VZCZCXRO6769
PP RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHHI #2381/01 2620431
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 190431Z SEP 06
FM AMEMBASSY HANOI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3407
INFO RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH 1823
RUEHZS/ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 HANOI 002381 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS AND DRL/IRF 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM KIRF PREL PGOV VM
SUBJECT: PUBLIC SECURITY VICE MINISTER PROMISES PROGRESS ON 
RELIGIOUS ISSUES 
 
Ref: A) Hanoi 395 
 
HANOI 00002381  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: IRF Ambassador John Hanford met Vice Minister of 
Public Security Nguyen Van Huong August 18 to discuss the GVN's 
recent record on religious freedom and to urge the GVN to expedite 
further progress.  Ambassador Hanford provided a list of ten 
short-term actions that the GVN could undertake in order to show its 
continued commitment to improve respect for religious freedom in 
Vietnam.  VM Huong discussed the GVN's track record on improving 
religious freedom, reaffirmed its commitment to creating conditions 
for freedom of religion, cited positive developments and offered 
explanations for lagging progress in some areas.  His reaction to 
the suggested short-term actions proposed by Ambassador Hanford was 
positive and he promised quick action on prisoner releases.  End 
Summary. 
 
Ambassador Hanford acknowledges GVN progress ... 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶2. (SBU) United States Ambassador-at-Large for International 
Religious Freedom John Hanford, accompanied by Ambassador Marine, 
met August 18 with GVN Deputy Minister of Public Security Nguyen Van 
Huong.  Ambassador Hanford began by noting that the issue of 
religious freedom had become a positive aspect of our bilateral 
relations, a message he had conveyed publicly in the United States. 
He said that during his meetings with various religious groups in 
Vietnam, all were unanimous in suggesting that conditions have 
generally improved.  While some problems still remain, these groups 
pointed to many problems that were partially or fully solved. 
Ambassador Hanford added that the purpose of his trip was to speed 
up the pace of progress on remaining areas of concern. 
 
... but urges quicker action on remaining problems 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
¶3. (SBU) Ambassador Hanford recalled a February 2006 meeting with 
the Vice Minister at which he had noted that the problem of 
registration of places of worship in the north had not been 
adequately addressed by the GVN (Ref A).  VM Huong's explanation of 
the situation had helped Ambassador Hanford to understand some of 
the challenges related to registrations in that region.  The USG 
would like to see what the GVN can do during the next six weeks to 
show it is acting to resolve this and other remaining problems. 
 
¶4. (SBU) To this end, Ambassador Hanford presented a list of 
suggested actions consistent with the GVN's existing commitment to 
improve religious freedom.  Together with this list, Ambassador 
Hanford also proposed the idea of a letter from MFA VM Le Van Bang 
that would discuss the GVN's positive record on improving religious 
freedom and would lay out a roadmap of future steps that the GVN 
would take in order to continue improving the situation.  This 
letter would be an informal, non-public statement of the GVN's 
intent to continue implementation of its commitments as set forth in 
the May 2005 exchange of letters on religious freedom. 
 
Ten recommendations for short-term action 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) Ambassador Hanford went through the list of ten suggested 
actions, calling for quick GVN action to demonstrate continued 
progress on religious freedom.  The suggested actions included: 
registration of 100 congregations in the north, as well as 
registration of groups elsewhere in the country that are already in 
the pipeline; clarification of registration procedures; amnesty for 
prisoner of conscience Ma Van Bay; resolution of problems between 
churches and local officials in Thanh Hoa Province; creation of a 
single GVN point of contact to whom individuals and groups with 
registration problems could report; facilitation of a dialogue 
between ECVN religious groups and the GVN Committee on Religious 
Affairs (CRA); approval of pending requests for religious training 
courses; and dissemination of a public notice to local and 
provincial officials that makes clear their responsibility for 
facilitating the free practice of religion, including 
registrations. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Concerning the amnesty of Ma Van Bay, Ambassador Hanford 
mentioned he understood the complications of this case, as well as 
the conditions necessary to qualify for amnesty.  His understanding 
of the case is that Bay was arrested because he had been found with 
church collection proceeds (approximately USD 9) in his home and 
local officials misunderstood the situation. 
 
Vice Minister: GVN making progress on religion issues ... 
--------------------------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) VM Huong said he was pleased with the list of suggested 
actions.  He recognized that some U.S. Members of Congress have used 
Vietnam's status as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) to try to 
 
HANOI 00002381  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
impede Vietnam's WTO accession.  However, because the CPC 
designation was a unilateral U.S. decision, many Vietnamese did not 
see any need to respond to U.S. demands.  Moreover, Vietnam has for 
many years protected religious freedom:  over 20 million Vietnamese 
had joined religious groups and do not face problems in their 
activities.  There are problems for some small evangelical groups in 
the Central Highlands who had contacts with the FULRO separatist 
movement, but that there is no problem with "normal" Protestant 
groups, VM Huong said. (Note:  FULRO was a separatist group that 
sought the creation of a separate ethnic minority homeland in the 
Central Highlands.  End Note.) 
 
¶8. (SBU) The GVN will successfully carry out all the items mentioned 
by Ambassador Hanford, the Vice Minister continued.  The purpose of 
the GVN is to serve the interests of the Vietnamese people.  After 
the end of thirty years of war, the biggest problems facing the 
country were poverty and hunger and the "consequences of war" still 
faced by over 100,000 families.  (Note:  The reference to 
consequences of war is GVN shorthand for Agent Orange/dioxin.  End 
Note.)  The Vietnamese people had recovered through their own 
efforts, without the U.S. assistance received by other countries. 
In order to have better bilateral relations, the United States and 
Vietnam need to look at the overall situation.  As living conditions 
improve, the spiritual life of people is also becoming better.  The 
pace of development is fast, with tribal people in the mountainous 
areas learning from the Kinh majority in the deltas and cities. 
 
¶9. (SBU) According to VM Huong, there is no reason for the GVN to 
prevent tribal groups from practicing their religions.  Since 2000, 
the GVN has successfully separated "normal" religious groups from 
FULRO-related groups.  The USG does not support anti-GVN activity in 
the Central Highlands, he said.  According to a GVN decree, local 
officials are required to allow freedom of religious practices, and 
in 2004, the National Assembly passed the Ordinance on Religion and 
Belief.  Statistics demonstrate the development of Protestant 
activities in the north and the south.  Currently, there are 
thousands of people engaged in Protestant activities.  In Dak Lak 
Province, progress has been slower because more time was needed to 
separate "normal" churches from other groups.  But VM Huong 
expressed his optimism about implementing the law on religion.  In 
June, the Vice Minister spoke to officials in the central region to 
check on the registration of Protestant groups and urged them to 
work faster.  However, some separatist elements still remain, 
preventing people from registering and even threatening leaders, VM 
Huong said. 
 
... but faces challenges in Northwest Highlands 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶10. (SBU) In the Northwest Highlands, VM Huong said it is not clear 
which groups are actually Protestant.  Compared to the situation in 
the Central Highlands, the number of believers in the Northwest 
Highlands is small, approximately 110,000 persons.  A number of 
factors have contributed to the slower progress on registrations in 
the Northwest Highlands.  Because the definition of "Protestant" is 
not clear among these people, officials have to identify and clarify 
their status.  Officials have problems with communication since many 
local people speak their own dialects and registration efforts 
require interpreters.  Moreover, people often live in remote areas 
requiring more than a day to reach.  Consideration must be given to 
the issue of conflict within families, and people must be made aware 
of the need to allow family members to follow their own beliefs.  At 
the same time, traditional worship practices must be respected. 
Some religious groups create a financial burden for their members. 
Also, some groups adopt superstitious beliefs, e.g., after the death 
of a leader, the entire village would die.  The GVN is aware of 
these problems, but efforts will proceed faster because the GVN 
knows the Northwest region well.  During the past six months, 
registrations were issued to eight groups as an experiment, all of 
which were doing well.  The GVN respected people's beliefs and 
facilitated their religious activities as part of overall GVN policy 
to improve living conditions.  VM Huong recognized the contribution 
of Christian and Buddhist groups to social activities such as 
orphanages, and said the government encourages people to engage in 
such activities. 
 
¶11. (SBU) Regarding a roadmap of future GVN actions to promote 
religious freedom, VM Huong said religious freedom is always 
integrated into plans such as poverty alleviation, homebuilding, 
fighting hunger, electrification and road-building.  Once people had 
electricity, they could practice their beliefs and pastors could 
teach them about their beliefs.  The GVN has a five-year 
comprehensive plan for the Northwest Highlands to provide roads and 
electricity to all villages in the region.  Cultural and religious 
activities would be a part of this plan. 
 
GVN would cooperate on implementing suggested actions 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
HANOI 00002381  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
 
¶12. (SBU) Responding directly to the ten actions proposed by 
Ambassador Hanford, VM Huong said he supports them and would show 
cooperation.  It should not be a problem to register even more than 
100 churches in the Northwest Highlands by the end of the year.  On 
August 24, VM Huong would meet with all provincial directors of 
public security and direct them to expedite registration procedures. 
 The purpose of registration is to locate religious groups and to 
know how many churches there are.  The process has been slow for two 
reasons.  First, officials in the north understand old practices, 
but do not completely understand the new policy on religion. 
Second, some officials may be indifferent to registration of 
Protestant groups.  Some Protestants have complained outsiders 
arrived and laughed at their unfamiliar form of worship.  In some 
cases, outside pastors have come to a place and not cooperated 
properly with local authorities, leading the authorities to think 
the churches were doing something wrong.  Local officials have been 
concerned about persons coming from the Mekong Delta to conduct drug 
trafficking.  That was the origin of the term "illegal preacher." 
Regarding the amnesty of Ma Van Bay, VM Huong said he could not 
promise, but that the GVN would try hard.  He also said that, while 
he could not be specific, all four persons considered to be 
prisoners of conscience by the U.S. would be released. 
 
¶13. (SBU) The Vice Minister closed by saying Vietnam is a 
peace-loving country that respects the interests of its people.  The 
development of Vietnamese society, together with the development of 
the U.S.-Vietnam bilateral relationship, would help to solve the 
problem of religious freedom.  The Vietnamese do not want others to 
do their work for them.  VM Huong expressed his hope that every 
Vietnamese person would have the right to follow his/her own belief 
and wants the United States to view the GVN as respecting people's 
freedom. 
 
¶14. (U) Ambassador Hanford cleared this message. 
 
MARINE