Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06HANOI1398
2006-06-07 07:38:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Hanoi
Cable title:  

THE AMBASSADOR AND VFM LE VAN BANG DISCUSS HUMAN

Tags:  PREL ETRD APEC PHUM AMGT OVIP CVIS CASC 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO1748
OO RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHFK RUEHHM RUEHKSO RUEHPB
DE RUEHHI #1398/01 1580738
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 070738Z JUN 06
FM AMEMBASSY HANOI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2286
INFO RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY 1300
RUEHZS/ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM COLLECTIVE
RUEHZU/APEC COLLECTIVE
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 HANOI 001398 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL ETRD APEC PHUM AMGT OVIP CVIS CASC
HUMANR, VM

SUBJECT: THE AMBASSADOR AND VFM LE VAN BANG DISCUSS HUMAN
RIGHTS, APEC/BILAT IDEAS, MFA LEADERSHIP CHANGES, BILATERAL
ISSUES

HANOI 00001398 001.2 OF 004


UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 HANOI 001398

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL ETRD APEC PHUM AMGT OVIP CVIS CASC
HUMANR, VM

SUBJECT: THE AMBASSADOR AND VFM LE VAN BANG DISCUSS HUMAN
RIGHTS, APEC/BILAT IDEAS, MFA LEADERSHIP CHANGES, BILATERAL
ISSUES

HANOI 00001398 001.2 OF 004



1. (U) THIS IS AN ACTION REQUEST: PLEASE SEE PARAGRAPH 5.


2. (SBU) Summary: Vice Foreign Minister Le Van Bang made a
push for a meeting with Secretary Rice for Deputy Prime
Minister Vu Khoan in Washington on June 19, reviewed
noncommittally our proposals for possible substance for the
President's visit to Vietnam (such as Peace Corps, PSI and
Article 98),and talked about human rights issues. There
will be three significant GVN delegations to Washington in
the coming weeks. VFM Bang said he is working hard with the
Ministry of Public Security to win positive changes on
religious freedom, and said the MFA is working on prisoner
releases. On the subject of the Democratic Party of Vietnam
(DPV),he was stony and uncommunicative, saying only that
this is a "very serious" issue and that the USG should stay
out of it. Both sides are looking for progress on their
property acquisition issues, with the GVN hoping to get some
written guarantees from the USG. Foreign Minister Nguyen
Dzy Nien will retire in a month, and Vice Foreign Minister
Le Cong Phung is angling for the Washington Ambassador
position. End Summary.

VU KHOAN'S VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES
--------------


3. (SBU) The Ambassador met June 7 with Vice Foreign
Minister Le Van Bang and Deputy Director of the Americas
Department Pham Van Que, at a local hotel at VFM Bang's
invitation. VFM Bang advised the Ambassador that planning
for Deputy Prime Minister Vu Khoan's June 19-21 visit to
Washington is underway, and asked the Ambassador to push
hard to convince Washington principals (especially Secretary
Rice) to see Vu Khoan. (Note: we have learned from EAP/MLS
that none of the principals DPM Vu Khoan asked to see will
be available to meet him. We have communicated this to the

MFA. End Note.) This important visit will be Vu Khoan's
last official trip to the United States, VFM Bang said, and
it is proper for the man who has overseen the U.S.-Vietnam
relationship for so long to have a chance to exchange ideas
on bilateral relations as well as the regional and
international situation at a senior level one more time.
VFM Bang added that Vice Foreign Minister Le Cong Phung and
Assistant Foreign Minister Nguyen Duc Hung will accompany Vu
Khoan. Phung, VFM Bang noted, is hoping to replace
Ambassador Chien in Washington, possibly at the end of the
year.

APEC/POTUS VISIT
--------------


4. (SBU) VFM Bang said that collecting and sharing
information on the President's visit to Vietnam will be an
important part of DPM Vu Khoan's trip. The MFA understands
that President Bush is considering a second stop in Vietnam,
such as Danang, Ho Chi Minh City or Hue. This is a good
idea, VFM Bang said, but he strongly suggested that
President Bush pay his call outside of Hanoi after APEC.
Ideally, VFM Bang said, the President would have his
official meetings and the bilateral visit just before APEC,
attend the APEC leaders summit, and then visit one of the
other cities in Vietnam on the way out. VFM Bang added that
bilateral visits with China, Russia and Japan are all in the
works during the APEC period. (Note: The new Chinese
Ambassador to Vietnam, Hu Qianwen, told the Ambassador
President Hu Jintao will attend APEC, but without a
bilateral component to the visit. End Note.)


5. (SBU) VFM Bang said the MFA wants to know what the U.S.
preferences and priorities for the APEC discussions are.
Vietnam wants to work with the United States to make sure
the discussions address the right subjects, he added. In
addition, the MFA would like to work on a possible joint
statement and a plan for concrete results from the visit.
The late summer and early fall will be busy, with many
officials on vacation. To avoid a potentially difficult
last-minute rush, we should work on these key elements of
the visit now, he said. The Ambassador said he will consult
with the APEC office in the State Department to determine
top U.S. priorities and see how we can cooperate with
Vietnam to advance those. He agreed that the U.S. Embassy
and the MFA should be working together on the practical
aspects of the President's visit as soon as possible.
ACTION REQUEST FOR EAP/EP: Please provide a response for us
to use with VFM Bang regarding their offer to work with us
to advance our top three APEC priorities.


HANOI 00001398 002.2 OF 004


PEACE CORPS
--------------


6. (SBU) The Ambassador suggested that announcement of a
Peace Corps program in Vietnam would be an excellent
deliverable for the President's visit, and noted that the
Peace Corps' Advance and Assessment Teams are coming to
Vietnam this summer to develop the concept further. The USG
wants to ensure that the Peace Corps contributes in a
meaningful way to Vietnam's development, the Ambassador
said, and therefore wants Peace Corps Volunteers to operate
outside the main cities. The team should have access to
provincial capitals in all three regions, he said. English
language teaching should be the primary focus for early
Peace Corps volunteers, but later it might be possible to
expand into health and environment assistance or other
fields. VFM Bang cautioned that the Peace Corps is still
quite controversial in Vietnam, and it might be necessary to
change the name to "American Volunteers" or something
similar. It might also be necessary to start in the big
cities, he said, and expand outward to the provinces step by
step. At first, he said, the Vietnam Union of Friendship
Organizations (VUFO) led by National Assembly member (and
former Ambassador) Vu Xuan Hong will be the counterpart for
the visiting Peace Corps officials, but later it will be the
Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) and possibly the
Ministry of Health. (Comment: Post will continue to work on
steering the GVN away from any attempt to limit the PCV
placement to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. We will follow up
with Ambassador Vu Xuan Hong. End Comment.)

PSI
---


7. (SBU) The Ambassador recommended that the United States
and Vietnam pursue some formalization of the GVN's current
"case by case" position on PSI. Nonproliferation, as a
joint concern of both the United States and Vietnam, is an
ideal area to pursue greater cooperation. VFM Bang said
this needs to be considered at the working level, but the
GVN supports the idea in principle. Vietnam can participate
in PSI actions on a case-by-case basis assuming there is
proof of a dangerous shipment or cargo. The Ambassador
suggested that an interim step might be to participate as an
observer in a PSI-related exercise, perhaps hosted by
Australia. VFM Bang noted that politically, in Vietnam
there is the perspective that PSI is an imposition on
Vietnam of the United States' strategy and policy.

Article 98
--------------


8. (SBU) The Ambassador said he is aware of Vietnamese
sensitivities surrounding an Article 98 agreement,
specifically Vietnamese concerns that EU displeasure over
signing an Article 98 agreement with the United States could
result in some action taken to block Vietnam from the WTO.
However, an Article 98 agreement is consistent with U.S. and
Vietnamese policy and interests, and is very important to
the United States. We would like to discuss the possibility
of developing a possible Article 98 agreement, the
Ambassador said, under the assumption that EU leverage over
Vietnam will decrease in the future. The EU is putting a
lot of pressure on Vietnam over this issue, VFM Bang
confirmed.

MFA LEADERSHIP CHANGES
--------------


9. (SBU) Foreign Minister Nguyen Dzy Nien will retire in one
month, VFM Bang said. Other changes will also occur. "Some
of the Vice Ministers want to stay, and some want to go. I
think I might want to go." He repeated that VFM Le Cong
Phung is angling for the Washington ambassadorship, and
mused that he himself might be headed overseas again. "Of
course I would have to find a place more important than the
United States," he said, chuckling. Assistant Foreign
Minister for the Americas, Nguyen Duc Hung, has been named
Ambassador to Canada but is not certain when he will go to
Ottawa, VFM Bang said. "He has to get the current
Ambassador out of there first."

PNTR AND DELEGATIONS TO THE UNITED STATES
--------------


10. (SBU) As part of the GVN's effort to help secure passage

HANOI 00001398 003.2 OF 004


of PNTR, VFM Bang said the "three diplomat Vu's" are leading
delegations to the United States in the next few weeks: DPM
Vu Khoan; VUFO President and National Assembly delegate Vu
Xuan Hong; and Chairman of the National Assembly's Foreign
Affairs Committee Vu Mao. VFM Bang said his recent trip to
Washington had been a success, and said his 16 meetings on
Capitol Hill had been positive. He acknowledged that
Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) might not have been completely
convinced, and said the Vietnamese Embassy in Washington had
been tasked with providing follow-up details to all
interested Congressional offices. VFM Bang was optimistic
about the GVN's chances of securing PNTR. "We have overcome
many difficult votes," he said, "and our margin gets better
and better. This one is permanent, and may be harder, but
we will probably be fine." He said the GVN has not yet
counted votes, but feels that the visit of Secretary
Rumsfeld, the President's upcoming visit and other events
"expand the overall picture." Timing is on Vietnam's side,
he said: he had heard from both U.S. and Chinese officials
that Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to the United
States was a failure, which further improves the PNTR
environment for Vietnam.


11. (SBU) The Ambassador cautioned that trade votes in
Congress are always difficult, but that the U.S.-Vietnam
bilateral agreement has a good commercial basis. However,
there are those who do not want to see Vietnam get PNTR or
for the U.S.-Vietnam relationship to advance. Those people
will be pushing human rights issues particularly intensely
in coming months, the Ambassador predicted. Timing is in
fact tight; there is not much time left to secure votes.
The Vietnam vote will need everyone's help and support, he
stressed.


12. (SBU) "We need a simple majority, 51 percent," VFM Bang
replied. The GVN is doing its utmost on the human rights
and religious freedom issues, he said. VFM Bang and Vice
Minister of Public Security Nguyen Van Huong have consulted
regularly on the issue of religious freedom, along with
Chairman Ngo Yen Thi of the Commission on Religious Affairs.
"We have agreed to concentrate on the Northwest Highlands to
get them to adhere to the law and to improve the situation
there the way we did in the Central Highlands," he said.
There are problems, including differences of opinion so
sharp they divide families. "In some places, they say they
have no religious believers. But in the same places, there
are people who say they are religious believers." The
Ambassador and VFM Bang agreed that the likelihood of
Vietnam's removal from the CPC list before the PNTR vote is
nonexistent. VFM Bang complained that Vietnam's continued
presence on the CPC list is difficult for him personally,
because he suffered criticism for signing the letter on
religious freedom and then the USG did not remove Vietnam
from the CPC list. He said he hopes the USG has a clear
understanding that improvements in the Northwest Highlands
will have to come step by step, and will not occur
immediately.


13. (SBU) The Ambassador stressed that for the USG to
recommend the lifting of CPC, there will have to be "visible
progress, such as church openings and registrations, people
openly practicing their religion and discipline of local
officials who violate the ordinance on religion." In
addition, we continue to wait for the province-by-province
breakdown of religious improvements promised by the
Committee on Religious Affairs in earlier meetings. VFM
Bang promised to follow that up.

GENERAL HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE DPV
--------------


14. (SBU) Even more important for PNTR than religious
freedom will be general human rights, the Ambassador said.
Several high-profile political prisoners, including Pham
Hong Son and Nguyen Vu Binh, continue to sit in jail.
Releasing them will be a strong indicator that things are
improving in Vietnam, the Ambassador said; if the GVN has
any intention of doing so, the sooner the better. VFM Bang
said the GVN is working on the issue of the high-profile
prisoners, and hopes to have an answer before the PNTR vote.


15. (SBU) The USG notes with interest the developments
related to the recent re-establishment of the Democratic
Party of Vietnam (DPV) by certain political dissidents, the
Ambassador said. The U.S. Embassy hopes that the lack of a
crackdown on these individuals represents a GVN decision to

HANOI 00001398 004.2 OF 004


expand the political space available to individuals in
Vietnam, which would be a positive development. After a
chilly pause in the conversation, VFM Bang said the DPV
represents an extremely serious issue on which all sides
should be very careful. Recent actions, including the
internet release of the transcript of a meeting between the
DPV and western diplomats is "too much" and could represent
a "break point" in the bilateral relationship. "Sometimes
we can bring issues up for discussion with each other," VFM
Bang elaborated. "And sometimes, the issue is so serious I
can only talk about how serious it is. This is one of those
times." He said he had told the Australian ambassador that
Australian Embassy meetings with the DPV are bad. "The more
you get involved in that, the more you will drive Vietnam
away from you," VFM Bang said. The Ambassador noted that
the GVN was also guilty of releasing confidential meeting
information on the internet, and that the USG objected to
being used by either side for political purposes. "We
support freedom of speech and peaceful political
organization. We are interested in the activities of this
group, but not involved." They are a small group and no
threat to the regime, the Ambassador concluded.


16. (SBU) The Ambassador informed VFM Bang that U.S. Embassy
personnel will be making more trips to the Northwest
Highlands and northern border provinces in coming months as
we try to verify the religious freedom situation for
ourselves. VFM Bang said he has been receiving complaints
from the People's Committee chairmen in the northern
provinces asking him to slow the pace of foreign visits.
"The visits have become too frequent," VFM Bang said, "and
the provinces are suffering from overload." The Ambassador
said that these trips are a necessary part of diplomacy and
asked VFM Bang to assist in convincing the provincial
authorities to facilitate the trips.

PROPERTY ISSUES
--------------


17. (SBU) VFM Bang said that he has talked to officials from
throughout the State Department in his effort to resolve
remaining property issues. He said Vietnam will not link
the outcome of their property search in Washington to the
outcome of the U.S. negotiations in Hanoi, or any other
issue. Vietnam simply wants a legal assurance that they can
search for and acquire a property for their Embassy in
Washington. "We need clear, written legal permission," VFM
Bang said. He said that in the future, the GVN might want
to open a consulate in Houston or Chicago. The Ambassador
said that EAP and OFM are working on a property acquisition
roadmap to help clarify the GVN's concerns, and said this
would be ready in 1-2 weeks. VFM Bang said the GVN has
already lost properties that would have been perfect. One
property on Massachusetts Avenue had been available for USD
9 million, but subsequently was sold to another Embassy and
is now on the market again for USD 20 million. "That is
expensive for us, we cannot lose that much money," VFM Bang
said. The Ambassador commiserated, noting that the Hanoi
People's Committee has kept the United States Government
waiting for a property for ten years.


18. (SBU) VFM Bang also said that the GVN would like to
figure out how to regularize the status of consular officers
working in its office in New York. "We need a note in
writing from the U.S. State Department agreeing that we can
use one officer solely for consular work," VFM Bang said.
The Ambassador noted that this is exactly what the USG has
been asking the GVN for over the last eight years - a note
spelling out the formal rights of U.S. diplomats in Ho Chi
Minh City. "Both sides should have such assurances," the
Ambassador said.


19. (SBU) Comment: VFM Bang was his usual, pragmatic self,
offering possible solutions or promises of information for
virtually all of the issues raised. His behavior when we
talked about the DPV, however, was cold. He answered
questions very slowly and carefully and did not stray from a
formal, guarded script. Where other issues might warrant a
promise to "work on that," the DPV question prompted only a
warning to stay away from a very serious issue. That cannot
be a good sign. End Comment.


MARINE