VIETNAM: ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL'S CALL ON

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 HANOI 000243

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SUBJECT: VIETNAM: ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL'S CALL ON
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER VU KHOAN


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Sensitive but unclassified protect accordingly.


1. (SBU) Summary and Introduction: On January 13,
Assistant Secretary Christopher R. Hill met with Deputy
Prime Minister Vu Khoan. The Deputy Prime Minister
laid out a roadmap of five steps to prepare for the
visit of President Bush in November: work to close
bilateral WTO market access negotiations in the first
quarter, set up a political consultative mechanism to
oversee preparations, review deliverables, expand
humanitarian cooperation and settle outstanding issues
such as the Country of Particular Concern (CPC)
designation. Assistant Secretary Hill suggested that
Vice Foreign Minister Le Van Bang direct the
consultations, called for conclusion of the WTO talks,
expressed the desire to discuss regional issues and
noted that APEC issues would also need to be included.
A/S Hill said he would return to Hanoi in the spring to
continue preparations for the President's visit. End
summary.


2. (SBU) EAP Assistant Secretary Christopher R. Hill,
accompanied by Ambassador Marine, met with Deputy Prime
Minister Vu Khoan on January 13. Vietnam's Assistant
Minister for Foreign Affairs Ambassador Nguyen Duc Hung
also attended. Expressing satisfaction with the
development of bilateral relations, A/S Hill
congratulated the DPM on Vietnam's economic
achievements. The DPM concurred with A/S Hill's
assessment that relations are going well, but pointed
out that there is more to do. Remarking that Vietnam
will host APEC in 2006, he said that he was pleased
that President Bush would come to Vietnam. Prime
Minister Phan Van Khai's visit to Washington last year
had been a great success and a high mark in bilateral
relations. It is therefore important to maintain this
momentum in the run-up to the President's visit to
ensure that relations will move to a higher level.


3. (SBU) Since the focus of the 2006 relationship would
be preparations for President Bush's visit, Vu Khoan
enumerated a roadmap of five concrete steps.
Vietnam's top priority is concluding the bilateral WTO
negotiations. Pleased that the U.S. team will come to
Vietnam next week, DPM Khoan noted that these
negotiations are not only important to Vietnam, but are
in the best interest of promoting bilateral relations.
For this reason Vietnam's team had been instructed to
do its utmost to conclude the negotiations early. The
two negotiating teams will hopefully bear in mind that
Vietnam is ready to go further within the framework of
current WTO rules, especially with respect to its level
of development, but Vietnam hopes that the U.S. team
will not seek to impose conditions from Free Trade
Agreements or the unconcluded Doha Round. The DPM
clarified that he does not intend to shirk any existing
WTO rules, but to avoid future possible rules, he
stressed. Completing the bilateral negotiations in the
first quarter of this year would be very good.


4. (SBU) To prepare for the President's visit, the
Deputy Prime Minister issued another call for the
bilateral political consultations that the Prime
Minister had proposed in June in Washington. Such
consultations could take place in Hanoi or Washington
at a level subject to agreement by both sides. The two
countries would need to review which agreements could
be concluded during the President's visit, such as the
bilateral maritime agreement reached in principle in
December 2005. On humanitarian issues, the DPM
expressed satisfaction with bilateral cooperation on
POW/MIA accounting and HIV-AIDS. Vietnam welcomes U.S.
support on avian influenza and hopes for even more
cooperation in this area. It is important to clear up
any outstanding issues prior to the President's visit,
such as Vietnam's designation as a Country of
Particular Concern. Vietnam is prepared to discuss
this matter in order to find a solution. While there
are other issues, these are the ones needing attention

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before November, the DPM emphasized. Exchanges between
legislators is another way to boost relations. People-
to-people ties are also important. DPM Khoan expressed
his desire to work closely with the Assistant Secretary
and the Ambassador to prepare for President Bush's trip
to Vietnam. Cooperation with the United States is
necessary for the APEC Summit to be successful, he
concluded.


5. (SBU) Observing that 2005 had been a very busy year,
A/S Hill said that there is potential for a rich
harvest in 2006, but there is much work to do. On WTO
accession, the U.S. side would also be giving some
clear instructions to the U.S. negotiating team.
Success in the coming week is important and critical in
the next few weeks because this is a Congressional
election year. The bilateral WTO agreement will be of
great importance to U.S. firms as well as to Vietnamese
firms. Trade has risen dramatically since the
Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) took effect and
investment is also rising. A/S Hill called on the DPM
to help make the negotiations for the bilateral
agreement move forward. He voiced support for the
DPM's proposal for a systematic review of bilateral
relations and suggested that MFA Vice Minister Le Van
Bang head the GVN delegation. The review would need to
cover bilateral issues, APEC issues and regional
concerns. A/S Hill also praised Vietnam's rapid
economic growth rate and its efforts on AI.

Regional Issues
--------------


6. (SBU) DPM Khoan said that regional issues are of
great importance. Some regional developments had not
been seen in the previous century, such as the rise of
China. Vietnam and its neighbors pay a lot of
attention to their relations with China. New forums
such as the East Asia Summit are emerging. Relations
between China and Japan were also important. While
both are Vietnam's friends, sometimes it is torn
between them on issues such as UN Security Council
enlargement. New developments in the region require
new attitudes. Given such important changes, the U.S.
role is key. More attention from the United States is
important; otherwise, other players will fill the
vacuum.


7. (SBU) A/S Hill pledged to pay greater attention to
ASEAN and said that Secretary Rice will attend the next
ASEAN Regional Forum in the Philippines. The United
States wants to work with China and Japan, but not to
compete with them. Relations with China are good, but
the rising trade surplus is unsustainable. Laid-off
U.S. workers tend to blame China for their job losses,
even those resulting from exports from other countries.
On the East Asia Summit, A/S Hill expressed the desire
for the EAS to be open and transparent so that no one
concludes it is meant to exclude other countries. He
expressed concern about Burma, which he termed "in
another world." On Cambodia, the United States is
concerned about Hun Sen's recent decisions to arrest
government critics. The many tough issues before us
will require much hard work in 2006.

Human Right and Religious Freedom, CPC
--------------


8. (SBU) A/S Hill pressed for the DPM to work to make
the upcoming visit of DRL A/S Lowenkron successful
following the model of the successful visit by
Congressman Chris Smith. More progress on human rights
and religious freedom is necessary. The United States
wants to resolve these issues so as not to burden the
bilateral relationship.


9. (SBU) The DPM noted that it had not been easy to
allow (elderly dissident) Hoang Minh Chinh to go to the
United States for medical treatment and expressed

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concern about Chinh's public criticism of Vietnam.
This cannot be allowed, he said. He expressed
willingness to have a dialogue about these issues,
noting that Vietnam does not want them to become an
obstacle to the larger relationship. A/S Hill
responded that openness made Vietnam look stronger and
more confident.


10. (SBU) A/S Hill said that he would be back in the
spring to work on the preparations for the President's
trip. The American people's impression of Vietnam is
very positive, and this is good for investment as
American firms take note of their customers' views.
Vietnam's economy is a rising star, one in which U.S.
firms want to participate. Concluding, the DPM said he
is pleased that the United States will have a new
embassy in Hanoi.


11. (U) Participants:

United States
--------------

Assistant Secretary Christopher R. Hill
Ambassador Michael W. Marine
EAP Special Assistant Kamala Lakhdhir
Pol/C Marc Knapper
Econ/C Sam Watson (notetaker)

Vietnam
--------------

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Khoan
Assistant Foreign Minister Nguyen Duc Hung
Americas Department Deputy Director Nguyen Anh Dzung
U.S. Desk Officer Lai Thai Binh


12. (U) A/S Hill has cleared this message.

BOARDMAN