US embassy cable - 04HANOI1793

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HANOI 001793 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR EAP/BCLTV 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, VM, DPOL 
SUBJECT:  NATIONAL ASSEMBLY -- FLEXING ITS MUSCLES 
 
Ref: A. Hanoi 1553   B.  Hanoi 1713   C.  Hanoi 1196 
-    D.  Hanoi 956   E. 03 Hanoi 31561 
 
1. (U) Summary. Vietnam's National Assembly (NA) ended its 
summer session on June 15 after approving a record number of 
laws and resolutions, thanks in large part to the 
implementation of a new legislative procedure.  Several 
Cabinet members faced strong and well-publicized criticisms 
of their performance from delegates, who nonetheless did not 
invoke their power of votes of confidence/no confidence (ref 
a).  While still limited, the NA is moving in the right 
direction to assume a more independent and influential role, 
at least by voicing public dissatisfaction over selected 
areas of GVN performance.  End Summary. 
 
2. (U) During the 5th session of the 9th National Assembly 
(elected in May 2002), the NA implemented a new legislative 
procedure that requires that any bill, before being 
submitted to the full National Assembly for review and 
possible adoption, must have been first thoroughly discussed 
by legal experts, full-time delegates, provincial 
parliamentarian delegations, and the National Assembly 
Standing Committee (NASC).  The goal is to enable the 
plenary NA to focus on controversial aspects of proposed 
legislation, instead of spending time arguing about wording 
and terminology.  With the new procedure in place, NA 
delegates discussed and approved seven laws and regulations, 
including the Civil Procedures Code.  According to NA Vice 
Chairman Nguyen Van Yeu, the NA took only two and a half 
days to pass this new Code, which has 418 articles.  In 
contrast, he noted, the NA needed sixteen days in 1999 to 
debate and approve amendments to the Criminal Code, which 
had only 340 articles. 
 
3.  (U)  The NA notably ratified the Tonkin Gulf Agreement 
with the PRC (ref b).  Additionally, the NA passed some 
housekeeping regulations guiding the operations of the NASC 
itself as well as of the NA's seven Committees and its 
Ethnic Minorities Council.  Delegates also offered comments 
on five other bills.  Sources in the Office of the National 
Assembly (ONA) asserted that these actions represented the 
highest number of laws and documents ever passed during a 
single NA plenary session. 
 
4.  (SBU) However, open dissatisfaction by many NA deputies 
over the GVN's "consistently poor performance" rather than 
the high number of laws passed was most noteworthy aspect of 
this NA session, according to Nguyen Chi Dzung, editor-in- 
chief of the ONA's "Legislative Affairs Journal," and Le Tho 
Binh, chief of the Hanoi Office of the Ho Chi Minh City- 
based "Law Journal."  According to Dzung, delegates clearly 
raised their concerns about the GVN's failure efficiently to 
deal with quite a number of long pending issues.  Speaking 
to the full NA, Vice Chairman Truong Quang Duoc echoed the 
delegates' views, bemoaning "chronic" problems such as the 
economy's inefficiency and its low competitiveness, lack of 
overall economic planning, scattered State investment, and 
high losses from State-funded projects. 
 
5. (U) Delegates Duong Trung Quoc and Mai Quoc Binh from 
Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, respectively, voiced concern 
over the lack of long-term strategic planning for the 
country.  According to Quoc, the GVN is only good at 
introducing "situational measures."  Binh, a former vice 
chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, 
asserted that, despite a growth rate of 11 per cent in GDP 
in 2003, Ho Chi Minh City's developments are still only 
"partial and sectional."  According to deputy Bui Ngoc Thanh 
from Thanh Hoa province, with the current pace of losing 
agricultural land, about 1.5 million people from rural areas 
would become unemployed every year.  Delegate Nguyen Thi 
Nuong from mountainous Cao Bang province asserted there are 
communes where up to sixty per cent of the households are 
still considered below the poverty level, despite of various 
national programs designed to tackle poverty in remote 
mountainous areas. 
 
6. (SBU) Dzung and Binh separately opined that such keen 
dissatisfaction by many deputies over poor GVN performance 
accounted for the unusually tough Q&A sessions with seven 
cabinet members (Health, Transportation, Planning and 
Investment, Education and Training, Sports, Culture and 
Information, and Natural Resources and Environment), which 
were televised live over a three-day period.  Several 
deputies called upon ministers to take personal 
responsibility for failing to find solutions to newly 
emerging issues such as the sharp price index increase and 
high cost of medicines, as well as other long-standing 
issues in the fields of investment and planning, land 
management, education, and transportation.  The ministers 
acknowledged failures and mistakes, but generally refused to 
accept "political responsibilities."  The Minister of 
Education and Training, with obvious irritation after three 
hours of grilling, asked sarcastically if he had yet 
acknowledged "enough" mistakes.  The Minister of 
Transportation asserted that he did not intend to promise 
anything.  The Minister of Public Health, however, was 
thought by many experts to have acquitted herself 
surprisingly well.  The NA also passed a resolution 
affirming the Government's decision to relieve Minister of 
Agriculture and Rural Development of his responsibilities 
(ref c). 
 
7. (U) The blunt debate over the "political responsibility" 
of individual cabinet members, which was widely covered by 
local media, prompted some sharp rejoinders from high 
ranking GVN officials.  First Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen 
Tan Dung (also an NA delegate) commented to local press that 
it was after all "much easier" for deputies simply to come 
up with criticisms.  Speaking to the NA following the Q&A 
session, Prime Minister Phan Van Khai (another NA delegate) 
asserted instead that "in our country, it's always a shared 
responsibility."  The PM's spokesperson later shared with a 
popular electronic newspaper a letter by four voters 
"consoling" the ministers.  Media contacts subsequently 
confirmed to Embassy that the electronic newspaper had 
received compliments from the CPV Commission for Ideological 
and Cultural Affairs for having been willing to publicize 
the letter. 
 
8. (U) Some observers noted that many delegates had been 
unhappy that the Prime Minister had only chosen to "speak" 
to the NA, instead of "standing for questions" from 
deputies.  (He also chose DPM Dung to read the Government 
report at the opening ceremony on May 11, rather than 
present the score card himself.)  Some delegates blamed PM 
Khai for going against the trends of ongoing administrative 
reform and perhaps even the Constitution with his "shared 
responsibility" argument, said Dzung.  (The Constitution 
requires that cabinet ministers and other Government members 
are accountable to the Prime Minister and the National 
Assembly.) 
 
9. (U) Comment: While still primarily a talkfest, public 
relations tool, and official rubberstamp for the Government, 
the NA continues to flex its muscles by voicing ever more 
open criticism of the GVN and by laying the groundwork for 
possible punitive actions against poorly performing 
Ministers and Ministries.  Increased public attention has 
created new pressure on NA deputies to speak out more 
forcefully on issues of special popular concern, such as 
traffic safety, corruption, inflation, etc.  The NA has a 
long road to go toward assuming a more truly independent and 
effective role, but it is moving in the right direction. 
BOARDMAN