US embassy cable - 05HANOI102

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 HANOI 000102 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR EAP/BCLTV and EB/TPP/BTA/ANA 
PACOM FOR FPA 
STATE PASS USTR ELBRAYN AND GHICKS 
USDOC FOR 4431/MAC/AP/OPB/VLC/HPPHO 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, PHUM, KIRF, PREF, PINR, ECON, ETRD, EINV, VM, WTO, RELFREE, HUMANR, ETMIN 
SUBJECT:  The Ambassador's January 13 Call on Foreign 
Minister Nguyen Dy Nien 
 
1. (SBU) Summary:  Meeting officially for the first time 
January 13, the Ambassador and Foreign Minister Nguyen Dy 
Nien spent 40 minutes discussing the overall bilateral 
relationship, Vietnam's WTO accession, religious freedom, 
the Central Highlands and construction of the new Embassy 
compound.  FM Nien urged the United States to continue to 
support Vietnam's WTO aspirations, described as "unfair" 
Vietnam's designation as a Country of Particular Concern for 
religious freedom violations and said that Vietnam will make 
clear that forced renunciations of faith are prohibited. 
 
2. (SBU) Summary, cont'd, and Comment:  FM Nien also told 
the Ambassador that Vietnam had approved overflight 
clearance for American humanitarian aid flights to tsunami- 
affected areas (septel).  On WTO, the Ambassador urged 
Vietnam to give to us as soon as possible its revised tariff 
and services offer.  On the issue of religious freedom, the 
Ambassador underlined that we have until early March to make 
a decision on what action to take in light of Vietnam's CPC 
designation and that it will be important for Vietnam to 
make progress before then in our areas of concern.  FM Nien 
has reportedly been ill and did not look well.  In addition, 
he twice turned to staff to remind him of the points the 
Ambassador had just made.  End Summary and Comment. 
 
3.  (SBU) The Ambassador, accompanied by Pol/C, met 
officially for the first time January 13 with Foreign 
Minister Nguyen Dy Nien.  The Ambassador opened by remarking 
on the great progress the U.S.-Vietnam relationship has made 
over the past ten years, particularly in the areas of trade 
and investment but also on many other issues such as public 
health and cultural exchanges.  There have also been 
advances in defense ties and law enforcement cooperation, 
but much work remains to be done in those areas, the 
Ambassador said. 
 
4. (SBU) In addition to the areas that have seen progress, 
we also have to address issues of concern to the people of 
the United States.  Among them are human rights and 
religious freedom.  As always, we would deal with these 
issues openly and frankly.  This year is an important one, 
and we look forward to the Prime Minister's possible visit 
to help to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the 
normalization of relations.  We believe that the visit will 
send an important message about the relationship to the 
peoples of both countries, the Ambassador said. 
 
5. (SBU) The Foreign Minister replied that he fully shares 
the Ambassador's views and appreciates the Ambassador's 
efforts to advance the relationship and "understand the 
problems Vietnam faces."  FM Nien agreed that both sides 
have to increase their understanding of each other; the 
Vietnamese people know little of the United States except 
for the war, for example.  It is important to expand 
contacts and exchanges of views between the two sides.  For 
its part, the MFA believes that the United States and 
Vietnam share many interests and hopes to build a bilateral 
relationship that is "close and strong."  The MFA also 
supports USG and U.S. Embassy contacts with Vietnamese 
security and military representatives and Communist Party 
officials.  In fact, the MFA seeks to promote a greater 
number of Party and other delegations' travel to the United 
States, either privately or in response to an official 
invitation.  Increased understanding would "make the MFA's 
job easier," FM Nien observed. 
 
6. (SBU) The Ambassador had arrived at an important time, 
the FM said.  The tenth anniversary of normalization will be 
an important milestone, and there is much more the two 
countries can do to increase contacts in the areas of trade, 
science and technology, education, health and "social 
problems."  The Prime Minister was very happy to hear that 
the MFA is moving forward with plans for his visit to the 
United States, FM Nien said.  In the days ahead, it will be 
important to create a "good atmosphere" in both countries to 
help the visit to be a success.  There are issues and 
differences between the United States and Vietnam, and "of 
course" it will not be possible to solve everything. 
Nonetheless, both sides should resolve to move ahead and 
remove obstacles that come in the way of bilateral ties, the 
Foreign Minister said. 
 
7. (SBU) Vietnam understands that U.S. strategy in Southeast 
Asia is to strengthen its relations with the members of 
ASEAN, FM Nien continued.  In response to the recent tsunami 
disaster, the United States is playing an important role. 
Prime Minister Phan Van Khai had attended the Jakarta 
summit, and Vietnam is now ready to allow U.S. ships and 
planes to "cross Vietnam's territory to carry out their 
humanitarian missions," he said.  (Note:  Later that 
afternoon, the Embassy received a diplomatic note announcing 
a GVN decision to grant blanket clearance through February 
15 (septel).  End note.) 
 
8. (SBU) Thanking the Foreign Minister for the news about 
the overflight permission, the Ambassador remarked that, in 
response to this world tragedy, it is important for the 
international community to stand together in the rebuilding 
efforts, which could last for years.  On the issue of 
creating the right atmosphere for the Prime Minister's 
visit, there are two ways to go about this, the Ambassador 
observed:  working steadily to resolve as many issues as 
possible in the lead-up to the visit; or saving up 
agreements and progress for announcement on the occasion of 
the visit.  The first option is the better one as it is more 
systematic and can have a greater impact, the Ambassador 
said.  As for visits to the United States of Party and other 
delegations, the United States would welcome such visits and 
we would work with Vietnam to ensure their success. 
 
9. (SBU) In terms of specific issues in the relationship, 
there are two that will require our attention in the weeks 
ahead the Ambassador continued.  The first relates to our 
bilateral WTO discussions.  We had recently provided Vietnam 
with our revised agricultural and non-agricultural goods 
market access requests.  We are still waiting for Vietnam's 
revised tariff and services offers.  Once we have these, we 
can begin to talk about scheduling the next round of 
negotiations, which will require four to six weeks to 
prepare.  The United States remains firmly supportive of 
Vietnam's efforts to join the WTO.  At the same time, it 
would be good for Vietnam to cultivate the support of U.S. 
business, as they have a role to play.  Congress will have 
to consider Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) as part 
of the process.  With a number of outstanding issues in 
important business sectors, we will look to Vietnam for 
significant movement in the months ahead, the Ambassador 
explained. 
 
10. (SBU) The other issue requiring our attention is 
Vietnam's designation as a Country of Particular Concern 
(CPC) for religious freedom violations, the Ambassador 
continued.  We will have to decide by early March what kind 
of action we will take in light of this designation.  Over 
the next two months, it will be important for Vietnam to 
make progress in several areas of concern.  One obvious one 
is the publication of the new religion ordinance's 
implementation decree. 
 
11. (SBU) Related to this, the Ambassador noted, is the 
issue of the Central Highlands and GVN concern about 
possible unrest there this past Christmas.  We were grateful 
that the MFA informed the Embassy about its concerns, which 
enabled us to pay special attention to the region and any 
untoward events that might take place.  In the end, there 
were fortunately no incidents.  While there were some press 
reports that the UNHCR was somehow involved -- which we do 
not believe -- we do not deny that there are some who want 
to make trouble.  If the GVN has any concrete information on 
this, it should tell us, the Ambassador stressed. 
 
12. (SBU) There is a clear need for the UNHCR to work in 
Vietnam, as part of the solution, to help mitigate against 
tension and problems, the Ambassador said.  We are aware 
that the GVN is working to develop the Central Highlands, 
both economically and socially.  In the meantime, finding a 
solution for those with legitimate grievances cannot be done 
without the UNHCR.  Thanks to the GVN's message to us about 
its concern in the Central Highlands over Christmas, we 
watched carefully and are aware that, while people in Gia 
Lai and Kon Tum Provinces were free to worship, provincial 
authorities restricted Christmas celebrations in Dak Lak 
province, the Ambassador noted. 
 
13. (SBU) Finally, the Ambassador expressed his gratitude to 
the Foreign Minister for his personal intervention in the 
issue of securing land for the construction of a new Embassy 
compound.  We are on the cusp of starting preliminary 
negotiations and have submitted a proposal for talks the 
week of January 25, the Ambassador said. 
 
14. (SBU) Thanking the Ambassador for U.S. support for 
Vietnam's WTO accession, the Foreign Minister said that 2005 
would be a very important year for Vietnam.  Vietnam hopes 
that the two countries will "expedite and conclude" their 
discussions before December.  "We will try our best," FM 
Nien said, but, because Vietnam is a "new and developing 
economy," we need "help, assistance and guidance." 
 
15. (SBU) On the Central Highlands, FM Nien said that the 
GVN will "continue to get in touch with you" and expressed 
his "sadness" at hearing that Christmas services were 
restricted in some areas, something he would "check out." 
Up until two years ago, Vietnam had a good relationship with 
the UNHCR and reached a tripartite agreement with the UNHCR 
and Cambodia, but the UNHCR's "withdrawal" worsened the 
relationship with Vietnam.  However, Vietnam will "continue 
to work with the UNHCR" on the issue of refugees in 
Cambodia.  The High Commissioner's decision to replace the 
UNHCR's personnel in Cambodia will hopefully create a 
"better atmosphere," FM Nien noted. 
 
16. (SBU) Turning to religious freedom, FM Nien said that he 
is "unhappy" with Vietnam's CPC designation and added that 
he would like to "get Vietnam off the list."  The Ambassador 
responded that the United States shared this objective, but 
Vietnam had to take steps to resolve the issues that 
overshadow the overall -- and generally good -- religious 
situation in Vietnam.  Vietnam's inclusion as a CPC is 
"unfair," FM Nien rejoined, and Vietnam would try to get off 
the list by "increasing understanding and cooperation."  The 
Ambassador noted that, during his meetings with religious 
leaders around the country, many expressed optimism and look 
forward to the publication of the new religious ordinance's 
decree.  However, issues surrounding the Unified Buddhist 
Church of Vietnam and Protestants in the Central Highlands 
are central to the religious freedom question and have to be 
resolved.  That said, it is possible for Vietnam to turn 
this issue from a problem area into one that is positive, 
the Ambassador asserted. 
 
17. (SBU) There are "bad social elements" that cause trouble 
"under the guise of religion," FM Nien said.  Vietnam must 
separate these elements from religion and will make clear 
that Vietnam prohibits actions that force people to renounce 
their faith.  The Ambassador responded that how Vietnam's 
laws and regulations are publicized and enforced is 
important:  local attitudes can make a big difference, as we 
saw in the different situations over Christmas in the 
Central Highlands. 
 
18. (SBU) Addressing the issue of the land for the new 
Embassy compound, the Foreign Minister said that he is "not 
happy" with the Russians, who are "too slow."  Russia will 
send a team next month to discuss the issue.  The growing 
U.S.-Vietnam relationship deserved a new building, FM Nien 
said. 
 
19. (SBU) FM Nien concluded by expressing his sadness at the 
Secretary's departure and his hope to welcome the Secretary- 
 
SIPDIS 
designate to Vietnam. 
 
20. (SBU) Comment:  We have heard from Vice Foreign Minister 
Le Van Bang and others that the Foreign Minister has been 
ill -- some say he is suffering from prostate cancer -- and 
that he has received treatment in Singapore.  He did not 
look well and appears to have lost weight.  Furthermore, he 
twice turned to his staff to remind him of what issues the 
Ambassador had just raised.  End comment. 
 
MARINE