US embassy cable - 04HANOI2660

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HANOI 002660 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR EAP/BCLTV 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PINR, VM 
SUBJECT: GVN DECLARES LISTS OF STATE SECRETS 
 
1. (SBU) Summary: The GVN has for the first time publicly 
issued a list of Office of the Government documents 
requiring classification.  Included in this list are 
documents related to security issues, national reserves, 
budget figures and "important internal and external 
policies."  Official sources largely praised the release of 
the new list as a sign of transparency.  We think it does 
more to underscore just how much is considered secret in 
Vietnam.  End Summary 
 
2. (U) Under Vietnamese law, the Prime Minister determines 
what types of documents must be classified "top secret" and 
"confidential" in consultation with the Minister of Public 
Security.  The Minister of Public Security alone determines 
what items must be classified as "restricted," the lowest in 
Vietnam's three-tier classification system.  Under current 
criminal law, revealing state secrets to foreign sources 
"hostile" to the GVN could result in the charge of 
espionage, which carries the death penalty or life in 
prison.  Those who intentionally leak state secrets to other 
recipients could face up to 15 years in jail. 
 
3. (U) On July 7, Prime Minister Phan Van Khai issued a new 
list of confidential and top secret State documents from the 
Office of the Government (OOG), replacing a list issued in 
1994 that had never been published.  National security 
issues, defense plans, national reserves and movements of 
Central Bank funds are listed as top State secrets.  Wartime 
military mobilization plans, documents on "important 
internal and external policies" and government personnel 
changes are identified as confidential topics.  Other 
confidential items include news and documents on the content 
 
SIPDIS 
of negotiations with foreign parties, state budget figures, 
money printing data and plans for arms imports and exports. 
 
4. (U) The Prime Minister's list was the most wide-ranging 
of a number of recent decrees and directives on the 
classification of documents.  In January, the GVN classified 
as "top secret" all documentation of trials in connection 
with national security issues, as well as reports and 
statistics in relation to death penalty cases.  In April, 
the Minister of Public Security determined that readers' 
essays and letters sent to the "Tap Chi Cong San" (Communist 
Review) that are critical of the Party and State are 
restricted, along with some of the journal's studies on 
Party policies and orientations and the Party's guidelines 
on the journal's operations.  The Public Security Minister 
also classified career reports of cadres at the departmental 
level and higher. 
 
5. (U) In June, the Minister of Public Security classified 
as "restricted" documents and information on national 
strategic issues concerning internal and external relations 
and security collected by journalists working for the 
National Television of Vietnam, along with public essays, 
letters and petitions from viewers regarding national 
security.  In August, the Prime Minister released a list of 
confidential and top secret State documents from the 
 
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National Politics Publishing House.  Confidential documents 
include sensitive news and documents related to the history 
of the Communist Party of Vietnam, some biographical 
information and career reports of high-ranking leaders and 
controversial information about the country's path to 
socialism.  The list of top secret State items includes 
Party documents on certain political and economic issues, 
security, national defense and external affairs documents 
and Party guidelines on the publishing house's operations. 
 
6. (SBU) Senior journalists from State-controlled newspapers 
welcomed the Prime Minister's decision to promulgate the 
list of OOG confidential and top secret State documents. 
Senior Colonel Tran Nhung of Quan Doi Nhan Dan (People's 
Army) newspaper said it was a positive step reflecting the 
Party's tendencies towards increased transparency.  Nguyen 
Chi Dzung, editor-in-chief of the Legislative Affairs 
Journal of the Office of the National Assembly (ONA), opined 
that the promulgation might help to facilitate publication 
of more important documents and information.  Dzung said 
that, in the past, Government officials had declined to 
provide the press with information on different issues by 
offering the excuse that they were "State secrets." 
 
7. (SBU) Le Tho Binh, deputy chief of the Hanoi office of 
the Ho Chi Minh City-based Legal Affairs Journal, said the 
promulgation of new lists of State secrets did not help to 
lessen the Party's current tight control over information 
dissemination.  The Prime Minister's list itself was still 
very vaguely worded, which might favor "cautious 
apprehension" on the part of journalists.  Binh noted that a 
number of items on the list were generally referred to as 
documents that "have not yet to be released and/or will not 
be released." 
 
8. (SBU) Comment:  Because this is the first time the GVN 
has published the list of Office of the Government documents 
requiring classification, it is difficult to assess whether 
there has been any relaxation of these regulations.  The 
publication of this list represents only the smallest of 
advances, and the GVN still maintains rigid control over the 
dissemination of information.  The broad range of issues 
that remains classified lays bare the CPV's enduring desire 
for secrecy rather than any real move toward openness. 
MARINE