VZCZCXRO3174
OO RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHFK RUEHHM RUEHKSO RUEHNAG RUEHNH RUEHPB
DE RUEHHI #0064/01 0230616
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 230616Z JAN 09
FM AMEMBASSY HANOI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9058
INFO RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH 5515
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 7220
RUEHGZ/AMCONSUL GUANGZHOU 0013
RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE
RUEHZU/ASIAN PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HANOI 000064 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS, G/TIP and INL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD PGOV TIP KWMN KCRM SNAR VM
 
SUBJECT: Vietnam-China Border Issues in Lang Son Province 
 
Ref A) Hanoi 23; B) 08 Hanoi 90; C) 08 Hanoi 398 
 
HANOI 00000064  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Following the recent announcement of the 
completion of border demarcation between China and Vietnam (Ref A), 
the DCM visited the Chinese border province of Lang Son January 7 - 
¶8.  Provincial officials emphasized expanding trade relations with 
China while admitting a growing trade imbalance (two-thirds imports, 
one-third exports).  The DCM discussed the growing problems of Avian 
Influenza from smuggled fowl from China and trafficking in persons 
while hearing from the police that drug trafficking in the province 
is on the wane.  END SUMMARY. 
 
Vietnam-China Border Trade in Lang Son 
-------------------------------------- 
¶2.  (SBU) In the DCM's meeting with Lang Son's People's Committee 
Chairman Vi Van Thanh, he explained that the province, with a 250 
kilometer border with China, is largely dependent on agricultural 
exports to China and the rest of Vietnam.  There are four border 
gates between China and Vietnam in the province, two of which 
process a significant amount of the trade between the two countries. 
 The Friendship border gate processed approximately $640 million 
worth of industrial goods in 2008 while the Tan Thanh border gate 
processed approximately $360 million worth of primarily agricultural 
products, according to his estimates.  The total volume of trade 
between the province and China is over $1 billion, with China 
accounting for roughly two-thirds of the total amount and Vietnam 
only one-third.  The province is in the planning stages of 
developing a free trade economic zone that will comprise 85 square 
kilometers on each side of the border with China.  Thanh was hopeful 
that the zone's establishment would serve to boost cooperation and 
trade between the two countries. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Customs officials noted that overall trade at the Tan 
Thanh border gate increased from only $79 million in 2003 to $360 
million in 2008.  2008 was better than 2007, they said, but 
acknowledged that there had been less Tet-related trade than last 
year due to the global economic crisis.  They explained that the 
Chinese authorities chose to divide the responsibilities between the 
two gates, authorizing the Friendship border gate to process 
industrial products and chemicals while determining that the Tan 
Thanh border gate would focus on agriculture.  Border 
Defense/Immigration officials noted that the Tan Thanh border post 
only allows processing of trade and is not equipped to process 
tourists. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) During a brief visit to the Friendship border gate on 
January 8, it was evident that the bulk of trade flowed from China 
to Vietnam, as many large Vietnamese trucks sat empty waiting to 
enter China and many Chinese trucks were loaded with industrial 
products waiting to be cleared through Customs into Vietnam.  Trade 
at the Tan Thanh border gate seemed more balanced, as most 
Vietnamese exports into China are agricultural products, and several 
Vietnamese trucks filled with fruits and vegetables waited at the 
border for Customs to clear their entry into China.  Customs 
officials at the Tan Thanh border gate explained that the volume of 
Chinese trucks was three to five times that of Vietnamese trucks, 
noting that they processed anywhere from 200-370 trucks a day 
through the border.  They said that while their Customs office had 
not yet been upgraded to allow electronic processing of goods 
through the border, there was an electronic application on the 
Customs website to be completed in advance to streamline the 
processing of trucks. 
 
Avian Influenza 
--------------- 
¶5.  (SBU) Meeting with former IVP Participant Dr. Duong Anh Dung, 
Chief of the Epidemiology Department at the Lang Son Provincial 
Preventative Medicine Center, the DCM discussed the province's 
leading role in fighting avian influenza.  Dung noted that all 
poultry must be tested and found free of taint prior to being 
transported across the border.  Officials from both Vietnam and 
China along the border meet regularly and highlighted the existence 
of a China-Vietnam Bird Flu Task Force.  Dung asserted that area 
farmers would comply with requirements to destroy infected fowl due 
to the harsh punishments if they chose to ignore government edicts. 
When asked directly about the problem of corruption and poultry 
smuggling from China into Vietnam (Ref C), Dung reaffirmed his 
belief that the province was doing a good job as evidenced by the 
fact that there had been no reported cases of bird flu.  (Note:  It 
was reported on January 13 that the province had experienced its 
first case in 2009 of chickens infected with the H5N1 virus imported 
from China.  The reports also noted the rampant availability of 
counterfeit seals certifying that poultry is free of avian 
influenza.  End Note.) 
 
 
HANOI 00000064  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
Trafficking in Persons 
----------------------- 
¶6.  (SBU) In the DCM's meeting with the provincial head of the 
Women's Union and the Deputy Chief of Police for the province, who 
also heads the province's Committee 130 on Trafficking in Persons 
(TIP), provincial officials said the police investigated 25 separate 
TIP incidents, arresting 28 individuals and rescuing 72 female 
victims.  Only one of the victims was from Lang Son province while 
the remaining victims were from the Central Highlands and other 
mountainous areas.  TIP in the province is entirely one-way into 
China, the police affirmed, and was the result of a gender imbalance 
in China and uneducated Vietnamese women being tricked or forced 
into prostitution or marriage in China.  They said that, while 
trafficking was on the rise, they had yet to see any cases of forced 
labor.  The police also highlighted their excellent cooperation with 
Chinese border police. 
 
¶7. (SBU) The province also boasts a technical school for trafficking 
victims run by the Women's Union and funded in part by IOM. 
However, the police explained that according to Vietnamese law 
female victims are returned immediately to family members and local 
authorities in their home province and therefore the shelter and 
school only assist victims from Lang Son province. 
 
Drug Trafficking 
---------------- 
¶8.  (SBU) The police emphasized that drug trafficking across the 
border was on the decline over the past several years.  While heroin 
continues to be the number one drug trafficked, they only seized six 
kilos in 2008.  Most illegal drugs enter Vietnam via Laos and then 
travel from Vietnam into China.  Drugs are more frequently 
trafficked through large border posts (like the Friendship border 
gate) due to the difficulty of traversing the mountains along the 
border.  Methamphetamines are not a large problem, with only one 
case of seized meth totaling 100-200 tablets coming from China in 
the past year.  The police also noted that chemical precursors were 
not a problem. 
 
Michalak