US embassy cable - 04HANOI2406

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 HANOI 002406 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR EAP/BCLTV; CA/OCS/ACS/CI 
 
PACOM FOR JPAC 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: CASC, PREL, PGOV, PHUM, PINR, VM, WTO, APEC, ASEAN, BTA, HUMANR 
SUBJECT:  Ambassador's August 26 Farewell Call on President 
Tran Duc Luong 
 
1. (SBU) Summary:  During a farewell call on President Tran 
Duc Luong, Ambassador Burghardt noted the great progress in 
bilateral relations in the past 10 years, in particular the 
expansion of normal relations in a number of new areas 
during the past three years.  Nevertheless, many tasks 
remained, including better cooperation in counter-narcotics 
and intelligence sharing.  As the 10th Anniversary of normal 
relations approached in 2005, Vietnam sought to join the 
WTO.  There were a number of steps in areas ranging from 
human rights to commercial policies that could help Vietnam 
expand its circle of friends at this critical juncture. 
President Luong replied that US-Vietnamese relations had 
reached a new stage.  The Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) 
had been critical; under the BTA, trade had expanded "beyond 
imagination."  The GVN considered cooperation with the 
United States as vital to its development strategy, and 
Vietnam wanted to work with the United States to make 2005 a 
success.  Prime Minister Phan Van Khai planned to visit the 
United States in 2005.  Luong added that he looked forward 
to talking to President Bush at the APEC summit in Chile 
later this year and to receiving the President in Hanoi for 
APEC in 2006. 
 
2. (SBU) The Ambassador took the opportunity to ask the 
President to consider the request for clemency for American 
Citizen John Hung Nguyen, recently sentenced to death on 
drug related charges.  The President said that this could be 
considered in the context of four amnesties for prisoners 
that would be forthcoming between September 2, 2004, and 
September 2, 2005.  End Summary. 
 
3. (SBU) Ambassador Burghardt, accompanied by DCM, paid a 
farewell call on President Tran Duc Luong on August 26.  The 
Ambassador noted that he had served in Vietnam for two 
periods of almost three years each, separated by 28 years. 
During the present period he had seen tremendous change and 
improvement in US - Vietnamese relations.  He thanked the 
President for his leadership in this.  His predecessors at 
the Embassy had done an excellent job establishing what was 
then a very new relationship.  In the last three years 
considerable progress had been made in making this a more 
normal relationship as we moved beyond a heavily commercial 
emphasis to other areas, including significant military-to- 
military ties, humanitarian issues, a special HIV/AID 
program and educational and cultural exchanges.  However, 
there were still tasks for his successors to work on in the 
future, such as greater cooperation in law enforcement and 
intelligence exchange.  The Ambassador was looking forward 
to working on Asian affairs in the future and returning to 
Vietnam, a country that would always have a special place in 
his heart. Finally, he passed Luong a copy of the 
congratulatory message from President Bush on the occasion 
of Vietnam's upcoming national day. 
 
4. (SBU) President Luong thanked the Ambassador for his 
remarks and the message from President Bush.  Vietnamese 
leaders attached great importance to US relations, which had 
reached a "new stage" in the past 10 years.  Just as the 
previous US Ambassador had made a tremendous effort, 
Ambassador Burghardt and his staff had made a great 
contribution toward establishing fully normal relations.  In 
particular, Vietnam realized the critical importance of the 
Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA).  Since signing this 
agreement, trade had expanded "beyond imagination." 
Investment had grown sharply.  A recent visit of the 
US/ASEAN Business Council had shown the keen interest of US 
business in ASEAN and in particular Vietnam.  He was 
confidant that trade and investment would be fruitful in 
coming years.  He was delighted with developments in 
culture, education and scientific exchange.  Study in the 
United States was especially attractive to Vietnamese 
scholars.  Cooperation with the United States played an 
important role in Vietnam's development strategy.  The 
Government had decided to buy Boeing aircraft, for example. 
 
5. (SBU) Looking to 2005, the President said both 
governments should work together to plan events to celebrate 
the 10th anniversary of diplomatic relations.  Given the 
special US-Vietnamese history, it had been only a short time 
since we began to work to improve relations.  If we 
continued to work, respecting independence, sovereignty, and 
mutual benefit, we would be successful.  Economic, 
scientific and technical relations were very important, and 
social and cultural relations provided the foundation for 
this. Vietnam respected other nations' social policies and 
asked that others respect Vietnam's choices.  If this were 
done, differences in views would not be a major problem. 
 
6. (SBU) According to Luong, high-level exchanges of visits 
were very important; the visit of President Clinton was 
still remembered in Vietnam.  Prime Minister Phan Van Khai 
expected to travel to the United States in 2005.  President 
Luong said he would like to meet President Bush at APEC in 
Chile.  He asked that we convey this to the Department, and 
added that he looked forward to receiving the President in 
Hanoi for the APEC summit in 2006.  He again thanked the 
Ambassador for his work over the past three years and hoped 
he would continue to contribute to improving bilateral 
relations. 
 
7. (SBU) The Ambassador said that he would deliver these 
messages to Washington, where he would be next month.  2005 
would be especially important for US-Vietnam relations.  We 
too were thinking of events to mark the 10th Anniversary of 
normal relations.  The Ambassador said he had suggested to 
the Foreign Ministry actions that both countries could take 
to ensure the Prime Minister had a positive visit to the 
United States.  The year 2005 was also important in terms of 
Vietnam's WTO accession.  The US Administration would have 
to ask Congress for permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) 
prior to accession.  Based on the example of China, this 
would be an occasion for many to focus on the overall 
relationship.  Vietnam would be under scrutiny from both 
friends and critics.  It was a good time for Vietnam to take 
specific actions in areas ranging from human rights to 
commercial contracts to widen its circle of friends.  In 
particular Vietnam should do more to improve relations with 
the Vietnamese community in the United States. Vietnam had 
taken some positive steps in this regard, but there was 
still a lot of work to do. 
 
8. (SBU) Ambassador Burghardt said that there was one 
specific issue that he wanted to raise.  This concerned the 
power of the President to commute sentences and the case of 
American Citizen John Hung Nguyen, recently sentenced to 
death for narcotics related crimes.  We did not debate that 
he had committed crimes, nor did we take issue with the 
death penalty in general.  However, in this particular case 
it seemed that the death penalty was quite severe relative 
to the offense charged.  The Ambassador said he also was 
concerned that the Vietnamese-American community would react 
very strongly, charging that Vietnam had singled out a 
fellow "Viet Kieu" for unusually harsh treatment.  This 
would not help the mood in 2005.  Mr. Nguyen had already 
sent a letter to the Vietnamese President requesting 
clemency.  The Ambassador said he was raising this because 
looking after US citizens in trouble always had to be the 
number one responsibility of any ambassador. 
 
9. (SBU) President Luong agreed 2005 would be important for 
relations.  He said Vietnam had noted the US decision again 
to vote for normal trade relations this year.  He welcomed 
support for Vietnam's accession to WTO - the US voice was 
very important.  Turning to the subject of clemency, Luong 
said that, from the September 2 National Day this year to 
September 2, 2005, there would be four occasions to grant 
amnesty. (Normally there were three occasions per year.) 
Next year the scope of the amnesties would also be greater. 
The President would be able to grant amnesty to prisoners 
who had demonstrated good behavior and could reintegrate 
into the community.  The Foreign Ministry had informed 
Embassies and Consulates of the opportunity for amnesty.  As 
for this particular case, the time until September 2 was too 
short.  However, the Embassy should follow up with the 
Foreign Ministry during the first trimester following 
September 2, 2004.  It was important to know, however, that 
the President did not have the authority to completely 
commute a death sentence, but only to reduce it.  If John 
Nguyen's death sentence were reduced to life or some other 
term and the United States agreed to "take him back," this 
could be considered. (Note:  The President did not elaborate 
on this.)  The Ambassador thanked the President for his 
response, noting that he had a very heavy responsibility. 
He said we would follow up with the Foreign Ministry. 
 
10. (SBU) President Luong again expressed his appreciation 
for the Ambassador's service and for his understanding of 
Vietnam's long history.  The Ambassador thanked the 
President for Vietnam's hospitality. 
BURGHARDT