US embassy cable - 04HANOI155

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HANOI 000155 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED 
 
STATE FOR EAP/BCLTV, DRL/IRF, and H 
 
H PLEASE PASS TO OFFICE OF SENATOR BROWNBACK 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, KIRF, PREL, PGOV, ETRD, EAGR, VM, HUMANR, RELFREE 
SUBJECT: CODEL BROWNBACK: FOCUS ON RELIGION 
 
REF:  Hanoi 059 
 
1. (U) Summary: In a series of official meetings in Hanoi on 
January 8, Senator Samuel Brownback expressed concerns about 
continuing, and perhaps increasingly severe, measures to 
restrict religious freedom in Vietnam.  He urged the 
Government of Vietnam to act quickly to end these 
restrictions, saying that until the issue is resolved, 
Congress will continue to find ways to express its 
disapproval of the situation for religious practitioners in 
Vietnam.  Brownback also urged the GVN to lift its 
suspension of US beef imports as soon as possible.  GVN 
officials claimed that religious freedom exists in Vietnam, 
and that misperceptions abroad are caused by incorrect 
information.  The GVN somewhat surprisingly granted Senator 
Brownback's request to visit Father Nguyen Van Ly, an 
imprisoned Catholic priest (reftel). End Summary 
 
Message on Religious Freedom 
---------------------------- 
 
2. (U) In his various meetings with the GVN, Senator 
Brownback explained that his major purpose in coming to 
Vietnam was to study religious freedom in the country.  He 
said there is a growing perception in Congress that, while 
the situation for religious believers had been improving, 
after the signing of the U.S.-Vietnam Bilateral Trade 
Agreement in December 2001 there has been a crackdown on 
religious freedom.  Senator Brownback emphasized that this 
is an important issue in Congress, and if the Vietnamese do 
not address it, then Congress will find ways to make its 
displeasure known.  The Senator assured GVN officials that 
"this does not have to be an impediment to our relations" 
and advised GVN officials that "you will determine how fast 
our relations grow" by how quickly this issue is dealt with 
successfully.  Senator Brownback noted that he planned to 
hold Congressional hearings on religious freedom in Vietnam 
in the near future. 
 
MFA 
--- 
 
3. (U) Vice Foreign Minister Le Cong Phung noted the 
positive trend of U.S. - Vietnam relations, but also 
expressed concern about a number of issues including trade 
disputes about catfish and shrimp, and moves in Congress to 
link non-humanitarian aid to progress on human rights 
issues, condemn Vietnam's treatment of the Unified Buddhist 
Church of Vietnam, and urge that Vietnam be named a Country 
of Particular Concern for violations of religious freedom. 
He further emphasized that Vietnam is always willing to 
engage the United States in dialogues.  VFM Phung stated 
that Brownback had received misleading or incorrect 
information from sources in America.  Brownback pointed out 
that allegations of mistreatment came from a number of 
sources, lending weight to the claims.  Senator Brownback 
presented VFM Phung with a list of prisoners of concern, and 
the VFM promised to provide information about the cases. 
 
MPS 
--- 
 
4. (U) Vice Minister of Public Security Le Van Huong 
separately cited improving relations between the U.S. and 
Vietnam, and said the MPS particularly welcomes continued 
exchanges of information with the USG on a number of 
security and law enforcement issues.  Speaking about 
religious freedom, however, he also said that much of the 
information the USG has received is incorrect.  Huong 
specifically mentioned Vo Van Ai of the International 
Buddhist Information Bureau, Kok Ksor of the Montagnard 
Foundation, and Ngo Thi Hien of the Committee for Religious 
Freedom in Vietnam as sources of distorted or false 
information.  These individuals oppose the GVN, Huong 
alleged, and were manipulating the issue of religious 
freedom as a way to attack it.  He said that, in truth, the 
GVN upholds a policy of freedom of religion, and that this 
was reflected in the rapid growth of Protestant groups in 
recent years.  Addressing specific cases, Huong said that Vo 
Van Ai had "instigated" the problems of Thich Huyen Quang 
and Thich Quang Do of the UBCV.  Ai had sent the two a 
recording of a ceremony held in a Buddhist monastery in 
Australia in which participants criticized the GVN and flew 
the old South Vietnamese flag.  In addition, Huong said the 
two monks had also sent documents to Ai to be used in this 
ceremony.  Talking about imprisoned Father Nguyen Van Ly, 
Huong said that Ly was convicted for having incited 
villagers against civil authorities, and that this had 
nothing to do with his religious beliefs.  In response to 
requests from Senator Brownback, Huong agreed to arrange a 
visit to Father Ly for later that afternoon (reftel). 
 
Amcham 
------ 
 
5. (U) At a lunch with the American Chamber of Commerce, 
Senator Brownback made brief comments about the importance 
of religious freedom issues in Congress and the perception 
among many that there had been a worsening of human rights 
and religious freedoms in Vietnam after the entry-into-force 
of the BTA.  Several luncheon attendees described 
improvements in religious freedom in Vietnam or commented 
that allegations made outside Vietnam of severe repression 
in the country were exaggerated.  One NGO representative 
pointed out that a large number of U.S. faith-based 
charities are now conducting humanitarian or development 
projects in Vietnam, and all of these groups believed that 
measures debated in Congress linking non-humanitarian aid to 
improvements in the human rights or religious freedom 
situation were counterproductive. 
 
Top leaders 
------------ 
 
6. (U) In a meeting, Communist Party of Vietnam Secretariat 
member and Deputy Prime Minister Vu Khoan emphasized the 
current growth of number of churches and religious adherents 
as proof that the Government was not oppressing religion in 
Vietnam.  He said that some violators of Vietnam's civil 
laws were falsely claiming religious oppression, however, 
and that this was perhaps misleading USG observers.  Senator 
Brownback emphasized the number of different sources from 
which he had received allegations of abuse, and said that 
this lent credence to the charges.  Separately, CPV 
Politburo member and National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Van 
An described himself as a Buddhist and his wife Catholic, 
which he said is a sign people were free to believe in 
Vietnam.  An quoted the US Constitution, said that the 
equality of men enshrined in that document could be equated 
with the equality of nations, and urged the United States to 
pay "due respect to the ideas of different peoples."  An 
pointed to Vietnam's history and claimed that the French had 
used religion to oppress the people and that religion had 
been a tool of dissent during Vietnam's past insurrections. 
During those times, said An, "churches had become 
battlefields, and priests soldiers." 
 
7. (U) In both meetings, Senator Brownback also addressed 
the current Vietnamese restrictions on the import of US beef 
due to BSE.  He urged the GVN to pay attention to the strong 
measures the U.S. was taking to guarantee the safety of its 
beef, and urged the GVN to lift the restrictions as soon as 
possible.  Khoan acknowledged USG efforts, and said that the 
GVN was acting for health reasons only. 
 
8. (U) Senator Brownback did not have an opportunity to 
review this cable before departure. 
BURGHARDT