US embassy cable - 05HOCHIMINHCITY190

UNCLAS HO CHI MINH CITY 000190 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, SOCI, PREL, PGOV, KIRF, VM, HUMANR, RELFREE 
SUBJECT: S/P STAFFER INBODEN HCMC MEETINGS ON UBCV 
 
REF:  A) HCMC 15; B) 04 HCMC 1481 
 
1.  (SBU) In a meeting on February 22 with visiting S/P staffer 
William Inboden and ConGenOffs, Deputy Head of the HCMC Committee 
for Religious Affairs (CRA) Vo Ngoc Hue said the GVN was tolerant 
towards leaders of the outlawed United Buddhist Church of Vietnam 
(UBCV), despite the UBCV taking actions that undermine "the 
prestige of the GVN."  Hue said that the GVN allows UBCV leaders 
to practice in their pagodas without restriction.  He claimed that 
the GVN would not deny UBCV Secretary General Thich Quang Do the 
opportunity to travel from HCMC to Binh Dinh province to visit 
UBCV patriarch Thich Huyen Quang, "were such a visit made on a 
religious and personal basis."  However, the GVN would have to 
"consider carefully" any travel that Thich Quang Do made in his 
capacity as a UBCV leader.  (Note:  the UBCV announced via the 
International Buddhist Information Bureau in Paris that on 
February 16, police prevented Thich Quang Do and other UBCV 
leaders from traveling to Binh Dinh to visit Thich Huyen Quang. 
End Note.) 
 
2. (SBU) Inboden stressed to Hue USG concerns that UBCV leaders 
are under effective "Pagoda arrest" based on unwritten charges 
against them.  He urged that local authorities begin a dialogue 
with the UBCV and normalize the organization's status.  If there 
are areas of dispute or violations of the law, they should be 
dealt with transparently and with due process. 
 
3. (SBU) Inboden separately met with Thich Vien Dinh, a senior 
UBCV monk in the Giac Hoa pagoda in HCMC.  Dinh told us that GVN 
suppression of the UBCV remains "severe."  While UBCV members are 
not harassed in their pagodas, the police have all UBCV pagodas 
under 24-hour surveillance; Dinh termed this activity 
"psychological terrorism."  Dinh said that he is allowed to travel 
within HCMC and can meet with other UBCV leaders inside the city. 
Travel outside HCMC is not possible.  He said that police had 
prevented him and other senior UBCV leaders from leaving their 
pagodas to travel to Binh Dinh on February 15.  Dinh said that in 
early February, before the Tet holidays, local police and 
government officials met with him to discourage UBCV travel to 
Binh Dinh. 
 
4. (SBU) Dinh said the acolytes in the Giac Hoa pagoda technically 
are affiliated with the GVN-recognized Vietnam Buddhist Sangha 
(VBS).  However, he is still the registered head of the pagoda, 
despite his UBCV affiliation.  Because of his UBCV membership, the 
pagoda receives no financial support from the GVN.  The pagoda 
survives on donations from overseas Vietnamese, particularly from 
the U.S., Dinh said.  He derided the GVN-recognized VBS as a tool 
of the Communist Party. 
 
5. (SBU) Dinh echoed the strong anti-Communist stance of Thich 
Quang Do (reftels).  He lambasted the Party for its corruption and 
said that one-party rule was impeding the social and economic 
development of Vietnam.  He said that the Vietnamese people are 
opposed to communist rule and sympathize with the UBCV but are not 
allowed to express their true feelings.  Dinh thanked the U.S. for 
its support of religious freedom in Vietnam and said that USG 
concern had prevented the GVN from "eradicating" the UBCV.  Dinh 
stressed that the UBCV welcomed Vietnam's designation as a country 
of particular concern (CPC), but did not support sanctions that 
punished the Vietnamese people.  He said that should the USG 
decide not to impose CPC sanctions, it should not take Vietnam off 
the CPC list immediately. 
 
WINNICK