US embassy cable - 05HANOI2063

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 HANOI 002063 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR EAP/BCLTV 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, VM, DPOL 
SUBJECT: POLITICAL CHANGE IN VIETNAM ON THE AGENDA IN 
HIGH-LEVEL PARTY MEETING 
 
1. (SBU) Summary:  Political "Doi Moi," or renovation, 
is under serious consideration in the highest level of 
the Communist Party of Vietnam's (CPV's) decision- 
making ranks, according to numerous sources after the 
12th Plenum of the CPV Central Committee.  The Party is 
not ready or likely to share power in the foreseeable 
future, but senior Party leaders are concerned enough 
about the erosion of popular confidence due to 
corruption (euphemized in CPV circles as "the need for 
Party building" or "the need for Party strengthening") 
that they are pushing for significant senior personnel 
shakeups and changes in the way the ranks of the most 
powerful Party organs (the Central Committee, the 
Politburo and the Control Commission) are filled. 
Party activists are also pushing to sever the Party's 
ties to economic Communism by eliminating Marxism- 
Leninism from the Party's official ideological 
ancestry, re-dedicating the Party to the "Vietnamese 
people and nation" rather than the "working class" and 
opening up Party membership to capitalists and 
entrepreneurs.  Active consideration is also being 
given to abolishing the parallel governing structure of 
the Central Committee's commissions, which currently 
exist side-by-side with Government ministries to 
provide Party guidance to the line ministries on day-to- 
day tasks.  The Plenums, and the side meetings that 
take place during them, shape the agenda and the tone 
of the National Party Congresses that occur every five 
years (the next is scheduled for 2006).  The 
quinquennial Congresses set the political, economic and 
foreign policy direction for the country.  End Summary. 
 
2. (SBU) The Communist Party of Vietnam's (CPV) Central 
Committee held its 12th Plenum July 4-13 to finalize 
documents to submit to the 10th Party Congress, to be 
held in the second quarter of 2006.  It also discussed 
and adopted personnel recommendations for the Central 
Committee that will emerge from the 10th Party 
Congress, as well as for the Politburo and Control 
Commission.  (Note:  The Party Control Commission 
functions as the Inspectorate General for the CPV and 
has the power to investigate any member of the Party 
and any Party organ or organization, as well as impose 
"Party discipline" and refer criminal activity to the 
Ministry of Public Security.  It has branches at all 
levels of Party organization: local, district and 
provincial as well as national.  End note.)  This 
Plenum included a series of meetings in which selected 
Party members could talk freely, which interlocutors 
interpret as a sign of increased contributions from 
ordinary Party members to the formation of Party plans 
and policies. 
 
3. (SBU) The Plenum also finalized documents to submit 
to the 10th Party Congress.  The documents include a 
political report, a report on "socio-economic 
development orientations and tasks for the 2006-2010 
period," a report on Party building and a report on 
supplements and amendments to the Party Statute. 
 
Controversial Issues Discussed 
------------------------------ 
 
4. (SBU) Plenum conversations and deliberations, not to 
mention conclusions, are mostly confidential.  Post 
interlocutors provided some insight into developments 
from the 12th Plenum, however.  Participants in the 
Plenum apparently reached consensus on two long-pending 
controversial issues:  participation of Party members 
in "capitalist economic activities" and "Party 
membership for capitalists."  The question had been 
whether participation by Party members in capitalist 
economic activities would violate the Party's current 
statute that bans "labor exploitation" by Party 
members.  In fact, Party members have participated in 
capitalist economic activities in Vietnam for a long 
time already, according to Lao Dong newspaper, the 
mouthpiece of the Party-run General Confederation of 
Labor.  Two weeks after the completion of the Plenum, 
Lao Dong ran an article to this effect on the front 
page, claiming that participation by Party members in 
capitalist economic activities has become an undeniable 
fact, and that Party memberships for capitalists would 
strengthen the Party. 
 
5. (SBU) Addressing a conference in May 2005, Tran Dinh 
Hoan, a Politburo member and the head of the powerful 
CPV Commission for Personnel and Organization, asserted 
that "many" Party members have spoken in favor of 
allowing Party members to participate in capitalist 
economic activities.  To implement this decision, Party 
members attending upcoming Party Congresses at the 
grassroots, local and provincial levels (which will 
then elect the members of the National Party Congress) 
will be required to discuss amendments to the Party 
Statute to allow capitalists to become Party members. 
The new Plenum-approved draft of the Statute says, "the 
Communist Party of Vietnam is the vanguard of the 
Vietnamese people and nation."  This is a change from 
the current version of the Party Statute, which says, 
"the Communist Party of Vietnam is the vanguard of the 
working class, the working people and the intellectual 
circle." 
 
6. (SBU) Another proposed point for discussion concerns 
the CPV's ideological foundation.  According to current 
Party documents and guidelines, the CPV identifies 
Marxism-Lenism and Ho Chi Minh Thought as its 
ideological foundation.  Discussions by Party members 
during the forthcoming Party meetings will decide 
whether to designate Ho Chi Minh Thought as the Party's 
sole ideological foundation.  According to Ngo Cuong, a 
deputy department director from the Supreme People's 
Court (and also editor in chief of the Judicial 
Scientific Review, as well as a confidant of several 
Central Committee members and close observers of the 
Plenum), there is a common belief that the core of Ho 
Chi Minh Thought is very much like Sun Yat-sen's Three 
Principles of the People, and that Ho Chi Minh was 
never truly communist, but rather a Vietnamese 
nationalist. 
 
"Renewed" Party Organization 
---------------------------- 
 
7. (SBU) Ngo Cuong asserted that in several of the 
Party meetings surrounding the Plenum, Party members 
recommended that CPV Central Committee commissions be 
abolished to avoid overlapping jurisdictions in the 
execution of State power.  The argument used to defend 
elimination of the parallel structures is that State 
officials holding key positions are always key Party 
members who follow Party guidelines and are subject to 
the direct control of the Party's committees, and 
therefore it is unnecessary to have somebody from a 
Party commission tell them what they can or cannot do. 
Supporters of the idea propose that an institute be set 
up to replace the logistical and administrative 
services the commissions currently perform for the 
Central Committee. 
 
8. (SBU) Party members in the side meetings of the 
Plenum also spoke in favor of a direct election process 
for Politburo members and the Party General Secretary, 
as well as members of the powerful Party Control 
Commission, claimed Tran Nhung, a department director 
from the Quan Doi Nhan Dan (People's Army) newspaper. 
According to the current Party Statute, National Party 
Congress delegates select the Central Committee, and 
the Central Committee members select the Politburo, the 
Party Control Commission and the Party General 
Secretary.  The more direct (and more democratic) 
 
SIPDIS 
election process envisioned would require National 
Party Congress delegates to select members of the 
Central Committee, the Politburo, the Party Control 
Commission and the Party General Secretary directly. 
In March 2005, Party members shared copies of a letter 
believed to be written by Vo Van Kiet, a former 
Politburo member and Prime Minister, that addressed 
this issue.  Kiet's letter called for "free 
nominations" for membership on the Central Committee 
and the Politburo, as well as to key Party positions, 
for consideration by the Party Congress as opposed to 
the current system where the Congress debates lists and 
slates of candidates provided by the existing Central 
Committee and Politburo. 
 
9. (SBU) Nguyen Thi Doan, a CPV Central Committee 
member and the Permanent Vice Chair of the CPV's Party 
Control Commission, in her recent article in Tap Chi 
Cong San (the Communist Journal), endorsed this 
proposal as it applies to the Party Control Commission. 
She cited the necessity of having participants in Party 
Congresses directly elect members to Party Control 
Commissions at various levels.  According to Doan, the 
fact that members of Party Control Commissions are 
selected by members of the Party's Committees 
facilitates "reluctance, indulgence or even evasion" 
when the Party Control Commission deals with 
complicated cases involving ranking members of the 
Central Committee. "Given the current negative effects 
of the market economy and increased corruption 
involving the abuse of power by Party members, Party 
Control Commissions should be elected by Party 
Congresses at the equivalent level," she argued. 
 
Personnel recommendations for the next Central 
Committee 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
10. (U) The official press release from the Plenum 
proclaimed that Plenum participants reached consensus 
on "personnel orientations for the 10th Central 
Committee."  Speaking at the closing session of the 
Plenum, Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh said: 
"While mainly focusing on the qualifications of members 
of the Party Central Committee, it is necessary to 
ensure harmony in the structure of the Party Central 
Committee and attach importance to the quality of each 
member of the Party Central Committee and the quality 
of the Party Central Committee as a whole.  A rational 
structure will ensure the Party Central Committee's 
comprehensive leadership in major localities, fields 
and key positions; a combination between members of 
three age levels; and, a proper rate of young cadres, 
female members, ethnic minority Party members, workers 
and farmers.  For the Party's comprehensive leadership 
based on heritage and years of development, and for 
solidarity and unity among Party members, a rational 
structure and the combining of structure and standards 
will be required to make the Party Central Committee 
strong." 
 
11. (SBU) Tran Nhung translated that for us.  Manh was 
referring to the fact that the Plenum has reached an 
agreement that any new members to the Central Committee 
and Politburo must not be over 50 and 60 years old, 
respectively, and re-elected members of the Politburo 
cannot be over 65 years old (plus 2.5 years, for "key 
positions," meaning the General Secretary of the Party, 
the State President, the Prime Minister, the Chairman 
of the National Assembly, the Permanent member of the 
Party Secretariat, the Minister of Defense and the 
Minister of Public Security).  According to this 
criteria, at least one third of the current 14-member 
Politburo would have to step down at the 10th Party 
Congress, including President Tran Duc Luong, Prime 
Minister Phan Van Khai, National Assembly Chairman 
Nguyen Van An, Permanent Secretariat member Phan Dien 
and National Defense Minister Pham Van Tra.  Some 
widely-mentioned candidates for new memberships to the 
Politburo include Mai Thanh Hai, Ho Chi Minh City 
People's Committee Chairman, Nguyen Ba Thanh, Party 
Committee Chairman of Danang, Phung Huu Phu, permanent 
Vice Chairman of the Party Committee of Hanoi and Pham 
Gia Khiem, Deputy Prime Minister. 
 
12. (SBU) According to official sources, the Plenum 
stressed "the significance of the Party building task," 
deeming it "of vital importance" to the Party and the 
regime.  Widespread corruption, especially recent cases 
involving high-ranking Party members holding key 
positions, obviously prompted the warning, opined 
Professor Ngo Van Hoa from the Institute of History. 
(Note: Hoa is an academic observer of Vietnamese 
politics who provides a useful unofficial perspective 
on political events.  End note.) 
 
13. (SBU) Comment:  It is very likely that the 10th 
Party Congress will endorse the participation of Party 
members in "capitalist economic activities," which 
means Party membership for capitalists and 
entrepreneurs, following a Chinese precedent set 
several years ago.  That, in addition to dropping 
"Marxism-Leninism" and "vanguard of the working class" 
from the Party's mission statement, would mark a formal 
turning point in the CPV's ideological history and 
reflect the reality that private economic activities 
have become the fundamental engine of Vietnam's growth 
and development.  The pressure to reform Party politics 
by breaking down existing power structures and opening 
up the Central Committee, Politburo, Control Commission 
and General Secretary to direct election by the 
National Party Congress (which is itself chosen by 
directly-elected Party representatives) demonstrates 
the current strength of reformists within the Party. 
If these initiatives succeed, the 10th Party Congress 
will have taken a substantial step towards increasing 
popular participation in politics and Government in 
Vietnam.  End Comment. 
MARINE