US embassy cable - 03HOCHIMINHCITY942

UNCLAS HO CHI MINH CITY 000942 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/BCLTV, DRL 
 
E. O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, SOCI, PGOV, PREL, VM, HUMANR, RELFREE 
SUBJECT: UBCV LEADERS MEET DESPITE GVN INTERFERENCE 
 
 
1.  (SBU)  Leaders of the banned Unified Buddhist Church of 
Vietnam (UBCV) met September 18-20 in Binh Dinh Province, 
according to UBCV Deputy Thich Quang Do, despite some overt GVN 
efforts to prevent the meeting from taking place.  This is the 
first time the UBCV leadership has been able to gather together 
since the release from pagoda detention of UBCV Patriarch Thich 
Huyen Quang and Thich Quang Do himself earlier this year.  The 
meeting, which focused largely on personnel issues and strategies 
for seeking government recognition, took place at Nguyen Thieu 
Pagoda in Quy Nhon City, the current home of Thich Huyen Quang. 
 
2.  (SBU)  Thich Quang Do told ConGen the GVN had tried to prevent 
some of the monks from reaching Quy Nhon, succeeding in at least 
one case.  He, UBCV General Secretary Thich Tue Sy, and others had 
been able to travel from HCMC on September 15 without difficulty. 
Others in their traveling party had been approached by the 
authorities a few days before the trip and told not to associate 
with the UBCV or take any leadership role in the organization. 
These monks still chose to go to Quy Nhon, however, and linked up 
with Thich Quang Do unimpeded. 
 
3.  (SBU)  The GVN had unpredictable luck in trying to prevent 
other UBCV leaders from traveling, according to the UBCV Deputy. 
A contingent of five monks, including Thich Thien Hanh, were 
driving through the rugged Hai Van Pass from Hue when their driver 
received a call on his mobile phone telling him that his wife was 
in labor.  The five monks managed to hitch a ride the rest of the 
way in a truck while their own driver returned to Hue.  Thich Hai 
Tang of Quang Tri Province did not fare so well, however.  Police 
twice prevented him from boarding vans for Binh Dinh, then 
escorted him back to his pagoda in a police car and kept him there 
until the meeting ended. 
 
4.  (SBU)  Thich Quang Do also noted that Nguyen Thieu Pagoda was 
surrounded by local religious affairs officials and police 
throughout the meeting.  While the authorities never entered the 
actual meeting room at any time, he believed their searches of the 
pagoda before the meeting were merely clumsy attempts to plant 
listening devices.  Despite these problems, Thich Quang Do readily 
acknowledged that no one had attempted to interfere with the 
proceedings once the meeting had begun.  He promised to provide a 
more detailed readout of the discussions in a future meeting with 
ConGenoffs.  He also thanked the ConGen for its concern over his 
recent successful medical procedure to open a blocked artery. 
 
5.  (SBU)  Thich Quang Do expressed concern that the GVN seemed to 
be taking a step backward from the open-minded attitude displayed 
by Prime Minister Phan Van Khai during his meeting with Thich 
Huyen Quang in Hanoi earlier this year.  As further evidence, 
Thich Quang Do noted that a small delegation from the HCMC 
Committee on Religious Affairs had visited him on September 11 
(Mid-Autumn Day) to remind him that the UBCV still had no legal 
status. 
 
6.  (SBU)  In a separate conversation prior to the meeting in Quy 
Nhon, Thich Quang Do had told ConGen he regretted sending a letter 
criticizing the GVN for allegedly kidnapping former UBCV monk 
Thich Tri Luc from Cambodia (where he had gained UNHCR refugee 
status) last year and holding him secretly in detention until now. 
Blaming the mistake on poor internal UBCV communication and long 
periods of detention, he said he had not known that Thich Tri Luc 
had "secularized" in 1997.  Under the circumstances, Thich Quang 
Do said he did not plan to press the issue any further with the 
GVN.  But neither does he plan to retract his previous erroneous 
letter.  Thich Quang Do did provide ConGen with a copy of the 
invitation the former monk's family had received from the HCMC 
People's Court inviting them to attend his trial.  While the trial 
has been postponed indefinitely, Thich Quang Do promised to notify 
ConGen if the family received any additional communications from 
the court. 
 
7.  (SBU)  Comment:  Thich Quang Do and Thich Tue Sy were much 
more sanguine in their characterization of events than the flurry 
of press releases from the UBCV's Paris-based International 
Buddhist Information Bureau (IBIB) citing systematic 
interrogations and threats of reprisals.  Instructive, perhaps, 
was Thich Tue Sy's recent comment to ConGen that the IBIB often 
publishes things which are "incorrect." 
 
 
YAMAUCHI