SCENESETTER FOR SPEAKER HASTERT'S VISIT TO VIETNAM

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 HANOI 000783

SIPDIS

CODEL

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/MLS AND H/EAP

H PLEASE PASS TO THE SPEAKER'S OFFICE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OREP PHUM PGOV PREL ECON ETRD EFIN VM
SUBJECT: SCENESETTER FOR SPEAKER HASTERT'S VISIT TO VIETNAM



1. (SBU) Mr. Speaker: Your visit to Vietnam comes at an
important time in our bilateral relationship. Last year,
the United States and Vietnam commemorated the tenth
anniversary of normalized relations, the highlight of which
was the very successful visit to the United States by Prime
Minister Phan Van Khai. Our two countries are engaged in
dialogue and cooperative efforts across a broad range of
areas, many of which were heretofore considered too
contentious or sensitive to address. Finally, as host of
APEC 2006, Vietnam is preparing to hold the APEC Leaders
Meeting in November, which will include a visit by President
George W. Bush.


2. (SBU) Vietnam's leaders are engaged in intense
preparations for the Tenth Congress of the Vietnamese
Communist Party, which will take place April 18-25. This
congress will be an opportunity for the Party to both
evaluate the last 20 years of economic liberalization and
international integration and set the nation's policies for
the next five years. The congress will also usher in a new
slate of leaders, some of whom may represent more reformist
tendencies than in the past. Against this backdrop, a
modest, but nonetheless refreshing, political debate is
taking place in the press and on the internet that is
raising questions about the role and future of the Communist
Party. While the primacy of the Communist Party is in no
danger, this debate is giving the Vietnamese public a taste
of what an open political discussion is all about, and could
auger well for future political progress.


3. (SBU) Vietnam has traditionally reserved the period
immediately before the Party Congress for visits by
Communist brethren. (A member of the Chinese Communist
Party's Politburo has reportedly asked to come to Hanoi next
week as well.) Agreeing to welcome you at this important
and sensitive time is significant and sends a message about
the growing importance of our bilateral relationship. Your
visit can amplify this by conveying to senior Vietnamese
leaders and the public our desire to engage with Vietnam as
a friend and partner to address mutual concerns.


4. (SBU) There is a growing conviction among senior
Vietnamese leaders that, in addition to being a vital source
of financial and technical assistance and a huge market for
Vietnamese goods, the United States represents a key
counterpart in efforts to advance Vietnam's national
interests, particularly in the areas of trade and
investment. Economic ties are central to the U.S.-Vietnam
bilateral relationship, and Vietnam's strong desire to
accede to the WTO this year (including receiving the
blessing of a favorable PNTR vote) will figure heavily in
your meetings here.


5. (SBU) During your visit, we hope that you will:

-- underscore solid U.S. support for Vietnam's
WTO accession and encourage continued economic reform;

-- suggest that our increasingly overlapping national
interests argue for even greater cooperation and
coordination on a number of global and regional issues of
mutual concern, including the rise of China, HIV/AIDS and
Avian Influenza;

-- stress that Vietnam's efforts to improve its human rights
and religious freedom situations will send an important
message to the American people and the international
community about Vietnam's commitment to address our
concerns;

-- and, thank the Government of Vietnam for their assistance
in accounting for those lost during the Vietnam War and urge
further progress.

WTO Accession
--------------


6. (SBU) At the top of Vietnam's foreign policy agenda is
its desire to accede to the WTO prior to the APEC Leaders
Meeting in November. The commitment of President Bush and
the United States to Vietnam's WTO accession remains rock-
solid, but the deal must be on the right commercial terms.
What remain are a number of technical issues that both

HANOI 00000783 002 OF 004


negotiating teams need to work out. Significantly,
Vietnam's leadership is aware that time is running out, and
that a bilateral deal must be completed soon.

Increasing Overlap of National Interests: China
-------------- ---


7. (SBU) Vietnam's leadership increasingly recognizes that
our two countries share a number of regional and global
interests, and this is spurring progress in bilateral ties.
First among these is the shared interest in ensuring that
China rises peacefully and is not allowed to dominate the
region or regional organizations. Although the subject of
China may not come up directly, you may hear that Vietnam
welcomes the role of the United States in the region and
urges us to strengthen our relations with the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN),including expanding trade
and investment ties. We value our partnership with ASEAN
and its members (Burma excepted) and we look forward to
working with these countries to address transnational issues
of mutual concern.

Health Cooperation: HIV/AIDS...
--------------


8. (SBU) Another area in which U.S. and Vietnamese national
interests overlap, and where we are expanding our
cooperative ties, is the field of health. Vietnam is one of
fifteen countries in President Bush's Emergency Plan for
AIDS Relief. Vietnam's HIV/AIDS problem is largely a drug-
centered epidemic that is now moving into the general
population. We will provide Vietnam with USD 34 million in
Fiscal Year 2006 assistance to support prevention, care and
treatment programs to combat HIV/AIDS. With this funding,
U.S.-supported programs will provide an estimated 3,500
people with ARV treatment, HIV counseling and testing for
97,000 individuals and care for 1,500 orphans and vulnerable
children. In Fiscal Year 2007, our funding is expected to
be over USD 50 million.

...and Avian Influenza
--------------


9. (SBU) Avian Influenza is an issue of critical concern,
with the potential to trigger a global pandemic. From 2004
to 2006, the United States has committed USD 24 million
through HHS, USAID and USDA to improve Vietnam's basic
veterinary and health systems to contain Avian Influenza in
Vietnam, where 50 million poultry have been culled, and 42
human deaths recorded. U.S. industry is also playing a role
in this effort.

Assistance, Bilateral Cooperation Continue to Expand
-------------- --------------


10. (SBU) U.S. assistance to Vietnam is becoming as varied
as the areas in which our two countries cooperate. In
addition to working with Vietnam to combat HIV/AIDS and
Avian Influenza, other highlights of our assistance and
cooperative programs are:

-- USAID is supporting Vietnam's transition to an open
market economy by strengthening trade liberalization,
particularly the legal and trade reforms needed to implement
commitments in the U.S.-Vietnam Bilateral Trade Agreement
and WTO accession through a USD three million program.

-- Our disability assistance of USD 3.5 million focuses on
select vulnerable groups, including victims of war injuries,
disabilities and disasters.

-- We support Vietnam's counterterrorism capacity with
police training provided by the International Law
Enforcement Academy (ILEA) in Bangkok and through military
exchanges. We are seeking to expand bilateral cooperation
to combat trade in illegal narcotics. We also support anti-
trafficking programs run by NGOs operating at the borders of
China and Cambodia. Furthermore, we provide assistance in
humanitarian demining, clearance of unexploded ordnance and
measures to secure trade.

-- Our military-to-military cooperation program with Vietnam
is growing. Senior leader exchanges, U.S. Navy ships visits

HANOI 00000783 003 OF 004


and bilateral military dialogues are becoming routine.
Vietnam has entered our International Military Education
Training (IMET) program that will not only provide English
language training to Vietnamese military officers, but also
will expose them to our professional and cultural values.
These developments will foster our ability to cooperate in
humanitarian and other peacekeeping operations. It is
positive for both our bilateral relationship and for
regional stability as well.

-- Finally, through a combination of Fulbright grants and
the Vietnam Education Foundation (VEF),the United States
sponsors over 100 students yearly for graduate study in the
United States, primarily in science and technology. The
Fulbright program is the largest in Asia. The VEF was
established with the unpaid proceeds of loans extended to
the old South Vietnamese government. FY 2005 assistance
under the Fulbright Program and the VEF was USD ten million.

U.S. Firms Can Help Improve Infrastructure
--------------


11. (SBU) Vietnam's need to modernize and improve its
infrastructure creates opportunities for U.S. firms.
The quality and cost of Vietnam's telecom, ports,
transportation, waste management and supply of fresh water
are a concern for any investor. The foundation of the
information highway is a competitive telecommunications
system, a glaring weakness here. Electricity blackouts are
also a major disincentive for any new investment. Vietnam
must also improve its handling of solid and industrial
waste. Already some manufacturing firms are putting their
expansion plans on hold because the Port of Saigon will
reach capacity by December 2006. U.S. firms are actively
pursuing contracts to address many of these needs.

Religious Freedom, Human Rights, and Other Key Issues
-------------- --------------


12. (SBU) Vietnam remains an authoritarian, one-Party
State with little room for political dissent, although
recent reforms have made Vietnam a freer and more open
society than it was as few as five years ago. The press and
the National Assembly (Vietnam's Congress) are increasingly
able to take on subjects such as corruption, fraud and bad
policymaking. Modest efforts are underway to devolve power
away from the Central Government and increase public
accountability. However, several prisoners of concern
remain behind bars. Although improving, the treatment of
ethnic minorities in the Central and Northwest Highlands
remains a concern to the USG.


13. (SBU) The religious freedom picture in Vietnam is
improving in significant ways, but problems remain.
Although Vietnam has promulgated several important new
policies on religion designed to facilitate religious
practice, consistent, nationwide implementation remains
problematic. The Vietnamese are keenly interested in being
removed from the list of Countries of Particular Concern
(CPC) for religious freedom violations, and will likely
argue that their efforts over the past year to advance
religious freedom merit the lifting of the CPC designation.


14. (SBU) Other key issues include the fullest possible
accounting for our men lost during the Vietnam War and Agent
Orange. Vietnamese cooperation on the MIA issue remains
solid. This year we resumed joint recovery field activities
in the Central Highlands, and now are working out details to
gain both greater and new access to archival records that
may help our work to resolve the 1,382 remaining cases of
those lost during the war era. Conversely, with little or
no scientific evidence, the Government and media routinely
depict virtually all of Vietnam's 1.8 million disabled as
"victims of Agent Orange." We do not accept that label, but
since 1991, the United States has provided over USD 32
million to address the problems of the disabled here and we
continue to look for ways to help address the dioxin
contamination problem.

15 (SBU) I and my Country Team are looking forward to your
visit. We stand ready to do anything we can to make your
time in Vietnam as productive as possible.


HANOI 00000783 004 OF 004


MARINE