US embassy cable - 04HOCHIMINHCITY1554

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HO CHI MINH CITY 001554 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON, ETRD, EAID, EAGR, PREL, SOCI, PHUM, PGOV, KIRF, VM, ETMIN, HUMANR, HIV/AIDS 
SUBJECT: SHRIMP, DEVELOPMENT AND MINORITY RIGHTS IN SOC 
TRANG 
 
REF:  03 HCMC 001100 
 
SUMMARY 
 
1. (SBU) Shrimp farming in the coastal Mekong Delta province 
of Soc Trang is driving economic growth and poverty 
eradication.  Beneficiaries include the large ethnic Khmer 
minority.  Reports from exile groups of disenfranchisement 
and oppression of the Khmer appear out of date.  The GVN 
began a long-term effort to improve the conditions for the 
Khmer in 1998, and the rapid growth of aquaculture has made 
provided cash to the Khmer community as evidenced by 
construction and rehabilitation of Khmer temples and 
pagodas.  Soc Trang leadership appeared both more confident 
and more open than neighboring provinces and was frank about 
both recent successes and ongoing challenges including a 
growing HIV/AIDS problem.   End Summary 
 
A RISING TIDE OF SHRIMP 
 
2. (U) Consul General, Econoff, Conoff and Pol/Econ 
specialist traveled through the coastal Mekong Delta, 
visiting Soc Trang on December 4.  A historically poor 
coastal province, Soc Trang's population of over 1.2 million 
includes majority ethnic Kinh (65 percent) as well as Khmer 
(29 percent) and Chinese (6 percent) minorities.  Per capita 
income remains low at USD433, but GDP has been growing at 
close to ten percent per year over the past four years as 
marginal, salinized rice paddies have been turned into 
highly productive small-holder shrimp farms.  In 2003 alone, 
aquaculture grew by 30 percent, with 11,000 additional 
hectares converted to shrimp ponds, producing over USD300 
million in export revenue.  By 2010, provincial leaders plan 
to have 80,000 hectares of aquaculture land. 
 
REDUCED ANTI-DUMPING DUTIES WELCOMED 
 
3. (U) Saota Foods Joint-Stock Company (FIMEX VN) reported 
that the sharp reductions in antidumping duties announced by 
the US Department of Commerce on December 1 had an immediate 
impact in Soc Trang.  One of Vietnam's largest seafood 
exporters, FIMEX processed and exported USD78 million in 
shrimp from Soc Trang and neighboring provinces to the U.S., 
Japan and the E.U. in 2003.  Preliminary antidumping duties 
imposed by the USG at midyear cut 2004 exports to the US by 
half to about USD 15 million.  In the final determination, 
FIMEX and other exporters representing over half of 
Vietnam's production received a sharply reduced "separate" 
rate of between four and five percent.  Local shrimp prices 
in Soc Trang immediately rose by five percent according to 
FIMEX director Ho Quoc Luc, who is also the chairman of the 
Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers 
(VASEP).  Luc anticipated a sharp rise in export volume and 
prices paid to producers during the remaining month of 2004. 
FIMEX operates six individual processing lines on a large 
modern site in Soc Trang.  The firm directly employs 3200 
workers, 70 percent of whom are women, who earn USD40 to 
USD65 per month, jobs which did not exist in the province 
prior to the advent of aquaculture. 
 
KHMER ALSO RIDING THE TIDE 
 
4. (U) According to official Vietnamese history, Soc Trang's 
ethnic Khmer population and ethnic Kinh both appeared in the 
region at about the same time in the early 17th century. 
For their part, the Khmer claim to have been there much 
longer.  Whatever the case, the Khmer minority makes up a 
distinct community organized around Theravada Buddhist 
temples and pagodas that date back nearly 400 years.  In our 
first meetings with provincial officials, they claimed that 
Khmer and ethnic Kinh are highly integrated today. 
Subsequent discussions, including with the head of the 
Provincial Committee on Minority Affairs (himself a Khmer) 
indicated that the province is a salad bowl rather than a 
melting pot.  Ethnic Khmer and Chinese maintain their 
respective languages but learn Vietnamese as well.  The 
Chinese continue to concentrate in commerce, while the Khmer 
are mostly small farmers. Aquaculture is dominated by ethnic 
Kinh, many of whom employ Khmer workers.  We were told that 
some of the most prosperous Khmer owned shrimp ponds 
themselves.  At FIMEX, Director Luc was proud to point out 
the diversity of the firm.  He is ethnic Kinh, the Vice 
General Director was Chinese while his assistant/interpreter 
was Khmer. 
 
5. (U) First Vice-Chairman Nguyen Duy Tan and the heads of 
the Religious Affairs and Minority Affairs Committees stated 
that the Khmer had historically been disadvantaged and 
impoverished.  They credited the GVN's 1998 Program 135 with 
changing the situation.  Under this program the central 
government provided sustained financing to build schools and 
clinics, develop bilingual education and provide credit and 
employment opportunities.  The growth of aquaculture has 
also contributed significantly to the welfare of this 
community and the province.  Poverty in Soc Trang has 
decreased, with 19 percent of households falling under the 
poverty line, compared with 65 percent in 1992. Poverty 
among Khmer households is higher at 28 percent, but has 
declined significantly from 42 percent as recently as 2001. 
 
6. (U) To complement official meetings, CG and party took an 
unannounced and unescorted lunchtime drive through two 
heavily Khmer districts along the coast.  Vinh Chau district 
is home to over half of Soc Trang's Khmer population.  The 
majority Khmer province had extensive shrimp ponds in 
paddies that formerly grew a single rice crop per year. 
Crossing into the district, we drove over a large bridge 
just completed on December 1, 2004.  Roadwork is under way 
and new power lines stretched from Soc Trang town to the 
shore. Vinh Chau seemed representative of the rest of the 
province - still poor, but developing quickly. 
 
7. (SBU) We also visited two Khmer pagodas.  The first visit 
to Cha Tim Giua or Chrui Tum Kandal pagoda was unannounced 
and unescorted.  The Venerable Ly Huong was cautious in his 
answers on ethnic relations but made clear that his 
community has good access to bilingual education through the 
high school level and to health clinics.  The early 17th 
century main temple is in excellent condition and the pagoda 
is clearly active and a center of community life.  A large 
new temple hall is nearly complete and already in use for 
services.  The construction was funded entirely by 
contributions from the community and young monks were busy 
working with local contractors when we arrived. 
 
8.  (U) Soc Trang has 92 Khmer pagodas with an additional 36 
worshipping houses. We later met officially with the Most 
Venerable Duong Nhon and other members of the Executive 
Board of the provincial Buddhist Sangha.   While the meeting 
was kept at a formal level, the picture of economic 
development, religious life and ethnic relations was 
consistent with what we had heard and seen elsewhere.   We 
asked about the Khmer Buddhists ties outside of Vietnam. 
They said they had few contacts with Cambodia.  Prior to the 
Cambodian genocide, monks went to Cambodia for advanced 
religious training.  Since the genocide, some Cambodian 
Buddhists have trained in Vietnam.  The monks also said that 
they had no contact with exile Khmer groups in the US or 
Canada.  Both the Vietnamese authorities and the monks told 
us that they did not use the term "Khmer Krom," which they 
said was a Cambodian and/or exile term with separatist 
implications. 
 
SOME ROADBLOCKS TO GROWTH 
 
9. (U) Despite Soc Trang's recent solid growth, First Vice- 
Chairman Nguyen Duy Tan said the province continued to face 
problems mobilizing investment resources. He expressed 
concern about the sustainability of growth due to the 
general poverty of the province and shortcomings in 
education, training, health care and infrastructure. The Soc 
Trang authorities generally seemed eager to attract foreign 
investment and development assistance 
 
10. (U) HIV/AIDS is also a growing problem in Soc Trang. 
Officials of the provincial Women's Union stated that since 
1992 perhaps 10,000 women from the province have worked in 
the sex trade in Cambodia or other cities in Vietnam and 
neighboring countries or gone to Taiwan as brides.  Some of 
the women have returned to Soc Trang with HIV/AIDS and 
spread the disease locally, they said. Women in Soc Trang 
are now contracting HIV more frequently than men, and the 
1,300 known HIV-positive cases may only be the tip of the 
iceberg. The Women's Union was eager for assistance and 
support for HIV/AIDS education and programs. 
 
COMMENT 
 
11. (SBU) Wealth from aquaculture is not equally distributed 
in Soc Trang, but the rising shrimp tide is raising most 
boats.  As in 2003 (reftel), reports from overseas sources 
of widespread discrimination and repression were not 
supported by anything we saw on this visit.  In fact, Khmer 
Buddhist culture appears to be doing well, thanks to the 
revenues from raising shrimp for American tables. 
 
WINNICK