(SBU) Deputy Secretary Negroponte's Dinner with Vietnamese

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HANOI 001056 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR EAP/MLS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OVIP NEGROPONTE JOHN PREL PGOV PHUM OPRC ECON ETRD EAGR, SCUL, SENV, VM SUBJECT: (SBU) Deputy Secretary Negroponte's Dinner with Vietnamese Civil Society leaders. HANOI 00001056 001.2 OF 002 SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED. FOR INTERNAL USG USE. NOT SUITABLE FOR INTERNET POSTING. ¶1. (U) September 11, 2008; 19:00 p.m.; Hanoi, Vietnam. ¶2. (SBU) Participants: U.S. The Deputy Secretary Amb. Michael Michalak Amb. Scot Marciel, EAP DAS DCM Virginia Palmer D Special Assistant Kaye Lee D Special Assistant Ted Wittenstein Press Officer Angela Aggeler (Embassy Notetaker) VIETNAM: Benjamin Wilkinson, Fulbright Economic Teaching Program Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan, VietnamNet founder Dr. Hoang Ngoc Giao, Vietnam National University School of Law Mr. Huy Duc, Blogger and Editor Saigon Marketing Dr. Do Duc Dinh, President, Economic & Social Research Foundation Dr. Le Danh Doanh, Senior Economist ¶3. (SBU) SUMMARY. The Deputy Secretary led a lively and unusually frank discussion with civil society leaders from around Vietnam during dinner at Ambassador Michalak's residence on September 11. The group, including a renowned economist, a legal reformer, two respected journalists and academic experts, covered the waterfront on Vietnam's rapidly evolving socio-economic environment and the challenges it faces. The group discussed tensions with China, environmental concerns, media freedom focusing on the internet, and the economy as areas that need particular and immediate attention. The Deputy Secretary's experiences as a young officer in Saigon in the 1960s, his work on the Paris Peace Talks and continuing engagement on Vietnam issues framed the evening, and the openness of the guests highlighted the gap between those committed to bringing about crucial reforms in Vietnam in areas like climate change, investment and education and the hardliners in the Communist Party clinging to the status quo. END SUMMARY. -------------- CHINA TOPS THE MENU -------------- 4.(SBU) The first issue the Deputy Secretary's Vietnamese interlocutors wanted to raise was China. They called the appearance on a number of Chinese blogs of a 31-day plan to invade Vietnam, "psychological warfare," but, the journalists noted, most Vietnamese believe these Chinese sites were acting with the approval of the government in Beijing. The ongoing neuralgia over the Spratly and Paracel Islands is another source of enmity towards China and one guest noted that while relations with China are officially good, that "informally, and under the surface, they are bad." Another asked what President Bush had meant in his joint statement with Prime Minister Khiem on Vietnam's "territorial integrity" and if that was a direct reference to the dispute in the South China Sea. DAS Marciel pointed out that the East Sea dispute (as it is termed by the Vietnamese) is an ideal subject for ASEAN, though with several members also claiming portions of the area, it was an unquestionably complicated one. -------------- -------------- ENVIRONMENT, ECONOMY, AND EDUCATION - ISSUES OF URGENCY -------------- -------------- ¶5. (SBU) Vietnam has ignored the environment, observed one guest, and will suffer in all sectors unless it takes immediate action. From major urban areas simply burying solid waste in the countryside, to industrial run-off and resulting dead rivers, neither the government nor the private sector has paid attention to the consequences of rapid growth and development on the environment. The costs of implementing protective measures that would allow foreign, particularly U.S. companies, to meet their environmental standards, may slow investment. But such as pollutants coming downstream from Burma and Laos, the damning of upstream water sources, or the rising sea levels in the Mekong Delta also pose a threat. The Ambassador noted that the Mekong Delta is very similar to the Mississippi Delta and that a group from the U.S. will be coming in the next few months to work with experts at the University of Can Tho to assist the Government of Vietnam in addressing the threat of rising sea levels. ¶6. (SBU). The Deputy Secretary asked the group if Vietnam could HANOI 00001056 002.2 OF 002 survive a free trade agreement and all heartily agreed that, while such an agreement would be difficult to achieve, it would have an extremely positive long-term effect. Currently, one expert observed, a small and under-funded private sector creates most of the jobs while the State-owned sector absorbs over 50% of funding while producing few jobs or exports. The agricultural sector is an area in which expanded commercialization has reaped great rewards, noted another. Vietnam is now the largest exporter of pepper and cashews in the world, and second largest exporter of coffee. ¶7. (SBU) Some problems that Vietnam faces, including several economic ones, can be solved with the stroke of the pen, said one academic. Education is not one of those. The GVN is clearly committed to growing its economy, but is it equally committed to taking the steps necessary to fixing its dysfunctional education system, creating the conditions necessary to keep students returning from overseas study in academia and ensuring graduates have skills needed in the economy? The group welcomed the Ambassador's initiatives on education, including creation of the bilateral task force. The Deputy Secretary emphasized that U.S. participants came not only from the government, but from academia and business, and that such a combination was necessary to creating a workable road map for enhanced education cooperation, increased academic exchanges, and possible creation of an international standard American model university in Vietnam. It all boils down to governance, observed one academic, and whether American partners would be allowed a merit-based system with autonomy and accountability. The Ambassador reiterated that all these issues would be addressed by the task force when it met in two weeks. -------------- CHALLENGES OF RESTRICTING THE INTERNET -------------- ¶8. (SBU) The Ambassador asked the journalists about a draft order being reviewed at the Ministry of Information and Technology that will seek to place restrictions on the internet and which particularly targets blogs. One journalist said that any new directives would not change the current situation in any way, because the GVN can only be reactive in its efforts against internet content of it disapproves of. "The only way the Communist Party can control the internet," this former Party official observed, "is to eliminate it from Vietnam. The Party lost its monopoly on information with the introduction of the internet and it is far too late to turn back now." Too many Vietnamese rely on it every day, observed another, including the Government. Michalak CLASSIFICATION 4 CLASSIFICATION CLASSIFICATION