PUBLIC SECURITY VICE MINISTER PROMISES PROGRESS ON

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 HANOI 002381

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STATE FOR EAP/MLS AND DRL/IRF

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM KIRF PREL PGOV VM
SUBJECT: PUBLIC SECURITY VICE MINISTER PROMISES PROGRESS ON
RELIGIOUS ISSUES

Ref: A) Hanoi 395

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1. (SBU) Summary: IRF Ambassador John Hanford met Vice Minister of
Public Security Nguyen Van Huong August 18 to discuss the GVN's
recent record on religious freedom and to urge the GVN to expedite
further progress. Ambassador Hanford provided a list of ten
short-term actions that the GVN could undertake in order to show its
continued commitment to improve respect for religious freedom in
Vietnam. VM Huong discussed the GVN's track record on improving
religious freedom, reaffirmed its commitment to creating conditions
for freedom of religion, cited positive developments and offered
explanations for lagging progress in some areas. His reaction to
the suggested short-term actions proposed by Ambassador Hanford was
positive and he promised quick action on prisoner releases. End
Summary.

Ambassador Hanford acknowledges GVN progress ...
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2. (SBU) United States Ambassador-at-Large for International
Religious Freedom John Hanford, accompanied by Ambassador Marine,
met August 18 with GVN Deputy Minister of Public Security Nguyen Van
Huong. Ambassador Hanford began by noting that the issue of
religious freedom had become a positive aspect of our bilateral
relations, a message he had conveyed publicly in the United States.
He said that during his meetings with various religious groups in
Vietnam, all were unanimous in suggesting that conditions have
generally improved. While some problems still remain, these groups
pointed to many problems that were partially or fully solved.
Ambassador Hanford added that the purpose of his trip was to speed
up the pace of progress on remaining areas of concern.

... but urges quicker action on remaining problems
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3. (SBU) Ambassador Hanford recalled a February 2006 meeting with
the Vice Minister at which he had noted that the problem of
registration of places of worship in the north had not been
adequately addressed by the GVN (Ref A). VM Huong's explanation of
the situation had helped Ambassador Hanford to understand some of
the challenges related to registrations in that region. The USG
would like to see what the GVN can do during the next six weeks to
show it is acting to resolve this and other remaining problems.


4. (SBU) To this end, Ambassador Hanford presented a list of
suggested actions consistent with the GVN's existing commitment to
improve religious freedom. Together with this list, Ambassador
Hanford also proposed the idea of a letter from MFA VM Le Van Bang
that would discuss the GVN's positive record on improving religious
freedom and would lay out a roadmap of future steps that the GVN
would take in order to continue improving the situation. This
letter would be an informal, non-public statement of the GVN's
intent to continue implementation of its commitments as set forth in
the May 2005 exchange of letters on religious freedom.

Ten recommendations for short-term action
--------------


5. (SBU) Ambassador Hanford went through the list of ten suggested
actions, calling for quick GVN action to demonstrate continued
progress on religious freedom. The suggested actions included:
registration of 100 congregations in the north, as well as
registration of groups elsewhere in the country that are already in
the pipeline; clarification of registration procedures; amnesty for
prisoner of conscience Ma Van Bay; resolution of problems between
churches and local officials in Thanh Hoa Province; creation of a
single GVN point of contact to whom individuals and groups with
registration problems could report; facilitation of a dialogue
between ECVN religious groups and the GVN Committee on Religious
Affairs (CRA); approval of pending requests for religious training
courses; and dissemination of a public notice to local and
provincial officials that makes clear their responsibility for
facilitating the free practice of religion, including
registrations.


6. (SBU) Concerning the amnesty of Ma Van Bay, Ambassador Hanford
mentioned he understood the complications of this case, as well as
the conditions necessary to qualify for amnesty. His understanding
of the case is that Bay was arrested because he had been found with
church collection proceeds (approximately USD 9) in his home and
local officials misunderstood the situation.

Vice Minister: GVN making progress on religion issues ...
--------------


7. (SBU) VM Huong said he was pleased with the list of suggested
actions. He recognized that some U.S. Members of Congress have used
Vietnam's status as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) to try to

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impede Vietnam's WTO accession. However, because the CPC
designation was a unilateral U.S. decision, many Vietnamese did not
see any need to respond to U.S. demands. Moreover, Vietnam has for
many years protected religious freedom: over 20 million Vietnamese
had joined religious groups and do not face problems in their
activities. There are problems for some small evangelical groups in
the Central Highlands who had contacts with the FULRO separatist
movement, but that there is no problem with "normal" Protestant
groups, VM Huong said. (Note: FULRO was a separatist group that
sought the creation of a separate ethnic minority homeland in the
Central Highlands. End Note.)


8. (SBU) The GVN will successfully carry out all the items mentioned
by Ambassador Hanford, the Vice Minister continued. The purpose of
the GVN is to serve the interests of the Vietnamese people. After
the end of thirty years of war, the biggest problems facing the
country were poverty and hunger and the "consequences of war" still
faced by over 100,000 families. (Note: The reference to
consequences of war is GVN shorthand for Agent Orange/dioxin. End
Note.) The Vietnamese people had recovered through their own
efforts, without the U.S. assistance received by other countries.
In order to have better bilateral relations, the United States and
Vietnam need to look at the overall situation. As living conditions
improve, the spiritual life of people is also becoming better. The
pace of development is fast, with tribal people in the mountainous
areas learning from the Kinh majority in the deltas and cities.


9. (SBU) According to VM Huong, there is no reason for the GVN to
prevent tribal groups from practicing their religions. Since 2000,
the GVN has successfully separated "normal" religious groups from
FULRO-related groups. The USG does not support anti-GVN activity in
the Central Highlands, he said. According to a GVN decree, local
officials are required to allow freedom of religious practices, and
in 2004, the National Assembly passed the Ordinance on Religion and
Belief. Statistics demonstrate the development of Protestant
activities in the north and the south. Currently, there are
thousands of people engaged in Protestant activities. In Dak Lak
Province, progress has been slower because more time was needed to
separate "normal" churches from other groups. But VM Huong
expressed his optimism about implementing the law on religion. In
June, the Vice Minister spoke to officials in the central region to
check on the registration of Protestant groups and urged them to
work faster. However, some separatist elements still remain,
preventing people from registering and even threatening leaders, VM
Huong said.

... but faces challenges in Northwest Highlands
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10. (SBU) In the Northwest Highlands, VM Huong said it is not clear
which groups are actually Protestant. Compared to the situation in
the Central Highlands, the number of believers in the Northwest
Highlands is small, approximately 110,000 persons. A number of
factors have contributed to the slower progress on registrations in
the Northwest Highlands. Because the definition of "Protestant" is
not clear among these people, officials have to identify and clarify
their status. Officials have problems with communication since many
local people speak their own dialects and registration efforts
require interpreters. Moreover, people often live in remote areas
requiring more than a day to reach. Consideration must be given to
the issue of conflict within families, and people must be made aware
of the need to allow family members to follow their own beliefs. At
the same time, traditional worship practices must be respected.
Some religious groups create a financial burden for their members.
Also, some groups adopt superstitious beliefs, e.g., after the death
of a leader, the entire village would die. The GVN is aware of
these problems, but efforts will proceed faster because the GVN
knows the Northwest region well. During the past six months,
registrations were issued to eight groups as an experiment, all of
which were doing well. The GVN respected people's beliefs and
facilitated their religious activities as part of overall GVN policy
to improve living conditions. VM Huong recognized the contribution
of Christian and Buddhist groups to social activities such as
orphanages, and said the government encourages people to engage in
such activities.


11. (SBU) Regarding a roadmap of future GVN actions to promote
religious freedom, VM Huong said religious freedom is always
integrated into plans such as poverty alleviation, homebuilding,
fighting hunger, electrification and road-building. Once people had
electricity, they could practice their beliefs and pastors could
teach them about their beliefs. The GVN has a five-year
comprehensive plan for the Northwest Highlands to provide roads and
electricity to all villages in the region. Cultural and religious
activities would be a part of this plan.

GVN would cooperate on implementing suggested actions
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12. (SBU) Responding directly to the ten actions proposed by
Ambassador Hanford, VM Huong said he supports them and would show
cooperation. It should not be a problem to register even more than
100 churches in the Northwest Highlands by the end of the year. On
August 24, VM Huong would meet with all provincial directors of
public security and direct them to expedite registration procedures.
The purpose of registration is to locate religious groups and to
know how many churches there are. The process has been slow for two
reasons. First, officials in the north understand old practices,
but do not completely understand the new policy on religion.
Second, some officials may be indifferent to registration of
Protestant groups. Some Protestants have complained outsiders
arrived and laughed at their unfamiliar form of worship. In some
cases, outside pastors have come to a place and not cooperated
properly with local authorities, leading the authorities to think
the churches were doing something wrong. Local officials have been
concerned about persons coming from the Mekong Delta to conduct drug
trafficking. That was the origin of the term "illegal preacher."
Regarding the amnesty of Ma Van Bay, VM Huong said he could not
promise, but that the GVN would try hard. He also said that, while
he could not be specific, all four persons considered to be
prisoners of conscience by the U.S. would be released.


13. (SBU) The Vice Minister closed by saying Vietnam is a
peace-loving country that respects the interests of its people. The
development of Vietnamese society, together with the development of
the U.S.-Vietnam bilateral relationship, would help to solve the
problem of religious freedom. The Vietnamese do not want others to
do their work for them. VM Huong expressed his hope that every
Vietnamese person would have the right to follow his/her own belief
and wants the United States to view the GVN as respecting people's
freedom.


14. (U) Ambassador Hanford cleared this message.

MARINE