VZCZCXRO6017
OO RUEHCHI RUEHCN RUEHDT RUEHGH RUEHHM RUEHVC
DE RUEHHI #0537/01 1620619
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 110619Z JUN 09
FM AMEMBASSY HANOI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9735
INFO RUEHZS/ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH PRIORITY 5923
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 0317

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 HANOI 000537 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/11/2019 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM ECON ESTH EMIN EINV SENV CM VM
SUBJECT: BAUXITE CONTROVERSY PRODUCES LEADERSHIP DIVISIONS, 
VIBRANT NATIONAL ASSEMBLY DEBATE 
 
REF: A. HANOI 413 
     ¶B. HANOI 417 
     ¶C. HANOI 378 
 
HANOI 00000537  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
Classified By: CDA Virginia Palmer.  Reasons: 1.4 (b/d) 
 
 ¶1.  (C) SUMMARY: The highly charged -- and unusually open -- 
public debate over plans to develop bauxite in the Central 
Highlands has led to spirited discussions in the National 
Assembly (NA), Vietnam's historically quiescent semiannual 
legislature, with some deputies openly questioning government 
decisions and demanding a larger role in reviewing policy. 
The NA's question/answer sessions have received surprisingly 
wide media coverage, perhaps reflecting the array of 
prominent figures that continue to voice opposition -- from 
General Vo Nguyen Giap to Catholic Cardinal Pham Minh Man. 
Chinese involvement has given criticism of the project a 
nationalist patina.  Increasingly, there are also signals of 
dissension within the upper ranks of Vietnam's collective 
leadership; it is still early days, but well-connected 
contacts assert that bauxite may become a proxy for 
competition between the two leading contenders for CPV 
primacy, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and Standing 
Secretary Truong Tan Sang, in the run-up to the Eleventh 
Party Congress in 2011. 
 
¶2.  (C) COMMENT: Although the National Assembly has become 
more assertive in recent sessions, it ultimately gets 
direction from the CPV.  (This is particularly true of 
national-level policy issues, and bauxite certainly now 
qualifies as such.)  The fact, then, that the National 
Assembly, set to conclude on or around June 20, is reviewing 
the bauxite projects suggests that important elements within 
the Party may have serious second thoughts.  A "compromise" 
is likely in the works, reflecting Sang's April 26 
pronouncement limiting development, for the moment, to two 
pilot programs.  And while no one pretends that the CPV won't 
continue to dictate terms, the interesting point is that the 
Party is acting as a consequence of public pressure and doing 
so through a national legislature that, however undemocratic, 
is increasingly hearing from constituents.  END SUMMARY AND 
COMMENT. 
 
The General Strikes Again, as Do Others 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU) On May 20, Vietnam's revered military hero and 
Party patriarch, General Vo Nguyen Giap, submitted another 
forcefully worded letter to the CPV Central Committee and 
Politburo reiterating his opposition to the government's 
plans to mine bauxite in the Central Highlands (refs A and 
B).  The letter, Giap's third, commended the Politburo for 
"listening to the opinions of former high-ranking Party 
leaders and scientists" and for its decision to take into 
account environmental factors and concerns about "national 
security" (read: Chinese involvement).  At the same time, 
Giap registered his disappointment that the Politburo had 
decided to continue with bauxite excavation, including 
preparatory work already underway, even on a more limited 
basis.  Noting the potential impacts on Vietnam's 
"environment, economy, culture, society, security, and 
national defense," Giap urged the leadership to halt all 
bauxite development -- what he termed a "no excavation yet 
option" -- pending a thorough scientific and policy review. 
Only this way, he concluded, could the Party avoid 
"catastrophe." 
 
¶4.  (SBU) As before, news of Giap's letter -- and soon 
enough, the text itself -- reverberated through Vietnam's 
vibrant blog scene (ref. C), with nationalistic writers 
echoing the General's concerns.  Other influential voices, 
such as the Archbishop of Saigon, Cardinal Pham Minh Man, 
renewed their opposition to the bauxite projects, and their 
views have also found their way onto the internet.  As before 
(ref A), while some blogs feature relatively technical 
environmental and economic criticisms of the bauxite 
projects, many more focus on the involvement of Chinese labor 
and investment; these tend to have a sharply nationalistic 
tone.  (Note: The most exhaustive collection of commentary 
can be found at www.bauxitevietnam.info/, which has recorded 
over 1.3 million page views.  End note.) 
 
BaDinh-ology and the Press 
-------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (C) Some of Vietnam's more politically savvy blogs have 
included tantalizing speculation about the impact of the 
 
HANOI 00000537  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
bauxite controversy on elite-level factional politics.  Most 
of the information is unverifiable; however, contacts with 
senior CPV connections indicate that PM Nguyen Tan Dung has 
come under pressure from within the Politburo.  Dang Thanh 
Tam (protect), who as Chairman of Saigon Invest Group 
accompanied Dung to China in October 2008, affirmed that it 
was the Prime Minister who gave the green light for bauxite 
development to proceed following his meetings in Beijing. 
Now, with criticism mounting, PM Dung has been forced to fend 
off opposition, much of it coming from Dung's principal rival 
on the Politburo, CPV Standing Secretary Truong Tan Sang, 
according to Tam and others with elite-level Party ties.  As 
the well-connected son of former General Secretary Le Duan, 
Le Kien Thanh (protect), explained, it is still too early for 
Dung and Sang to be seen as jockeying openly for primacy in 
advance of the 2011 Party Congress; in the meantime, though, 
bauxite serves as a convenient proxy. 
 
¶6.  (C) While the blogs roil, the mainstream media has 
surprisingly grown more nuanced in its coverage of the 
bauxite controversy.  And this, according to press contacts, 
was in significant part due to an overt decision disseminated 
from senior levels.  VietnamNet journalist Buy Van (protect) 
recounted how, initially, editorial staffs were expressly 
told not to cover the more controversial aspects of the 
bauxite projects.  This order, he was given to understand, 
came directly from the Chairman of the CPV Propaganda and 
Education Commission, Politburo member To Huy Rua.  Less than 
two weeks later, however, Rua's decision was (apparently) 
reversed, and editors were instructed to cover "both sides" 
of the issue.  The source of this new directive was Standing 
Chairman Sang.  (Comment: we could not corroborate this 
account, but other media sources confirm that Sang, 
ordinarily considered cautious, takes a close interest in the 
press and will on occasion intervene directly in editorial 
matters, though usually in a more conservative direction.  In 
any case, as the official in charge of day-to-day Party 
operations, Sang would be one of a very few individuals in a 
position to counteract a media directive put out by Rua.  End 
comment.) 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Some of the more enterprising reporters apparently 
took the new marching orders as they were perhaps intended: 
newspapers such as Tuoi Tre began to "balance" parochial 
statements from local officials in the Central Highlands in 
support of bauxite development with sober, technical 
arguments explaining why the projects made little sense.  A 
critical report prepared by the Ministry of Natural Resources 
and Environment detailing the potential environmental fallout 
from bauxite development, was for example, given fairly wide 
play.  There was even coverage of General Giap's critical 
comments on bauxite to PM Dung on the occasion of the 55th 
anniversary of the French defeat at Dien Bien Phu. 
 
Focus on the National Assembly 
------------------------------ 
 
¶8.  (SBU) This "balanced" approach has prevailed in the 
media's coverage of the National Assembly's debate, 
particularly after the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) 
submitted its May 23 report to the NA, as required by the 
April 26 Politburo directive announced by Standing Secretary 
Sang.  As usual, VietnamNet's widely circulated e-newspaper 
provided the most thorough coverage, but other outlets such 
as Tuoi Tre also sought to contrast statements in favor of 
bauxite development from Central Highland provinces Dac Nong 
and Lam Dong with opinions from other deputies who oppose the 
project on environmental, economic, or "national security" 
grounds.  Nguyen Minh Thuyet, a deputy from the Northwest 
Highlands province of Lang Son, criticized the economic 
rationale of the projects, in particular the high 
infrastructure and energy costs.  Danh Ut, from the Mekong 
Delta province of Kien Giang, praised the MOIT report for 
providing more details, but expressed concern that "red mud" 
(a combination of iron, manganese, and soda discharged during 
the production of alumina) might contaminate the Mekong river 
system.  Noting the significance of the projects, the 
Chairman of the NA Committee for Defense and Security, Le 
Quang Binh, called for a plenary debate on the bauxite 
projects during the current NA session, scheduled to conclude 
on or around June 20. 
 
¶9.  (C) Perhaps the most outspoken skeptic at the National 
Assembly has been Duong Trung Quoc, a prominent historian and 
"independent" (ie. non-Party) deputy from Dong Nai province 
(not surprisingly, just downriver from the projects).  In 
comments carried live on Vietnam TV May 26, Quoc reiterated a 
 
HANOI 00000537  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
number of outstanding questions about the projects and 
demanded to know why an issue of such pivotal importance was 
only now coming to the NA's attention.  (Note: Quoc's 
statement can be seen at www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMQMe7USH8k. 
 End note.)  Speaking with us June 3, Quoc (protect) said 
that a number of deputies had conveyed their appreciation for 
his remarks, but admitted that they were too timid to speak 
out. 
 
¶10.  (C) Quoc affirmed that the National Assembly had assumed 
a more important policy role in recent years under current NA 
Chair Nguyen Phu Trong, continuing the even more dramatic 
advances made under Trong's predecessor Nguyen Van An.  Quoc 
emphasized, however, that the National Assembly remains, 
fundamentally, an institution that receives its guidance from 
the Communist Party.  (Note: 450 of the NA's 493 deputies are 
Party members, and this number includes all 160 members of 
the CPV Central Committee.  End note.)  The NA's evolution is 
not, Quoc insisted, a move away from one-Party rule; rather, 
it is a refinement, an attempt to institute an additional 
layer of checks and balances within a CPV-dominated system. 
Just as the state bureaucracies are assuming an increasing 
degree of autonomy in the day-to-day management of 
government, so too is the National Assembly taking on a 
greater oversight role.  But, ultimately, both branches, the 
executive and the legislative, are dominated by the Party, 
Quoc insisted. 
 
The Bauxite Compromise, or Kicking the Can 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶11.  (C) Quoc and other Embassy contacts, such as former MOIT 
Minister Tran Xuan Gia (protect), predicted that whatever the 
debate within the NA, the ultimate decision will confirm with 
the Politburo's guidance, as outlined by Standing Secretary 
Sang.  In other words, the Tan Rai and Nhan Co developments 
will continue as "pilot projects" in Lam Dong and Dak Nong, 
respectively, but under stricter environmental, economic, and 
foreign-labor guidelines promulgated by PM Dung through MOIT. 
 Decisions on further developments will be deferred until 
after 2011, after the 11th Party Congress.  In the meantime, 
NA deputies have pledged to do their best to ensure that the 
projects adhere to the guidelines.  Whatever ensues, this 
will be an interesting experiment in the CPV's vaunted 
"intra-Party democracy." 
 
¶12.  (U) This cable was coordinated with ConGen HCMC. 
PALMER