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R 040906Z JUN 07
FM AMCONSUL GUANGZHOU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6120
INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEKJCS/DIA WASHDC
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC
RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE
RUEHPH/CDC ATLANTA GA
RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHDC
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 GUANGZHOU 000640 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DOL FOR ILAB 
HHS FOR STEIGER AND BHAT 
NIH FOR FOGARTY CENTER (HOLT) 
NIH ALSO FOR NIAID (HOFF) 
STATE FOR USAID FOR ANE AND GH/HIV-AIDS 
STATE FOR S/GAC, OES, OES/PCI, OES/IHA, DRL/PHD, AND EAP/CM 
CDC FOR GLOBAL AIDS PROGRAM 
USDOC FOR ITA/MAC/AP/OCEA MCQUEEN 
BANGKOK FOR USAID (BRADSHAW) 
USPACOM FOR FPA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KHIV TBIO EAID SOCI PGOV ECON CH
SUBJECT: Guangxi: HIV/AIDS Programs on the Vietnam Border 
 
REF: A) 06 Guangzhou 13565; B) 06 Guangzhou 5479 
 
THIS DOCUMENT IS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED.  IT SHOULD NOT BE 
DISSEMINATED OUTSIDE OF U.S. GOVERNMENT CHANNELS OR IN ANY PUBLIC 
FORUM WITHOUT THE WRITTEN CONCURRENCE OF THE ORIGINATOR.  IT SHOULD 
NOT BE POSTED ON THE INTERNET. 
 
¶1.  (U) SUMMARY:  Consul General and USAID Bangkok Health officer 
visited the cities of Dongxing and Pingxiang in Guangxi to take a 
look at and support USG-assisted HIV/AIDS projects along the border 
between China and Vietnam.  Although small in scale, the projects 
serve two purposes: to provide outreach to at-risk populations of 
Vietnamese and Chinese sex workers, migrant workers, and truck 
drivers; and to develop capacity among local officials.  Compared to 
one year ago, local support for the projects is growing.  In 
addition, local public security officials increasingly recognyze 
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¶2.  (U) Consul General, accompanied by USAID Bangkok Project officer 
Clifton Cortez, a USAID publicist, members of Congen Guangzhou and 
several USAID HIV/AIDS contractors, visited Guangxi in late May to 
take a close look at USAID's HIV/AIDS-supported projects along the 
border with Vietnam.  Though USAID does not have a mission in China, 
it has gained access for HIV/AIDS outreach to Guangxi (Dongxing and 
Pingxiang cities) and Yunnan through the Mekong River Delta program. 
 
 
¶3.  (U) The USAID programs target HIV/AIDS areas of high-risk 
activity, focusing on sex workers and their clients as well as 
intravenous drug users (IDU) and their sex partners.  Sex and 
intravenous drug use are the two main methods of HIV transmission; 
sexually-transmitted HIV has recently reached parity with 
IDU-transmitted HIV in China.  The projects' primary outreach 
methods include drop-in centers and peer education for sex workers, 
public outreach and education, condom distribution via hotels and 
public outreach or subsidized sales to sex workers, cross-border 
outreach with sex worker training and client education, and mass 
media campaigns to encourage behavioral change.  USAID programs also 
offer voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) to motivate people to 
know their HIV status in order to reduce infection rates.  The 
HIV/AIDS project staff work closely with local and regional 
officials to improve their capacity to monitor and respond to 
infectious disease outbreaks. 
 
Dongxing and Pingxiang Strongly Supportive of Programs 
------------------------------- ---------------------- 
 
¶4.  (U) During a meeting with the delegation, Dongxing Vice Mayor 
Xian Shiyong and local health officials voiced strong support for 
the HIV/AIDS programs in the border town.  This was in contrast with 
more tentative support on the part of the municipal government when 
the project first began and it had little experience working with 
international NGOs in early 2006 (i.e., the time of our earlier 
visit).  Xian cited progress made by the Dongxing government in 
establishing an HIV/AIDS prevention committee and programs to 
encourage behavioral change.  He praised USAID-funded NGOs for 
expanding outreach platforms, strengthening cross-border 
cooperation, and improving the quality of the city's health teams. 
The Vice Mayor urged expansion of the drop-in center for sex 
workers, improved cooperation with Vietnam, and increased training 
for the city's health officials.  Xian noted that attempting to 
reduce the stigma of HIV/AIDs remains one of the biggest challenges 
of the outreach program. 
 
¶5.  (U) The Consul General expressed the USG's appreciation for 
Dongxing's cooperation with USAID's contracting partners and USAID's 
 
GUANGZHOU 00000640  002 OF 002 
 
 
Cortez highlighted the President's Global AIDS Initiative and 
agreement with Beijing to develop best practices.  The hope, he 
noted, is that Dongxing (and Pingxiang) will be in the forefront of 
China-wide efforts to serve as a model for outreach and treatment. 
The visit to Dongxing included a stop at the Sisterhood Health Home 
drop-in center where sex workers were being trained in the use of 
the female condom, and a stop at the border with Vietnam, where one 
of the projects was conducting outreach with dock workers, laborers, 
and migrants.  According to officials, Dongxing has 300-400 sex 
workers, a figure which doubles during China's three "golden" 
vacation weeks and during the summer when migrant sex workers arrive 
from central China to work the beaches. 
 
¶6.  (U) Pingxiang Vice Mayor Pan Xiaofang, who is responsible for 
her city's pandemic disease programs, echoed Xian's praise for the 
projects, expressing her appreciation for USAID's assistance to 
Pingxiang's efforts to build a harmonious society.  Due to Guangxi's 
role in developing better economic relations with ASEAN countries, 
in particular Vietnam - where the majority of China's ASEAN trade 
goes - she noted that the Pingxiang border has rapidly developed as 
a major transportation hub.  Unlike Dongxing, which is in the 
process of constructing a new customs and immigration center, 
Pingxiang's new border crossing is fully operational, though it 
appeared, for now, primarily to be processing individuals crossing 
the border on foot.  Truck traffic and sex workers congregate at the 
nearby Puzai free-zone and crossing, a gritty warren of cross-border 
trade and brothels.  Puzai's sex worker population, aged between 16 
and 35 years of age, was entirely Vietnamese, in contrast to 
Dongxing's predominantly Chinese sex workers.  (Once a female sex 
worker reaches her mid-thirties, one of the few options available to 
her, short of returning to Vietnam, where she likely will not be 
welcomed by her family, is to marry a Chinese farmer.) 
 
¶7.  (U) A Vietnamese outreach worker at one of the USAID projects 
estimated that one-third of the sex workers had been trafficked. 
Trafficked women remained in Puzai for an average of six years, 
compared with only two to three years for women who came 
voluntarily.  Outreach to trafficked women remained more difficult 
and depended on whether the trafficker allowed outreach workers 
access to the women.  The small free zone contained 45 brothels with 
more than 200 sex workers. 
 
¶8.  ()U) During a visit to an HIV/AIDS counseling and testing 
center, which was co-located with the infectious disease hospital in 
Pingxiang, USAID's Cortez highlighted the importance of project 
outcomes in Guangxi and Yunnan, noting that one of the goals was to 
develop a model of HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment for all of 
China.  He and the Consul General met with local outreach workers, 
many of whom are "people living with HIV/AIDS" (PLHA), and praised 
them and Pingxiang officials for their commitment to HIV/AIDS 
outreach and treatment. 
 
GOLDBERG