OLYMPIC-SIZE YAWN MASKS REAL ANXIETIES

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HANOI 001182

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

EAP/MLS, S/P (GREEN),D (LEE)

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/16/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM VM
SUBJECT: OLYMPIC-SIZE YAWN MASKS REAL ANXIETIES

REF: A. STATE 105512

B. HANOI 1094

C. HANOI 633

HANOI 00001182 001.2 OF 002


Classified By: Political Counselor Brian Aggeler.
Reasons 1.4 (b/d)


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Olympic fever in Vietnam was decidedly
low-grade, with local media providing simple,
straightforward coverage focused almost entirely on
sports. There was little commentary on the Games in the
official press, and most urban residents seemed to greet
the events with a shrug. Sports fans preferred to talk
Euro Cup. Still, for all the studied nonchalance, the
Beijing Olympics seemed to elicit real anxiety. April's
torch rally in Ho Chi Minh City was a near fiasco, while
the Olympics' opening ceremony reinforced an image of
Vietnam's historical brother-enemy as big, powerful,
modern, and rich. Polling data indicate that a majority in
Vietnam think that the Games raised China's standing in the
world: for many in Vietnam, this is not a comforting
thought. END COMMENT.


2. (U) Per ref A, we asked several of our contacts to
characterize Vietnam's perceptions of the Beijing
Olympics. This cable should be read together with ref B,
which provides an overview of Vietnam-China Relations.

A WONDERFUL, HORRIBLE OPENING CEREMONY
--------------


3. (SBU) Coverage of the 2008 Olympics in Vietnam's
state-controlled media was uncomplicated, with a focus on
the Games as a sporting event. Interest in the athletic
competitions was not particularly intense, reflecting the
fact that Vietnam did not send many athletes to the Games,
and they did not do particularly well. Only one of
Vietnam's 13 athletes medaled (a silver in the 56 kg men's
weightlifting),and with the exception of a Tae Quan Do
semifinalist, none of the rest made it out of the
preliminary rounds. For the majority of Vietnam's
soccer-crazed sports fans, June's UEFA European Football
Championship generated much more attention and enthusiasm.


4. (C) There was almost no official media coverage of the
social or political context surrounding the Games, let
alone human rights or Tibet. Still, Vietnam's more
tech-savvy observers were aware of the controversies, as
the chairman of one of Vietnam's major interned media
companies Nguyen Anh Tuan (protect) explained, and China
did not necessarily come across well. In general, however,
interest was fairly low, and Vietnam's bloggers quickly
moved on to other stories, such as China's reported
"invasion plans" posted on Sina.com and melamine
contamination, Tuan said. Even those with a professional
interest in following the Olympics, such as Nguyen Thanh
Hani of the MFA's China Desk, sought to portray the Beijing
Games as an international, rather than a Chinese, occasion.


5. (C) On the other hand, several of our contacts pointed
to the Games' spectacular opening and closing ceremonies as
the real attention-grabbers. VietnamNet's Tuan described
the opening ceremony in tones evocative of Leni
Riefenshtahl's Berlin Games: emotionally arresting to be
sure, but designed to intimidate the world by showcasing
China's size and strength. Others, drawing a similar (if
less dramatically expressed) conclusion, pointed to the
waves upon waves of Chinese dancers and participants,
dutifully moving on cue, as something that Vietnam could
never pull off. Maybe Hanoi could get Zhang Yimou to
direct Hanoi's 1,000-year birthday celebrations next year,
quipped the Director of China Studies at the Vietnam
Academy of Social Sciences, Do Tien Sam.

"BIG COUNTRY, LITTLE PEOPLE"
--------------


6. (C) Lest one mistake his meaning, Dr. Sam followed his
somewhat wistful comment with a sober, familiar recitation
of Vietnam's historical grievances: China's 1,000-year
occupation; invasions over the following centuries; China's
brief, but bloody incursion into Vietnam in 1979 -- as well
as Vietnam's current fears of economic dependency. "Big
country, little people," Dr. Sam concluded, quoting an
earthy Vietnamese proverb to describe what many feel is
China's narrow-minded and chauvinistic obsession with

HANOI 00001182 002.2 OF 002


national power.


7. (C) This sort of sentiment was evident in the run-up to
the Olympics, even if the Games themselves came and went
without much overt attention. In April, Vietnam's
dissident blog scene bristled with fervid warnings that
China intended to march the Olympic torch through the
disputed Spratly and Paracel Islands, a prospect the PRC
Embassy's Lu Lei laughed off as nonsensical. In the event
(ref. C),the torch rally in Ho Chi Minh City nearly ended
before it began, with Vietnam's DPM Nguyen Thien Nhan
stomping away rather than accept the torch from the Chinese
Ambassador (who himself had intruded into the ceremony) and
a high-ranking HCMC official extinguishing the Olympic
flame rather than parade it past a throng of flag-waving
China supporters, likely organized by the Chinese Consulate
despite instructions from the Vietnamese hosts that there
be no demonstrations.

COMMENT
--------------


8. (C) Vietnam's attitudes toward its brother-enemy are
most frequently described here as "phuc tap" --
"complicated" in Vietnamese, but with connotations similar
to its English homonym. With over 2,000 years of close
contact, genuine admiration for China's civilization and
accomplishments mixes with deeply rooted paranoia. The
Olympics were no different. In the end, none of our
contacts thought the Olympics changed anyone's mind about
China; most said the Games simply reinforced preexisting
notions. 62 percent of Vietnamese respondents in a recent
INR-supported survey said they believed that the Olympics
raised China's standing in the world. What the survey
didn't report is that for many Vietnamese, this is not
necessarily reassuring.
PALMER