coveted WTO entry has become a sure thing.  It will be 
important to remind the GVN that CPC status and PNTR are 
still unresolved questions.  Ambassador-at-Large for 
International Religious Freedom John Hanford should visit 
Vietnam this summer to highlight the importance of continued 
positive movement on the religious issue with the GVN. 
 
MARINE