US embassy cable - 05HOCHIMINHCITY609

UNCLAS  HO CHI MINH CITY 000609 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, SOCI, PREL, PGOV, KIRF, VM, Human Rights, Religious Freedom, HIV/AIDS 
SUBJECT: HUE DEMONSTRATES PROGRESS ON RELIGIOUS FREEDOM ISSUES 
 
REF:  A) HCMC 586; B) Hanoi 767; C) 04 Hanoi 916 D) 03 HCMC 1010 
 
1. (SBU) Summary:  During a recent visit to Hue, Catholic and 
Protestant leaders painted a picture of an increasingly tolerant 
provincial leadership.  Overall, they have made more tangible 
progress in urban areas than in the rural hinterland.  There is 
budding cooperation between religious groups and the province on 
HIV/AIDS issues.  Some religious leaders are ignorant of, or 
reluctant to press the government to implement favorable 
provisions of the new legal framework on religion.  Voicing a 
different view from others in his organization, a senior monk of 
the outlawed United Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) told us that 
he could envision compromise with the Communists, were the GVN to 
give the UBCV real independence to manage its internal affairs. 
(Ref A reports separately on our meeting in Hue with activist 
Father Nguyen Van Ly.)  End Summary. 
 
Local Government Says It Supports Religion 
------------------------------------------ 
 
2. (SBU) During the visit of the CG and a ConGen team to Hue May 
23 to 25, PolOff met with local government officials and religious 
leaders to assess developments in religious freedom in the 
province.  Duong Viet Hong, Chairman of the Provincial Committee 
for Religious Affairs (CRA), emphasized that the province is 
committed to implementing Vietnam's new legal framework for 
religion.  Religion plays an important role in Thua Thien Hue 
Province.  At least 60 percent of the province's one million 
residents are religious, 550,000 of them Buddhist.  There are 
another 52,000 Catholics in the province; the Archdiocese, which 
also covers Quang Tri Province, has 65,000 believers.  The two 
most difficult issues between the CRA and the Buddhist and 
Catholic churches are the return of expropriated property and the 
role of religious institutions in education.  The CRA's position 
is that the bulk of expropriated land should be considered a 
"contribution."  The CRA also does not encourage Catholic and 
Buddhist Churches to open their open own primary and secondary 
schools; it they did, they would have to use the standard GVN 
curriculum.  All religious organizations are free to conduct after- 
hours religious instruction for children. 
 
3. (SBU) Protestantism has not made significant inroads in Hue. 
The CRA listed two churches affiliated with the GVN-recognized 
Southern Evangelical Church of Vietnam (SECV) with roughly 260 
followers.  The CRA is aware of a few small Protestant house 
churches operating in the province.  Each one has no more that 40 
believers.  The CRA Chairman claimed that the province is 
encouraging house churches to register under the new law. 
 
4. (SBU) Chairman Hong did not touch on the outlawed United 
Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) and was visibly uncomfortable 
discussing the visit of France-based Buddhist leader Thich Nhat 
Hanh to Hue earlier in the year.  The province "facilitated and 
welcomed the visit," which made a "good impression" on Hue's 
faithful.  He had no comment on Thich Nhat Hanh's recommendations 
to the GVN on the separation of church and state and encouraging 
reconciliation between the GVN-recognized Vietnam Buddhist Sangha 
(VBS) and the UBCV (ref B). 
 
Protestant House Churches: Pressure Easing Slightly 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
5.  (SBU) In a modest home in Hue city we met with Pastor Nguyen 
Van Phai, who runs a 40-person house church affiliated with the 
Vietnam Evangelical Fellowship (VEF).  Pastor Phai said that there 
are four house churches operating in the province, each with 
thirty to forty members.  While police scrutiny remains heavy, the 
police have not stopped or harassed services over the past six 
months.  The police presence has intimidated some from joining the 
church.  The police also have requested that the church subdivide 
into smaller units when its membership grows beyond 50 persons. 
Phai had never met with the CRA and would not initiate contact 
with the CRA or the police.   The pastor had read the Prime 
Minister's February Instruction on Protestantism and the Ordinance 
on Religion.  He was willing to register his church under the new 
legal framework, but was waiting for the HCMC-based leadership of 
the VEF to negotiate on his behalf.  (Note: Police had stationed 
an officer in an adjacent room inside the Pastor's home during the 
meeting; the Pastor was also summoned for interviews with local 
police prior to and after the meeting.) 
 
The SECV:  Getting Better All the Time 
-------------------------------------- 
 
6. (SBU) Ma Phuc Hiep, the Pastor in Charge of the SECV in the 
province, was glowing in his description of the treatment the SECV 
had been receiving in Hue over the past year.  As the SECV 
congregation in Hue was small, about 600 persons, he splits his 
time between Hue and Danang, where he lives.  In the past, he had 
to obtain permission from Hue authorities each time he wished to 
travel to Hue; now he can travel freely as well as distribute 
religious materials that he obtains in Danang.  The SECV in Thua 
 
Thien Hue is primarily urban-based; only one of its 11 churches is 
in a rural area.  While local government in rural areas is more 
restrictive, even there he has seen improvement.  The SECV 
maintains excellent relations with the Catholic Archdiocese.  As 
good as the situation is in Hue, it is better in Danang.  For 
example, the SECV recently was able to hold a series of well- 
publicized evangelical "crusades" to attract new members.  This 
type of activity was never permitted before, Hiep said. 
 
Catholic Church 
--------------- 
 
7. (SBU) Associate Bishop Le Van Hong, Father Duong Quynh, 
Chancellor of the Archdiocese, and Father Le Van Thang, Secretary 
of the Archbishop's Office, told us that that the situation today 
for the 52,000 Catholic believers in the province was far improved 
from a decade ago.  The diocese has a "generally open" 
relationship with the local government.  Hong noted with 
satisfaction that a group of priests and nuns have been 
collaborating with the local government, a Scandinavian NGO (NAV) 
based in Hue and monks of the VBS to deliver hospice and in- 
hospital care to the province's AIDS patients.  Urban areas in the 
diocese are particularly free from acrimony, but the Church does 
experience problems in establishing new congregations in more 
remote rural areas, particularly in the two districts with a heavy 
ethnic minority population.  The Church also contends with a 
serious shortage of priests.  While there are 120 on the books, 
for various reasons only 80 are working in the province's 46 
parishes.  Some priests have to conduct three or four services 
every Sunday.  The Archdiocese also has been unable to make much 
process in securing the return or receiving compensation for 
expropriated property. 
 
8. (SBU) Bishop Hong said that the Archdiocese is still examining 
how to implement Vietnam's new legal framework on religion.  A 
number of provisions remain "ambiguous or unclear."  He admitted, 
however, that he has not yet reviewed the new laws closely to see 
how the Archdiocese could best test the new legal provisions. 
 
Buddhists:  A Thaw Between the VBS and UBCV? 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
9. (SBU) The Venerable Gia Quang, Standing Vice-Chairman of the 
GVN-recognized Vietnam Buddhist Sangha (VBS), and his two 
assistants were not prepared to have a substantive discussion with 
us.  Quang shrugged off questions about the impact of Thich Nhat 
Hanh's visit to Hue, saying only that it had a "very good impact." 
He had not read any of Thich Nhat Hanh's reflections on the visit 
and said that, as far as the VBS is concerned, it has no problems 
at all. 
 
10. (SBU) One of Quang's assistants was much more forthcoming as 
we walked and talked during a tour of his pagoda.  Buddhism is 
very strong in Hue and the authorities keep a very close eye on 
the community.  Despite efforts to outlaw it, the UBCV has a 
strong presence.  Since the visit of Thich Nhat Hanh, UBCV and VBS 
monks have begun praying together, a development that our monk 
viewed as positive and significant. 
 
11. (SBU) Following our official call on the VBS, we met with 
Thich Thien Hanh, the senior-most member of the outlawed UBCV in 
Hue (strictly protect).  (This visit came off after much debate 
with our provincial handlers; ref C details how the GVN had 
blocked a prior USG visit to Hanh in March 2004.)  Hanh told us 
that he has been under unofficial pagoda arrest since October 
2003, when the UBCV attempted to hold an organizational meeting in 
Binh Dinh Province (ref D).  He was prevented from leaving the 
pagoda to visit UBCV General Secretary Thich Quang Do in HCMC in 
2004.  However, in April 2005 he was allowed to travel to Binh 
Dinh Province to visit the ailing UBCV patriarch Thich Huyen 
Quang.  However, the 75-year old monk was not allowed to overnight 
in Binh Dinh and was forced to return to Hue the same day. 
 
12. (SBU) Hanh said he had a very extensive meeting with Thich 
Nhat Hanh, who visited the UBCV monk in his pagoda.  He portrayed 
Thich Nhat Hanh as naive in expecting that he would be able to 
promote independence of the Buddhist Church from the GVN and the 
"coexistence of the VBS and UBCV."  Hanh said that the UBCV 
remains very much alive, albeit under intense pressure in Hue. 
Hanh asserted that in recent years he has formed what is in effect 
a breakaway group of 200 VBS monks operating in 40 pagodas and 
three training schools in Hue and Quang Tri Provinces. 
Doctrinally there is no difference between the VBS and UBCV, but 
GVN interference in VBS personnel matters has led to unqualified 
persons performing religious rituals, an unacceptable outcome. 
 
13. (SBU) Hanh said that personally he would be willing to merge 
with the VBS and operate under current Vietnamese law, were that 
combined organization completely independent from the GVN.  He 
acknowledged that this approach deviated from that of UBCV General 
Secretary Thich Quang Do.  Hanh asked for ConGen's view of the 
 
SIPDIS 
future of the UBCV.  PolOff observed that the GVN views the UBCV 
 
as a threat, in part because of its historical legacy of social 
activism in Vietnam.  PolOff also observed that those religious 
organizations that manage to avoid political issues, such as 
Catholic Church and the SECV, recently have found it easier to 
deal with the GVN.  Hanh said that he agreed and added 
parenthetically "I wish you would tell this to Thich Quang Do and 
Thich Tue Si (another UBCV leader under pagoda arrest in HCMC). 
He explained that their strategy is to agitate for maximal 
political change in Vietnam with a hope that the GVN then might 
seek compromise and allow an independent UBCV. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
14. (SBU) Many of the religious freedom trends in Hue are being 
played out across Southern Vietnam.  On the plus side, there is 
noticeably greater interaction between local provincial officials 
and the Catholic Church and the SECV.  Pressure on Protestant 
house churches is decreasing and some are in the process of 
formally registering under Vietnam's new religious law.   Also 
encouraging is the budding partnership between local government, 
the VBS and Catholic Church on HIV/AIDS issues.  On the downside, 
the GVN's new mantra of greater religious freedom has not yet 
penetrated consistently into rural areas, even where there are no 
ethnic-minority/majority problems.  Provincial-level officials are 
not yet getting the word out about new GVN policies effectively 
down to the village level.  And religious leaders, conditioned by 
decades of GVN antagonism, are hesitant to press local officials 
to ensure that more favorable provisions of the new legal 
framework on religion are applied consistently. 
 
15. (SBU) Thich Thien Hanh was the first UBCV leader to suggest to 
ConGen that compromise with the Communist Party was at all 
possible.  Nonetheless, Hue officials made it perfectly clear that 
they continue to view the UBCV as a significant internal threat. 
They also keep the VBS on a very tight leash.  Our meeting with 
Hanh made it clear why.  Flanked by three young, stone-faced 
acolytes, the 75-year old Hanh was physically frail but possessed 
charisma and an aura of authority that his VBS colleagues did not 
have.   Informally, the VBS monk we met spoke highly of him.  One 
of our government minders seemed to think so too, bowing 
noticeably as Hanh greeted us at the door of his pagoda. 
 
WINNICK 
 
 
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