EAP DAS Eric John's Meeting with Deputy Prime

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 HANOI 002517

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

DEPT PASS TO EAP/MLS; EAP/RSP; EAP/EP

STATE PASS TO USTR ELENA BRYAN

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PHUM PINR KIRF PGOV ETRD VM APEC ASEAN WTO RELFREE HUMANR
SUBJECT: EAP DAS Eric John's Meeting with Deputy Prime
Minister Vu Khoan


1. (SBU) Summary: During EAP DAS Eric John's September 27
meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Vu Khoan, the Deputy
Prime Minister urged the United States to conclude at an
early date its bilateral WTO negotiations with Vietnam for
both economic and political reasons. DPM Khoan also pressed
the United States to remove Vietnam from the list of
Countries of Particular Concern and expressed his
Government's desire for U.S. assistance in drawing up an
APEC 2006 roadmap. DPM Khoan also stressed the importance
of continued cooperation in the areas of health, education
and defense. Both DAS John and DPM Khoan agreed on the
primacy of APEC among regional groupings, and the Deputy
Prime Minister welcomed the USG's commitment to
strengthening relations with ASEAN and working with Vietnam
to address regional and multilateral issues. End Summary.


2. (SBU) EAP DAS Eric John met for nearly an hour September
27 with Deputy Prime Minister Vu Khoan. He was joined by
the Ambassador, EAP Mainland Southeast Asia Director
Director Scot Marciel, Pol/C and PolOff. MFA Americas
Department Director and Assistant Minister Nguyen Duc Hung,
Office of the Government External Affairs Deputy Director
Nguyen Thu Do and a number of other GVN officials were also
in attendance. The meeting was well attended by television
and print media, which provided favorable coverage. DAS
John and DPM Khoan opened their meeting by exchanging
condolences on recent hurricane and typhoon damage suffered
in both the United States and Vietnam, with DAS John
thanking the Government and people of Vietnam for their
generous support and donations.


3. (SBU) Agreeing with DAS John's assessment that the U.S.-
Vietnam relationship is moving in the right direction and
has a bright future, DPM Khoan quoted the June Joint
Statement's reference to the two countries' "constructive
partnership with a long-term basis." With this in mind, now
is the time to create a timeframe for both sides to take
actions, the Deputy Prime Minister said. The next bilateral
milestone will be President George W. Bush's visit to
Vietnam next November. While the Prime Minister's trip to
the United States "opened the door" for the two countries'
ties, the President's visit will "lay a new foundation" for
them. To that end, there are three areas on which the two
countries should focus: implementing agreements reached by
the two countries' leaders; overcoming remaining obstacles
in the bilateral relationship; and promoting mutual
cooperation within regional groupings, particularly APEC.

Implementing Bilateral Agreements
--------------


4. (SBU) Regarding the implementation of bilateral political
pledges, both leaders agreed that a bilateral dialogue
mechanism should be established on a broad basis, DPM Khoan
continued. The areas of discussion can be more than human
rights and should include varied bilateral and multilateral
subjects. On economic pledges, both sides should continue
to work on both implementing the Bilateral Trade Agreement
and bringing to a close their WTO negotiations. A
successful conclusion to the bilateral WTO talks would be a
clear demonstration of U.S. support for Vietnam's "doi moi"
(renovation) policy. Vietnam is now in the process of
accelerating its reform program, and 2006 will be a
significant year, DPM Khoan stressed.


5. (SBU) Furthermore, as Vietnam has concluded bilateral WTO
negotiations with 21 countries, including major economies,
there is no reason why it could not do the same with the
United States at an early time, DPM Khoan averred. Vietnam
is not asking very much of the United States in its WTO
talks and simply hopes that the United States considers
Vietnam to be a developing country still at a low level.
Vietnam's WTO accession requirements should not be greater
than those of China. The U.S.-Vietnam WTO negotiations can
send an important signal, both political and economic, to
the rest of the world.


6. (SBU) In terms of other forms of cooperation, health
issues such as HIV/AIDS and avian influenza are important
areas for both countries to focus on, and there is much work
to be done, DPM Khoan continued. Education collaboration is
another positive area, and security and defense cooperation,
including implementing the International Military Education
and Training (IMET) program, is also important. In short,
both the United States and Vietnam have a number of high-
level commitments to put into practice before President
Bush's visit to Vietnam, DPM Khoan said.

Overcoming Bilateral Obstacles: CPC
--------------


7. (SBU) In terms of addressing bilateral obstacles, DPM
Khoan expressed his Government's hope that the United States
will remove Vietnam from the Country of Particular Concern
(for religious freedom violations) list.
Regional Cooperation
--------------


8. (SBU) Turning to regional cooperation, DPM Khoan said
there are three important areas for both countries to work
on. The first is APEC. After the Busan Leaders' Meeting,
the United States and Vietnam should draw up an APEC 2006
roadmap. The GVN is pleased that U.S. APEC Senior Official
Ambassador Michalak will travel soon to Vietnam to discuss
this matter.


9. (SBU) Secondly, although the United States is not
directly involved in the East Asian Summit (EAS),Vietnam
understands that there is still great interest in this
subject, DPM Khoan said. Vietnam's position is that the EAS
should not be a mechanism to overshadow other regional
organizations and mechanisms but rather to supplement or
complement them. It will not be possible for the EAS to
replace APEC. Indeed, DPM Khoan continued, Vietnam has no
idea how the first EAS in Kuala Lumpur will go. Vietnam's
policy is that ASEAN should have the lead role and that the
EAS should be open and transparent.


10. (SBU) Thirdly, Vietnam understands why the Secretary was
unable to attend the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in Vientiane
in July, but nonetheless hopes that the United States not
create the feeling that it does not respect ASEAN, DPM Khoan
observed. Vietnam is concerned that the vacuum created by a
U.S. absence could be filled by another country. Regarding
its close neighbors Cambodia and Laos, Vietnam attaches
great importance to relations with them, and Prime Minister
Hun Sen is about to visit Vietnam. The situation in
Cambodia is "very serious," and the world community should
seek ways to encourage Cambodia to develop in the right way
to secure peace, stability and prosperity, DPM Khoan said.

WTO
---


11. (SBU) Returning to the subject of Vietnam's WTO
aspirations, DPM Khoan said that the United States and
Vietnam should meet again soon, "in October." Although
Vietnam does not have much money, it nonetheless is willing
to send its team to Washington in order to achieve progress
and move closer to concluding the bilateral talks.
Concluding, DPM Khoan said that, if the United States and
Vietnam can conclude all the tasks before them, there would
be a new foundation for long-term relations. The subject of
how both countries should move forward together will likely
be a subject of discussion between President Bush and
Vietnam's leaders, DPM Khoan said.

U.S. Committed to Vietnam's WTO Accession
--------------


12. (SBU) DAS John observed that DPM Khoan had clearly
enumerated the bilateral relationship's successes and
challenges. One clear success has been the economic and
trade relationship, with the BTA as the floor upon which we
are working towards Vietnam's WTO accession. The United
States has a firm commitment to help Vietnam accede to the
WTO, and we are very close to concluding our discussions.
Moreover, while tough issues remain for Vietnam to address,
the United States remains committed to cooperating to
conclude successfully our negotiations. We believe that
Vietnam's ultimate accession will set the gold standard for
WTO entry, DAS John said. On health issues, our PEPFAR
commitment is substantial, and the United States hopes to
ramp up its avian influenza efforts to meet the needs that
clearly exist.


13. (SBU) President Bush's planned APEC visit to Vietnam is
a good target for our two countries to have in dealing with
all of the issues before us, DAS John continued. As good as
bilateral relations are now, our efforts in the run-up to
APEC can make our ties even stronger. This will also be an
opportunity to showcase our bilateral ties not only to the
peoples of both our countries but also to the broader world
community.
Religious Freedom, Human Rights, Transnational Issues
-------------- --------------


14. (SBU) While we do face challenges ahead, we have seen
progress in the area of religious freedom, DAS John said.
We believe we have a good work plan to deal with our
religious freedom and broader human rights concerns, not
only thanks to our recent religious freedom agreement but
also because of our planned results-based Human Rights
Dialogue. Furthermore, in terms of law enforcement,
counterterrorism and trafficking issues, both the United
States and Vietnam have genuine concerns in these areas and
should have the will and ability to work together more
closely.

Regional Organizations
--------------


15. (SBU) In terms of multilateral cooperation, preparations
for APEC will provide us with an important opportunity to
cooperate, and we look forward to Ambassador Michalak's
visit to Vietnam, DAS John said. Furthermore, although the
Secretary could not attend this year's ARF, she committed to

SIPDIS
attend next year's meeting in Malaysia, and DAS John himself
will lead the U.S. delegation to the ARF Inter-Sessional
Group meeting in Honolulu in October. The United States
will begin negotiations there for a U.S.-ASEAN Enhanced
Partnership to demonstrate our level of commitment to the
group, DAS John stressed.

Burma, Cambodia
--------------


16. (SBU) Increasingly, the United States sees Vietnam as a
true partner in the region, DAS John continued. Although we
may have different tactics, our goals are shared. Burma is
a case in point. Vietnam believes in engagement, and this
is something the United States will not discourage, although
we disagree with it. We have the same goal of seeing better
lives for the Burmese people and having Burma's leaders take
responsibility for the well-being of their citizens and
implement their long-standing democratic commitments.
Burma's closed society and narcotics production are
beginning to make it a threat to Southeast Asian stability,
and this is something Vietnam and its ASEAN partners need to
address. On Cambodia, the United States shares with Vietnam
the goal of stability and prosperity, and this can be
achieved with a political system in which all can
participate, including the political opposition.


17. (SBU) In closing, DPM Khoan said U.S.-Vietnam relations
should be a partnership based on mutual interests and
benefits. Vietnam shares with the United States the goal of
Southeast Asian stability, development and prosperity. For
its part, Vietnam seeks to promote friendship and
cooperation between the nations of Southeast Asia and all
major countries, including the United States. To that end,
the United States and Vietnam can and should establish a
true partnership both on a bilateral basis and within a
multilateral framework, DPM Khoan concluded.

Comment
--------------


18. (SBU) Although DPM Khoan had just returned from viewing
the extensive coastal damage caused by Typhoon Damrey, he
was still focused on the meeting at hand and easily
conversant in both bilateral and regional issues. As in
past meetings with USG and Embassy officials, the Deputy
Prime Minister used an interpreter only when speaking.


19. (SBU) Comment, cont'd: DPM Khoan's reference to 2006
being a "significant year" is a nod to the Communist Party's
Tenth Congress, scheduled for the first half of 2006. The
issue of Vietnam's "doi moi" (renovation) policy -- and its
continued pace and scope -- will loom large in the Party
Congress' deliberations (and the preparatory discussions
beforehand),and whether and when Vietnam makes it into the
WTO will influence these internal discussions. End Comment.

20. (U) DAS John cleared this cable.

MARINE