US embassy cable - 04HANOI2506

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HANOI 002506 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, PGOV, PREL, KIRF, VM, RELFREE, HUMANR 
SUBJECT: MFA: DON'T DESIGNATE VIETNAM CPC 
 
Reftels: A. HCMC 1140 B. Hanoi 2398 C. 03 Hanoi 2897 D. 
Hanoi 2438 
 
1. (U) Summary: The GVN characterizes the release of 
nine prisoners of concern under the National Day 
amnesty, the recognition of 25 evangelical protestant 
churches in the Central Highlands, the pending 
recognition of five more by the end of the year, and 
the accommodating treatment of SFRC staffer Frank 
Jannuzi during his visit to the Central Highlands as 
"significant efforts" that should mitigate against a 
CPC designation.  The GVN further warns that 
designating Vietnam a country of particular concern for 
religious freedom will cause "grave disappointment" for 
Vietnamese leaders, "seriously hurt" the Vietnamese 
people, and "create problems" in our bilateral 
relationship.  End Summary. 
 
2. (U) Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs and 
Director General of the Americas Department Nguyen Duc 
Hung called in the DCM September 13 to describe 
Vietnam's progress on religious freedom issues.  He 
noted that the visit of Senate Foreign Relations 
Committee staffer Frank Jannuzi to the Central 
Highlands (Ref A) - on Vietnamese National Day - was a 
success thanks to the effort of the local authorities 
to accommodate Jannuzi's scheduling needs.  In 
addition, AFM Hung said, the National Day amnesty of 
prisoners (Ref B) had included nine names from the list 
of prisoners of concern provided to the GVN by 
Ambassador at Large for Religious Freedom Hanford 
during his visit to Vietnam October 22-24, 2003 (Ref 
C).  Finally, Hung noted that authorities in the 
Central Highlands had recognized and given freedom to 
worship to 25 "chapters" of the Southern Evangelical 
Protestant Church to date, adding that five more 
chapters were under consideration for recognition by 
the end of the year. 
 
3. (U) Hung said that the GVN had heard from the SRV 
Embassy in Washington that the CPC designations would 
be announced "Wednesday or Thursday" (September 15 or 
16).  If Vietnam were on that list despite taking the 
actions Hung had listed, it would "cause grave 
disappointment to Vietnamese leaders, seriously hurt 
the Vietnamese people, and could create problems in our 
bilateral relations," Hung warned. 
 
4. (U) The DCM noted that the U.S.-Vietnam relationship 
was much broader than the single issue of religious 
freedom, but stressed that Vietnam could strengthen its 
case by allowing more visits by more groups, including 
official delegations and religious organizations, as 
well as permitting developmental agencies and NGOs free 
access to the Central Highlands.  Hung said that while 
he personally fully understood the domestic political 
considerations in the United States that affected 
official actions on the human rights and religious 
freedom issues, the United States also needed to 
understand that these problems were fundamentally 
related to economic and social development and thus 
moved at a slower pace than the U.S. political cycle. 
Focusing this way on religious freedom "elevates a 
secondary issue to main-point status" without taking 
into account cultural differences, Hung said.  "A 
solution will require dialogue and an approach that is 
based on mutual respect, not imposition of one side's 
point of view and timetable," he added.  "The United 
States needs to pay more attention to the psychology of 
Asia.  The relationship is multi-faceted, but the 
people of Vietnam are willing to give it all up if 
their concerns are not respected." 
 
5. (SBU) Comment: The positive treatment given to 
Staffdel Jannuzi and the news of the potential opening 
of five new churches in the Central Highlands were 
indeed welcome.  We were less impressed with the 
amnesty, however, which was more a repackaging of 
previous releases than an actual response to Ambassador 
Hanford. 
 
6. (SBU) Comment continued: More significantly, while 
the GVN, in its earlier dealings with the United 
States, had seemed to have "factored in" CPC 
designation, recent developments may have changed this 
equation.  As Ambassador Burhgardt noted in his 
farewell message (Ref D), jockeying for power in 
advance of the Tenth Party Congress is already intense. 
Our moderate and forward-looking interlocutors have 
shown some concern that hardline and nationalist 
factions in the CPV will use the CPC designation as 
"proof" of the USG's efforts to foster political change 
in Vietnam by pushing "foreign" religions and values. 
MARINE