PROPOSED REPLY TO GVN CONSULAR TRAVEL NOTIFICATION

UNCLAS HO CHI MINH CITY 000042 SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: AMGT CMGT PREL KFRD VM SUBJECT: PROPOSED REPLY TO GVN CONSULAR TRAVEL NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENT REF: A) 2/12/97 ANDERSON LETTER B) 2/20/97 PHUC LETTER ¶1. (U) This is an action request for EAP and CA. Please see paragraph 9. Summary -------------- ¶2. (SBU) In a diplomatic note dated December 22, 2005, the Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) External Relations Office (ERO) complained that the Consulate General was not informing the ERO of the names and addresses of Vietnamese citizens consular officers might need to meet when conducting normal operations outside of the formally recognized consular district (i.e., HCMC only, not other provinces). This note appears to be motivated by some local officials' objections to consular officers performing fraud prevention investigations in their locales. The Consulate General proposes to reply to this note by confirming that it is operating according to the 1997 exchange of letters (Refs A, B) that established the HCMC and San Francisco Consulates General. Fraud Prevention Investigation Difficulties and Necessities -------------- -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Approximately three-fourths of the fraud prevention site visits performed by HCMC consular officers and Fraud Prevention Unit (FPU) staff involve suspected sham divorces by immigrant visa applicants. The success of these site visits (approximately 80 percent of which determine conclusively that the applicant engaged in a sham divorce) depends upon an element of surprise. Recent cases in which local Vietnamese officials in Thua Thien-Hue and other provinces have harassed and briefly detained FPU investigators (e.g., Ref C) also involved the officials warning visa applicants of consular officers' presence in the area, which made the site visits useless if they were possible at all. The recent frictions between FPU investigators and some local officials seem to have motivated the ERO to send its latest diplomatic note concerning the process of notifying the ERO about consular travel. Travel Notification Procedures -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Department will recall that the GVN does not recognize HCMC's consular district as extending beyond the city, pending a promised, allegedly imminent change in GVN rules. However, the GVN committed to facilitating official consulate travel from Hue on south, subject to prior notification. For representational travel by the CG or reporting travel, we generally notify ERO and the province several weeks in advance in order to secure official meetings. We usually let the province know informally what unofficial meetings we plan but we do not seek permission or ask assistance with those meetings. In the case of consular fraud investigations, we send a note to the External Relations office in HCMC two working days prior to a trip notifying only the travelers and the provinces to be visited, for "routine consular business." The External Relations Office's Diplomatic Notes -------------- --- ¶5. (SBU) The English text of ERO's note 5616/NV-LS-QHLS follows. Begin Text: Complimentary opening...and as a follow-up to diplomatic note 3250/NV/LS dated July 19, 2005, hereby discusses the following issue: Recently, the Consulate General has sent many delegations of consular officials on routine consular work trips to localities outside of the consular district. The Consulate General's diplomatic notes before the trips only informed the names of consular officials, time and destinations but did not specify either the content of the work or name and address of the Vietnamese citizens that consular officials intended to meet. This fact has created difficulties for security protection and local cooperation when the delegations arrived. Therefore, the Ho Chi Minh City Office of External Relations hereby requests the Consulate General to provide future diplomatic notes on routine consular work trips in adherence to the agreement between Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Consular Section and the United States Embassy in Hanoi. (Please see attached diplomatic note number 523/LS-QH dated May 26, 2005 from the Consular Section, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.) The HCMC Office of External Relations hopes to receive cooperation from the Consulate General in the above-mentioned issue and once again avails itself of this opportunity to renew to the General Consulate the assurances of its highest consideration. END TEXT. ¶6. (SBU) MFA's Diplomatic Note 523/LS-QH of May 26, 2005 to Embassy Hanoi: Begin Text: Complimentary opening In accordance with the UN Vienna Convention in 1963 on consular relations, Vietnamese government's regulations as well as bilateral agreement on activities of the General Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam has always been ready to facilitate the US Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City to carry out its activities outside of its consular district. However, in order to enable Vietnamese authorities to cooperate, assist, and provide security for the Consulate's General delegations outside of the consular district, we ask that the United States Embassy requests the United States Consulate General in HCMC to inform HCMC Office of External Relations in advance the proposed schedule before every trip, in adherence to the Dip note numbered 142/NG-LS that Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent to the Embassy on May 9, 2001. End Text. ¶7. (SBU) MFA Diplomatic Note No. 142/NG-LS of May 9, 2001 (text below) was sent to all diplomatic missions. It defines the consular district of consulates in HCMC as the urban and suburban areas of HCMC. It specifies consular officers must seek permission by diplomatic note and receive an affirmative response before conducting consular business elsewhere. Post does not follow this practice. ¶8. (U) English text of MFA Diplomatic Note No. 146/NG-LS of May 9, 2001 sent to all embassies and consulates. Complimentary opening. Over the past period, a number of foreign consular offices, especially those based in the area of Ho Chi Minh City, conducted activities outside their consular districts without asking the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for permission in advance. In order to facilitate the activities of the foreign consular offices in Vietnam in accordance with Vietnamese laws and international laws and practices, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would like to reiterate the following principles: ¶1. The consular district of a foreign consular office in Vietnam is clearly specified in the Consular Acceptance Document issued by the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam to the chief of the consular office. The consular district of foreign consular offices in Ho Chi Minh City is Ho Chi Minh City with its urban and suburban areas. ¶2. Pursuant to the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, consular officers shall only perform their consular function within their consular district. ¶3. In cases of necessity, only when permitted by the Government of Vietnam shall consular officers have the right to perform their function outside their consular district. Procedures to apply for such permission are as follows: For consular offices based in Hue and northwards, their Embassies in Ha Noi shall send their diplomatic notes to the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. For consular offices based in Da Nang and southwards, the consular offices shall directly send their diplomatic notes to the Foreign Affairs Department of Ho Chi Minh City. Each diplomatic note should clearly specify its request regarding time, location(s) to be visited, visit program, the consular officer(s) authorized to perform consular function, means of transport (if any). Within 05 working days, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (its Consular Department, the Foreign Affairs Department of Ho Chi Minh City) shall consider and reply via a diplomatic note (giving its approval or disapproval). The consular officer(s) shall only be permitted to perform consular function outside the consular district after being approved by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In special urgent cases, the foreign diplomatic missions and consular offices can fax their requests in advance and send their official diplomatic notes later. The Consular Department and the Foreign Affairs Department of Ho Chi Minh City shall consider and reply as soon as possible (right after receiving the requests). End Text. ACTION REQUEST - ConGen HCMC's Proposed Reply -------------- ¶9. (SBU) The ERO's assertion that notification of consular travel outside the formally recognized consular district must include provision of the names and addresses of Vietnamese citizens to be visited is nowhere mentioned or implied in the 1997 exchange of notes establishing the consulates general. This appears to be nothing more than a unilateral assertion by both the MFA and the ERO, one which has been repeated in periodic diplomatic notes to all HCMC consulates and which we have and shall continue to ignore. Consulate General proposes the following reply to the ERO's note and requests Department concurrence. Embassy Hanoi has cleared this message. Begin Text. The Consulate General of the United States of America in Ho Chi Minh City presents its compliments to the Ho Chi Minh City Office of External Relations and has the honor to reply to diplomatic note 5616/NV-LS-QHLS dated December 22, 2005. With respect to its routine consular work in the provinces of Thua Thien Hue and southwards, the Consulate General shall continue to operate according to the exchanges of letters establishing consulates general in Ho Chi Minh City and San Francisco between Charge d'Affaires Desaix Anderson and Assistant Foreign Minister Bui Hong Phuc in 1997. The Consulate General has the honor to recall that the Socialist Republic of Vietnam committed to facilitate consular activities by the U.S. Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City from Thua Thien-Hue south, pending a Government of Vietnam decision formally to recognize this area as the Ho Chi Minh City consular district. In this regard, the Consulate General requests an update on the status of this decision which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had informed the Embassy of the United States was to have been resolved several years ago. The Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the United States of America further agreed that the sending country would inform the receiving country of its intention to conduct normal consular operations outside of the formally recognized consular district as the need might arise for such operations. The Consulate General once again avails itself of this opportunity to renew to the Ho Chi Minh City External Relations Office the assurances of its highest consideration. End Text. WINNICK NNNN