US embassy cable - 05HANOI312

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 HANOI 000312 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT PASS TO EAP/BCLTV; EAP/RSP; DRL; PRM; H; PM; T 
 
STATE PASS TO USTR FOR E. BRYAN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PHUM, PGOV, KIRF, OTRA, OVIP, ETRD, BM, VM, ASEAN, HUMANR, RELFREE 
SUBJECT: NSC Senior Director Michael Green's Meetings with 
AFM Nguyen Duc Hung:  Regional Issues, Religious Freedom and 
Visits by Prime Minister Khai and Other Senior GVN Officials 
 
Ref: A. Hanoi 254 and previous 
 
1. (SBU) Summary:  NSC Senior Director for Asia Michael 
Green and Assistant Foreign Minister Nguyen Duc Hung met for 
90 minutes February 4, again at dinner the same night, and 
then for 30 minutes on February 5 to discuss regional 
issues, a religious freedom work plan and Prime Minister 
Phan Van Khai's proposed June visit.  AFM Hung described in 
familiar terms Vietnam's desire for greater U.S. engagement 
with ASEAN, underlined Vietnam's concern about China's role 
in the proposed East Asian Summit (EAS) and urged the United 
States to find a way to improve relations with Burma.  He 
also described the GVN's hope for concluding a number of key 
matters before the Prime Minister's visit, such as the 
bilateral WTO negotiations.  Senior Director Green expressed 
the U.S. desire to conclude IMET and adoptions agreements 
and to use progress in the area of religious freedom to 
restart the bilateral human rights dialogue.  During the 
first meeting, AFM Hung had no official response to Senior 
Director Green's presentation of the religious freedom work 
plan save to describe Vietnam's intention to make progress 
in certain key areas and to express concern that the absence 
of a "no sanctions" announcement by March will "mean trouble 
for Vietnam."  The Senior Director underlined the positive 
impact that making progress on a work plan would have on 
planning for the Prime Minister's visit, and at the February 
5 meeting, Hung gave a different response.  He emphasized 
the GVN's desire to eliminate the need for the proposed 90- 
day waiver by concluding an exchange of notes on Vietnam's 
plans for securing religious freedom before the expiration 
of the 180-day CPC period.  End Summary. 
 
AFM HUNG ON REGIONAL SECURITY, ASEAN, AND THE EAS 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
2. (SBU) NSC Senior Director for Asia Michael Green met for 
90 minutes with Assistant Foreign Minister (and MFA Americas 
Department Director General) Nguyen Duc Hung February 4. 
The Ambassador, Pol/C and PolOff accompanied.  AFM Hung was 
joined by United States Affairs Director Nguyen Hoanh Nam 
and Americas Department Desk Officers Nguyen Thi Bao Huong 
and Le Chi Dzung.  AFM Hung opened by offering his 
Government's perspective on issues in Asia in general and 
Southeast Asia in particular.  Asia has witnessed 
significant transformations over the past decade, with 
mostly peaceful transfers of power in a number of countries. 
However, territorial disputes and ethnic and religious 
conflicts still "deeply affect" regional stability. 
Nontraditional security threats, such as transnational 
crime, epidemics, natural disasters and trafficking in drugs 
and persons, are also a feature of the region.  The recent 
earthquake and tsunami disaster showed the great impact 
these nontraditional threats can have on the region, but it 
also allowed countries in and outside of Asia to work 
together to provide assistance, and Vietnam was no 
exception, Hung noted. 
 
3. (SBU) Compared with other areas, the Asia-Pacific region 
is relatively stable and benefits from a high level of 
economic growth, Hung continued.  The region's flashpoints 
are "moving in the right direction" and efforts to integrate 
Northeast and Southeast Asia are underway.  The successful 
conclusion of the fifth Asia-Europe Meeting Summit (ASEM 5) 
and the collaborative tsunami relief efforts showed how 
nations of Asia can join together. 
 
4. (SBU) The most "outstanding" feature of the Asia-Pacific 
region is the "peaceful rise of China," AFM Hung noted.  In 
recent years, China has publicly stated that it is striving 
to "rise peacefully."  No one is really sure what this 
means, but, in general, China seems to be focused on 
contributing to the region's dynamic economic growth.  On 
the other hand, there is no consensus regarding how China 
will deploy its newly acquired power and influence, possibly 
to "threaten the region's stability and balance."  China- 
related developments will "for sure" have an impact on the 
region and every nation in Southeast Asia, Hung observed. 
 
5. (SBU) Turning to ASEAN, Hung said that the organization 
is playing an increasingly important role in Asia and 
continues to develop its relations with other countries, 
including the United States.  At the same time, the 
challenge for ASEAN will be to increase its effectiveness 
and strengthen cooperation among member states and with 
Northeast Asian nations.  This year will be important as 
ASEAN will begin to draft an ASEAN Charter and will also 
work on the East Asian Summit (EAS).  The EAS question is 
very important, not only from ASEAN's perspective, but also 
from the perspective of the "Plus 3" nations of Northeast 
Asia.  The issues the EAS raises will have a "major effect 
on the future of ASEAN," Hung opined. 
 
6. (SBU) During a recent ASEAN Senior Officials Meeting 
(SOM) in Hanoi, a "common understanding" about these issues 
was reached.  However, there still needs to be more 
discussion before implementation of the EAS can begin, AFM 
Hung said.  Some ASEAN members, particularly Malaysia, agree 
that it is time to go ahead with the EAS.  However, others 
want an "open-ended summit," with invitations extended to 
others.  This is an issue still under discussion, but, if 
possible, it would be useful to have others join.  "Perhaps 
the United States would go along with an open-ended summit," 
Hung asked rhetorically.  For its part, ASEAN wants to 
remain in the driver's seat and, to this end, developed the 
ASEAN+3 formulation.  However, China also wants to be in the 
driver's seat, Hung said. 
 
7. (SBU) Regarding ASEAN-U.S. relations, ASEAN in general 
and Vietnam in particular highly value their ties with the 
United States in all areas, Hung continued.  The areas in 
which the two sides need to increase their cooperation are 
economics, trade and investment.  For example, the ASEAN 
member states are still looking forward to seeing U.S. 
guidelines for the implementation of the ASEAN Enterprise 
Initiative.  Another key area for both sides is increasing 
market access, and it is important to encourage U.S. 
investors to invest in both ASEAN and Vietnam. 
Strengthening the U.S.-ASEAN dialogue is another issue on 
which to focus.  Although ASEAN has the ROK, Japan, India 
and China as dialogue partners, the organization has yet to 
build this kind of partnership with the United States, Hung 
noted. 
 
8. (SBU) That said, in several areas the United States and 
ASEAN are strengthening their cooperative ties, AFM Hung 
continued.  For example, the two sides have increased their 
cooperation in countering nontraditional security threats, 
such as transnational crime and terrorism.  For its part, 
Vietnam is working closely with the United States on 
countering terrorist financing and "stopping people" who 
have links to organizations linked to terrorism.  These 
cooperative ties have led to Vietnam's becoming the "safest 
destination" in Southeast Asia for tourists, investors, and 
even U.S. Navy warships (with one USN ship visit scheduled 
for 2005, Hung added).  ASEAN seeks continued U.S.-ASEAN 
counterterrorism cooperation, as spelled out in the ASEAN- 
U.S. joint declaration against terrorism, in Brunei, in 
addition to cooperation in other areas, such as technology 
transfer, information exchange, "finance" and disaster 
relief capacity building.  U.S. development assistance, 
particularly in the areas of hunger reduction and poverty 
alleviation, would also be welcome.  U.S. participation in 
the Mekong Delta region development project, in which Japan 
is playing a large role, is also notably absent.  While 
Vietnam welcomes U.S. regional development assistance that 
includes Vietnam, Indonesia and others, perhaps the 
assistance could be diverted to bilateral programs and made 
"more effective," Hung observed. 
 
CHINA 
----- 
 
9. (SBU) On China-Southeast Asia relations, Hung said that 
the PRC plays an important role in every political, economic 
and security aspect of the region.  Every country in the 
region has a "lesson" learned from relations with China, and 
some lessons are "more difficult" than others.  For its 
part, Vietnam is trying to develop and maintain friendly and 
cooperative ties with China for the sake of the Vietnamese 
and Chinese peoples and for peace and development in the 
region.  China "attaches great importance" to its 
relationship with Southeast Asia, in both political and 
economic terms.  For example, China took the initiative to 
create a "free trade area" with Southeast Asia, and, 
although the talks underway are "not easy," all parties have 
the determination to go ahead.  "Vietnam will do its best to 
ensure that ASEAN-China relations contribute to regional 
peace and stability," Hung averred. 
 
10. (SBU) Trade volume between Vietnam and China continues 
to grow, reaching USD five billion in 2004, and both sides 
are striving to reach USD 10 billion in five years, Hung 
said.  (Note: the Chinese Embassy here claims the 2004 
figure is USD 6.74 billion.  End Note.)  Although Vietnam's 
economic relations with the United States are "more 
important," the United States and Vietnam are politically 
"not so close."  While the U.S. President will sometimes 
chat briefly with his Vietnamese counterpart or other senior 
Vietnamese leaders, leadership interaction between China and 
Vietnam is much greater.  Vietnam hopes to be able to 
increase exchanges between its leaders and those of the 
United States.  This year, three of Vietnam's top leaders - 
the Prime Minister, the President and the Chairman of the 
National Assembly - have plans to visit the United States, 
and Vietnam hopes that these visits will present the 
occasion to have meetings with U.S. leaders, Hung noted. 
 
BURMA 
----- 
 
11. (SBU) One area of concern among Vietnam, the United 
States and ASEAN is Myanmar, Hung observed.  For a "long 
time," Myanmar received no attention from the United States 
and was forced to "get along" with its neighbors China and 
India.  "Myanmar has its own problems, and the United States 
should sympathize with them," Hung urged.  Myanmar wants to 
pursue regional integration and to be welcomed 
internationally.  With the ASEAN summit scheduled to be held 
in Myanmar in 2006, Myanmar is aware of international 
concerns.  "Myanmar listens to us," he stressed, and Rangoon 
is doing its best to meet the demands of its own people and 
others, including the United States and Europe.  ASEAN-U.S. 
relations will be "burdened" if U.S. policy towards Myanmar 
continues as it has in the past.  Vietnam hopes the United 
States can look into ways to improve ties with Myanmar.  "We 
know you have innovative ways you can do this," such as in 
cooperative activities accounting for MIAs, Hung asserted. 
 
UNITED STATES-ASIA RELATIONS 
---------------------------- 
 
12. (SBU) Thanking AFM Hung for his presentation, Senior 
Director Green stated that both the United States and 
Vietnam have much to gain from strengthening their strategic 
dialogue.  The United States needs perspective on the 
situation in Asia, and Vietnam offers a good view of how 
things are developing in the region.  It is also useful to 
learn how Vietnam's role in the region is evolving.  With 
Vietnam as APEC's host in 2006, the GVN is in a strong 
position to have a large impact on regional trends.  As 
such, the United States and Vietnam should deepen their 
regional dialogue and share their respective strategic 
assessments.  The tsunami disaster was evidence that the 
regional trend is towards increasing cooperation, and 
Vietnam's contributions, including granting blanket 
overflight clearance to U.S. military planes on assistance 
missions, were noticed and appreciated, Senior Director 
Green said. 
 
13. (SBU) On China, Senior Director Green agreed with AFM 
Hung's assessment.  On the whole, it seems that U.S.-PRC 
relations are heading in the right direction, and there are 
several summits planned for this year.  One area to watch 
will be Taiwan, but recent steps, such as progress in air 
links between Taiwan and the mainland, are good and help to 
underpin the two sides' dialogue.  However, China may 
introduce an anti-splittism law, the result of which may be 
some backlash in Taiwan and a reversal of the recent 
positive trend.  For its part, the United States is 
encouraging China to take steps to moderate this law, or not 
go through with it at all, the Senior Director noted. 
 
14. (SBU) U.S.-PRC cooperation in resolving the North Korea 
nuclear issue continues to move forward, and China is 
playing a key role in the six-party talks, along with the 
ROK, Japan and Russia.  Cooperative action in Northeast 
Asia, as manifested in the six-party talks, is the best way 
to deal with the DPRK nuclear issue and, in the long run, is 
in the interest of the region.  On the other hand, the 
United States does not see the ARF or the ASEAN+3 mechanisms 
as useful for dealing with regional issues such as the DPRK, 
Senior Director Green said. 
 
15. (SBU) The United States does not have a strategy of 
confronting or containing China, and, based on the absence 
of China-related issues in the recent U.S. Presidential 
election campaign, it appears that there is a degree of 
bipartisan support for the U.S.-China relationship, the 
Senior Director continued.  There are many challenges in 
China, and we need to have in place a "regional approach" 
while placing an emphasis on our alliances.  ASEAN, and 
ASEAN's cohesion, are important for maintaining a stable 
regional environment and ensuring that China's emerging role 
is a cooperative one, Senior Director Green noted. 
 
16. (SBU) Burma is a problem, and this problem makes it 
difficult to have ASEAN-U.S. summits, Dr. Green continued. 
As President Bush said in his State of the Union address, 
the United States will stand behind and be a strong friend 
of countries going down the path to freedom, but Burma is 
going in the wrong direction.  Both for our values and 
strategic interests, it is important to have Burma go in the 
right direction.  To that end, it would be better to have 
all of us speak softly with Burma, rather than some speaking 
loudly and others speaking in friendly tones.  We are 
concerned about Aung San Suu Kyi and the constitutional 
process, and it will be difficult for the United States to 
be a part of ASEAN events next year if the situation does 
not improve, the Senior Director stressed. 
 
17. (SBU) Regarding regional architecture, the United States 
believes that APEC as the region's most inclusive grouping 
can do the most in areas such as trade liberalization, 
expanding bilateral free trade agreements to regional ones 
and strengthening cooperation in counterproliferation, 
counterterrorism and other transnational threats.  The 
United States believes that Asia is deficient in 
multilateral institutions, particularly compared to other 
regions, and needs to take advantage of many levels of 
cooperation.  We are watching the EAS process and, while we 
are not opposed, our impression is that many countries are 
backing into it without thinking about the ultimate 
consequences.  Vietnam, on the other hand, appears to be 
thinking strategically, particularly regarding what China's 
role will be.  In general, the United States believes that 
APEC should be the pre-eminent regional organization. 
Furthermore, while we do not think we should necessarily be 
a part of the EAS, keeping it open-ended and transparent is 
critical.  We hope that Vietnam will keep us in the loop on 
EAS developments.  The United States wants to work with 
Vietnam behind the scenes both to ensure that we are not 
completely excluded and to prevent the EAS from being China- 
dominated, Senior Director Green said. 
 
BILATERAL RELATIONS 
------------------- 
 
18. (SBU) Turning to bilateral issues, the United States 
believes that there is potential for growth in U.S.-Vietnam 
relations, Dr. Green noted.  With APEC 2006 hosted by 
Vietnam in the offing, we will have to work hard to manage 
the relationship successfully.  There are many issues on the 
table, such as trade and military-to-military ties.  One 
critical issue is religious freedom and Vietnam's 
designation as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC).  We 
have had many discussions about this, and the United States 
hopes that we can move in the right direction.  The recent 
release of Father Ly and several other religious figures 
(Ref A) made a good impression in Washington.  To continue 
to make progress we need to see systemic changes.  We would 
like to pursue this issue bilaterally, which could include 
having our leaders discuss religious freedom matters as a 
matter of course.  The United States has no desire to force 
change on Vietnamese society or borders. 
 
PRESENTING THE CPC WORKPLAN 
--------------------------- 
 
19. (SBU) The deadline for making a CPC sanctions decision 
is approaching, Dr. Green noted and, based on discussions 
with International Religious Freedom Ambassador Hanford, we 
would be willing to issue a 90-day waiver to provide the 
time to pursue a work plan with Vietnam.  As part of this 
work plan, we would want Vietnam to commit to progress in 
key areas and we would need to see it in writing, such as in 
an exchange of diplomatic notes, he said.  It would be a 
future-oriented vision on how to move forward.  If 
successful, this could allow us to work together on a joint 
statement for the President and Prime Minister to issue that 
would put the religious freedom issue in the larger context 
of the relationship.  Progress in various areas of religious 
freedom would be mutually reinforcing, and the diplomatic 
notes exchanged would frame the issue in a way that is win- 
win for both sides, Senior Director Green said. 
 
20. (SBU) As the GVN is aware, the United States is focused 
on a few key issues, the Senior Director continued.  Opening 
churches in the Central Highlands and elsewhere, allowing 
the house church movement to expand and issuing implementing 
regulations, including language banning forced 
renunciations, are critical.  The implementing regulations 
can demonstrate that Vietnam has a commitment to systemic 
changes and show that, if violations occur, there will be 
consequences.  Progress in these areas would be a 
significant step that the President and Prime Minister could 
welcome.  When Vietnam's leaders make public their 
commitment to religious freedom, this plays well in 
Washington and is appreciated both in Vietnam and the United 
States.  Progress on the work plan would lead to a positive 
meeting in Washington between the President and Prime 
Minister and possibly other senior meetings on the occasion 
of other high-level Vietnamese visits this year.  Progress 
would also ultimately show the strength of the bilateral 
relationship to the peoples of both countries and help to 
ensure a successful Presidential visit to Vietnam in 2006, 
Senior Director Green said. 
 
21. (SBU) The idea of a work plan has backing in both the 
White House and the Department, Dr. Green continued, and, if 
we see progress, we can arrange successful high-level 
visits.  The target of a work plan would be the full lifting 
of Vietnam's CPC designation, the Ambassador noted. 
Although there is a question of when we could get this done, 
there should be no reason why we could not lift CPC 
designation by 2006, the Ambassador added.  On the other 
hand, not being able to make progress will force us to 
consider how to handle high-level visits, the Senior 
Director continued.  That said, we are optimistic, and the 
White House and the Department believe we can explain to 
Congress, the NGO community and the media about the progress 
we can make with the work plan, which will make the Prime 
Minister's visit a success, Dr. Green stressed. 
 
GVN WARY OF WORKPLAN AT FIRST 
----------------------------- 
 
22. (SBU) AFM Hung said he understands what the United 
States is looking to accomplish with the 90-day waiver, but 
believes that it would be construed as an extension of 
Vietnam's "probation" at a time when the public and 
policymakers had been led to believe they were due a reward 
for moving to accommodate U.S. requests.  The GVN would not 
have a problem with an exchange of notes as Dr. Green had 
described, AFM Hung said, suggesting that the GVN note be "a 
description of Vietnamese actions to date and an explanation 
of intended future actions, in the context of the bilateral 
relationship and future exchanges of high level leaders and 
also `track two' groups of religious or NGO leaders." 
 
23. (SBU) Responding to AFM Hung's question about the timing 
of the Prime Minister's visit, the Senior Director said that 
June or July is reasonable.  However, it has to be said that 
the National Security Advisor and Chief of Staff have yet to 
approve the visit, so any discussions are now purely 
theoretical.  Dr. Green expressed his hope that, after 
returning to Washington, he can report on his talks in 
Vietnam and put together a PM visit proposal.  If the two 
sides can agree on the religious freedom work plan, he can 
report this to the White House and others and put the visit 
proposal on a positive trajectory, the Senior Director 
noted. 
 
24. (SBU) AFM Hung underlined that the religious freedom 
issue is very sensitive for Vietnam.  During DRL DAS 
Elizabeth Dugan's visit to Vietnam last year, she urged 
Vietnam to make progress by releasing prisoners, opening 
churches and issuing the implementing regulations.  The GVN 
has made progress in opening churches and will provide a 
list to that effect later.  Regarding the implementing 
regulations, these will come out soon, and perhaps Deputy 
Prime Minister Vu Khoan will be able to go into more details 
about the timing during his meeting later (reported septel), 
Hung said. 
 
25. (SBU) The problem for Vietnam will be if, by March, 
there is no "no sanctions" announcement from the United 
States, AFM Hung continued.  If the United States and the 
GVN were able to agree in writing on a way forward before 
then, Green replied, sanctions would become a non-issue. 
March 7 is the key date, the Ambassador added, so we need to 
see something soon.  Agreeing on a work plan will allow us 
the time to assess progress in church openings and other key 
areas.  We need to try to create a way forward that meets 
both sides' needs in terms of both approach and outcome, the 
Ambassador stressed. 
 
26. (SBU) The 90-day waiver would be a vote of confidence, 
Dr. Green noted.  In response, AFM Hung said that it would 
be hard for his Vice Foreign Minister (Le Van Bang) to 
travel to the United States as planned in March to advance 
the Prime Minister's trip if there were no "positive signal" 
from the United States.  This work plan is achievable, the 
Ambassador said, because we already agree on what needs to 
be done.  Waiving sanctions for 90 days will send a positive 
signal that we are making progress.  Hung urged the United 
States to lift sanctions completely before the Prime 
Minister's visit, but Senior Director Green responded that 
this will be difficult because we need time to assess 
Vietnam's progress. 
 
27. (SBU) Responding to AFM Hung's protocol-related question 
about the "level" of the Prime Minister's visit, Senior 
Director Green said that the United States only has "State 
visits" and "official working visits," and that the Prime 
Minister's visit would be the latter.  This would still 
allow him to meet the President and members of the Cabinet. 
The Prime Minister hopes to travel to the United States for 
"three or four days" in the June 20-30 timeframe, Hung said, 
and, in addition to Washington, D.C., may stop in New York 
City, Seattle and maybe Boston.  He would also visit Canada 
during this trip.  In response to Hung's request, Senior 
Director Green handed over themes for a possible draft joint 
statement for the President and Prime Minister to issue. 
 
WTO REQUEST, AND PNTR 
--------------------- 
 
28. (SBU) On Vietnam's WTO accession talks with the United 
States, AFM Hung said that Vietnam would like to complete 
its negotiations before the PM's visit.  Dr. Green responded 
that the United States agrees that Vietnam's WTO accession 
is important for the bilateral relationship.  However, 
whether Vietnam's National Assembly can pass the relevant 
laws in time will be critical.  The best solution may be to 
have an umbrella law, the Senior Director suggested.  For 
its part, the United States is working hard and determined 
to make progress.  Reaching a bilateral agreement by June 
may be difficult, but perhaps the joint statement could 
include language to the effect that both sides intend to 
continue to make progress, the Senior Director noted. 
 
29. (SBU) Another important issue will be the Congressional 
vote on permanent normal trade relations (PNTR), and Vietnam 
needs U.S. help in getting through this, Hung said.  The 
Ambassador responded that progress in the area of religious 
freedom and concluding several important U.S. business deals 
will be important in this regard.  Hung listed three 
agreements that Vietnam would like to see wrapped up in time 
for the Prime Minister's visit:  the Framework Agreement on 
Technical Cooperation (the draft of which is in U.S. hands); 
the Memorandum of Understanding on Agricultural Cooperation 
(which the United States also has to respond to); and the 
draft Maritime Agreement (a U.S. team will come in March to 
discuss this, the Ambassador said).  With bilateral fullest 
possible accounting (MIA) cooperation proceeding, Vietnam 
would like to see increased U.S. assistance in the central 
region of Vietnam in addition to greater avian influenza 
aid, AFM Hung said. 
 
30. (SBU) Senior Director Green said that, for its part, the 
United States would like to sign an International Military 
Education and Training (IMET) agreement with Vietnam, noting 
that having a cadre of officers in both countries who 
understand each other is important for the overall 
relationship.  Vietnam's concern about the human rights 
vetting process is misplaced, because even U.S. allies such 
as Japan and Australia to go through the same procedures. 
Progress in the area of religious freedom would complement a 
broader human rights dialogue.  The two sides should have a 
robust human rights dialogue to maintain momentum in the 
relationship and send the right message to the peoples of 
both countries.  Reaching a bilateral adoption agreement 
would also be a welcome step forward, the Ambassador said. 
In closing, Senior Director Green said that agreeing that 
the religious freedom work plan is the best way forward 
would assist in pushing the proposal for the PM's visit and 
locking in the date. 
 
CHANGE OF HEART ON THE CPC WORK PLAN 
------------------------------------ 
 
31. (SBU) Following a social dinner February 4, Dr. Green 
and AFM Hung agreed to meet again February 5 to clarify the 
issues surrounding the work plan and the timetable.  At the 
February 5 meeting, Dr. Green reiterated that the United 
States is willing to extend a 90-day waiver of Presidential 
action in accordance with the International Religious 
Freedom Act in order to provide enough time for the GVN and 
the USG to jointly develop a work plan for GVN actions to 
address the problems identified in the Religious Freedom 
Report and ultimately avoid CPC designation in the future. 
AFM Hung stated that the GVN would prefer to call it an 
action plan rather than a work plan, and that the GVN was 
convinced that it would not need the 90-day waiver.  The GVN 
would be able to agree on an action plan and exchange 
diplomatic notes to that effect before the early March 
deadline.  This, Hung said, would avoid the politically 
unpleasant image of the United States extending Vietnam's 
"probation period" by 90 days, during which high-level GVN 
officials would be expected to travel to the United States 
to make arrangements for the Prime Minister's visit.  It is 
particularly important, AFM Hung said, to have the short- 
term CPC issue "resolved" before the March 21 visit to Texas 
and Washington of Vice Foreign Minister Le Van Bang.  Dr. 
Green confirmed that if the USG and GVN were able to come to 
agreement on a mutually acceptable "action plan" on 
religious freedom, and solidify that agreement with an 
official exchange of diplomatic notes before the 180-day 
deadline, there would be no need for a 90-day waiver. 
 
MARINE