VZCZCXRO1759
RR RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH
DE RUEHHI #0662/01 1570820
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 050820Z JUN 08
FM AMEMBASSY HANOI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7947
INFO RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH 4807
RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HANOI 000662 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS AND DRL/IRF 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM KIRF PREL PGOV VM
SUBJECT:  Updates from Vietnam's Northern Evangelical Church 
 
REFS: A. Hanoi 0269; B. Hanoi 0657 
 
HANOI 00000662  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  In a May 28 meeting with Poloff and visiting 
DRL/IRF officer, Evangelical Church of Vietnam - North (ECVN) 
General Secretary Pastor Au Quang Vinh discussed current conditions 
for the Protestant church in Vietnam.  While highlighting a lack of 
harassment incidents for the first half of 2008, Pastor Vinh also 
noted continuing problems with congregation registrations, training 
of clergy, as well as their long-pending request for Bibles in the 
H'mong language.  End summary. 
 
Ongoing Saga of Registrations 
----------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Pastor Vinh reported that a few additional ECVN-affiliated 
churches have been able to register, but not many.  Thirty-two 
congregations are now registered, up from 27 in February 2008 (Ref. 
A).  He noted that eight additional ECVN congregations have also 
registered, but the ECVN main office has yet to receive a copy of 
their registration certificate, so does not yet count them in the 
total.  While lamenting the slow progress on registrations, Pastor 
Vinh was quick to share that there are no further reports of 
harassment for those congregations awaiting registration. 
 
¶3. (SBU) As to why registrations take so long, Pastor Vinh opined 
that many local officials seem to be waiting for the outcome of the 
review of the legal framework on religion (Ref. B).  Pastor Vinh 
said as far as he knows, the ECVN has not been asked to provide 
input to the review.  While acknowledging that the ECVN President, 
Pastor Phuong Quang Huyen, is a member of the Vietnam Fatherland 
Front Advisory Council, Pastor Vinh discounted Pastor Huyen's 
position on the Council as personal, and not one representing the 
views of the ECVN. (Note:  Pastor Vinh and Pastor Huyen have 
long-standing and well-known differences of opinion on the 
relationship the ECVN should have with the GVN. End note.) 
 
¶4. (SBU) Pastor Vinh emphasized that the systemic problem with 
registrations is the poor implementation of the legal framework on 
religion at local levels.  From his perspective, both the central 
government and the provincial authorities are at fault, noting that 
the central government blames the local authorities for not 
processing applications and local authorities blame the central 
government for providing either no guidance or confusing guidance. 
 
 
Waiting for H'mong Bible 
------------------------ 
 
¶5. (SBU) The ECVN still seeks permission to publish the Bible in the 
H'mong language, and continues to press for a government response to 
its formal requests of two years ago.  Pastor Vinh underscored the 
need for such Bibles, noting that there are now 115,000 H'mong 
followers of the Protestant faith.  With regard to the complication 
of determining which dialect of H'mong to use for the printing, 
Pastor Vinh asserted that the GVN should use the dialect most of the 
H'mong can understand and move forward.  In his view, the GVN 
continues to delay approval for publishing a H'mong language Bible 
because to do so would force the GVN to recognize the growing number 
of H'mong Protestants.  He went on to explain that local authorities 
are concerned about registering lots of new congregations and would 
like to control the rapid growth of the Protestant faith. 
 
Pastor Training Insufficient 
---------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Pastor Vinh reiterated the ECVN's long-standing problems 
with holding training courses and preparing enough students to 
become pastors.  At present, there are only twelve officially 
recognized pastors in the northern region of Vi