US embassy cable - 05HANOI2534

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 HANOI 002534 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT PASS TO EAP/MLS; DRL/IRF 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PHUM, KIRF, VM, RELFREE, HUMANR 
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR MEETS WITH RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS COMMITTEE 
CHAIRMAN 
 
Refs: A. State 157575; B. Hanoi 2267; C. HCMC 1009; D. HCMC 
1024 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
1. (SBU) The Ambassador met September 29 with Committee on 
Religious Affairs Chairman Ngo Yen Thi to present Ref A 
points (previously provided to Vice Foreign Minister Le Van 
Bang) and discuss the religious freedom situation in 
Vietnam.  Although there has been great progress, problems 
remain, and we are concerned about recent incidents, such as 
a church burning in Quang Ngai Province, illegal seizures of 
land belonging to Hmong Protestants in the Northwest 
Highlands and problems involving a foreigners' church group 
in HCMC, the Ambassador explained.  Chairman Thi showed a 
positive attitude to responding to these specific cases and 
readily acknowledged that local authorities often do not 
follow Vietnam's laws and regulations.  He cited Gia Lai 
Province in the Central Highlands as a model for other 
localities there.  The Chairman also explained that there 
will be forward movement in the church registration and 
recognition processes towards the end of the year or early 
next year.  End Summary. 
 
Much Progress... 
---------------- 
 
2. (SBU) The Ambassador met September 29 with Ngo Yen Thi, 
Chairman of the GVN's Committee on Religious Affairs (CRA). 
Pol/C also attended.  Drawing on points contained in Refs A 
and B, the Ambassador outlined the many areas in the 
bilateral relationship that have improved in the decade 
since normalization, not least our bilateral discussions on 
religious freedom.  Thanks to the efforts of the CRA, this 
past year in particular has seen important progress, with 
the GVN going to considerable lengths to clarify its 
religion policies and expand the space for religious belief. 
This progress, and our bilateral efforts that culminated in 
the May 5 exchange of letters, helped to set the stage for 
Prime Minister Phan Van Khai's successful visit to 
Washington and meeting with President Bush, at which the 
President described the exchange of letters as a "landmark 
agreement."  The USG fully recognizes that the space for 
religious belief and practice is expanding in Vietnam, the 
Ambassador emphasized. 
 
...But Problems Remain 
---------------------- 
 
3. (SBU) That said, several positive legal reforms remain in 
their initial stages and a number of significant problems 
are of concern to the United States, the Ambassador 
continued.  One key problem area is that local authorities 
are still not consistently implementing Vietnam's legal 
framework on religion.  Although a formal decision has not 
yet been made, under these conditions, it will be difficult 
to lift Vietnam's designation as a Country of Particular 
Concern (CPC) for religious freedom violations.  As 
indicated to Vice Foreign Minister Le Van Bang (Ref B), one 
way for both sides to narrow their differences and identify 
areas of agreement is for the GVN to provide in six months' 
time a province-by-province assessment of the state of 
religious freedom, the Ambassador explained. 
 
General Areas of Concern 
------------------------ 
 
4. (SBU) Providing Ref A's list problem areas (in 
Vietnamese) to Chairman Thi, the Ambassador paraphrased our 
general concerns: 
 
-- 1) A number of individuals remain in prison because of 
their religious activities.  Although our list continues to 
shrink, thanks both to amnesties and the solid information 
we received from the GVN that some of our prisoners of 
concern were not in jail for religious reasons, we still 
know of two individuals who are in prison for reasons 
connected to their faith (see para 15 for the list provided 
to Chairman Thi); 
 
-- 2) Better training and supervision of local officials are 
necessary to ensure consistent implementation of Vietnam's 
legal framework on religion; 
 
-- 3) We continue to receive reports -- although fewer than 
before -- about forced renunciations and physical assaults 
on believers.  These attract a great deal of attention in 
the United States and elsewhere; 
 
-- 4) Providing opportunities for religious training is key 
because well-trained religious workers can help to ensure 
that believers and their practices are accepted in their 
communities; 
-- 5) and, the legalization of congregations and re- 
establishment of house churches are critical issues, but 
this is still a disappointing area, and the pace of church 
reopenings is slow. 
 
Recent Problem Areas 
-------------------- 
 
5. (SBU) Turning to specific examples of recent problem 
areas, the Ambassador expressed surprise about reports that 
Chairman Thi's Committee plans to turn down the registration 
applications of the Mennonite and 7th Day Adventist 
churches.  If true, this would be disappointing and 
difficult to understand.  The Ambassador noted that we are 
also aware that, on August 21, a house church in Quang Ngai 
Province was burned down by a local veterans group after the 
religious followers refused to renounce their faith (Ref C). 
Our ConGen HCMC has raised this issue with local 
authorities, but has not yet received a response, the 
Ambassador said. 
 
6. (SBU) Another incident that has come to our attention 
involves a number of Hmong Protestants in Lao Cai Province, 
in the northwest, who reportedly had their land illegally 
seized because of their religious beliefs, the Ambassador 
continued.  We sent a letter to the Lao Cai People's 
Committee Chairman asking about this matter, with a copy to 
the CRA's Chairman Thi.  We recognize that tensions will 
exist at the village level between believers and non- 
believers, and this can be difficult to manage.  But, 
Vietnamese law is clear, and people have the freedom either 
to believe or not to believe, and each should not interfere 
with the other.  Finally, we are concerned about the 
inability of a major Protestant church group for foreigners 
in HCMC to meet in a local hotel for Sunday services (Ref 
D).  Our ConGen has also raised this issue with HCMC 
authorities, and we hope that the CRA will be able to solve 
this before it becomes an even bigger problem, the 
Ambassador stressed. 
 
7. (SBU) Thanking the Ambassador for his thoughts and his 
praise for the CRA, Chairman Thi noted that his Committee 
has to take care not to "stand out too much," as doing so 
can sometimes make it difficult to implement GVN legal 
documents and directives.  The CRA sees its function as to 
provide advice to Vietnam's leaders and to serve as an 
intermediary between the GVN and religious groups.  For the 
CRA, the two key issues are the promulgation of new laws and 
regulations and, subsequently, figuring out how to breathe 
life into them.  In paying attention to these issues, the 
CRA has had a particular focus on Protestants in the Central 
Highlands.  There is now a training course for local 
officials (down to the district level) so that they 
understand the Prime Minister's Instruction on Protestantism 
and what steps need to be taken vis-a-vis Protestants.  The 
CRA also requires local authorities that are "doing well" to 
draft "model reports" for others to follow, Chairman Thi 
explained. 
 
8. (SBU) Over the past several months, there has been much 
progress in the Central Highlands, with Gia Lai Province 
doing a particularly good job, the Chairman continued.  Gia 
Lai authorities are implementing the Prime Minister's 
Instruction, and ten more Protestant congregations have 
registered there.  Gia Lai has also permitted the Southern 
Evangelical Church of Vietnam (SECV) to conduct a training 
course for 46 pastors.  Elsewhere in the Central Highlands, 
such as in Dak Lak, Dak Nong, Kon Tum and Lam Dong 
Provinces, there has also been progress, Chairman Thi said. 
However, improvements in the various provinces are unequal 
because of "different levels of awareness among local 
officials."  For its part, the CRA needs to understand why 
some local authorities do not fully understand GVN policy, 
such as the Prime Minister's Instruction.  To that end, the 
CRA is monitoring the situation in the Central Highlands, 
providing guidance and direction to local authorities and 
preparing to enact "further steps" for even further 
improvements on the ground, Chairman Thi explained. 
 
9. (SBU) The CRA is also focusing its efforts on the 
Ordinance on Religion and Belief (and its Implementing 
Decree) to facilitate the registration of and religious 
practice by certain groups, Thi continued.  "Hopefully later 
this year or early next year there will be more improvements 
to allow religious groups to register their activities," he 
said.  Although unregistered groups are carrying out their 
activities "as normal," it is important for them to receive 
recognition from the Central Government so that local 
authorities recognize that these groups are acting within 
the law.  Because of a lack of recognition, religious 
groups' activities are often misunderstood as illegal, and 
local authorities have taken action to prevent them. 
Therefore, the key is to speed up the 
registration/recognition process with the hope that there 
will be further improvements in the days ahead. 
 
10. (SBU) Incidents of forced renunciations have declined 
considerably, but there is often still "disharmony" between 
believers and non-believers or local authorities, the 
Chairman acknowledged.  However, there are some cases that 
on the surface appear to involve discrimination or forced 
renunciations, but, in fact, are family feuds.  On the 
specific issue of the land issue in Lao Cai Province, 
Chairman Thi acknowledged receipt of the copy of the 
Ambassador's letter and said that he sent CRA officers to 
the area to investigate and report. 
 
11. (SBU) On the subject of the foreigners' religious group 
in HCMC (the New Life Fellowship), Chairman Thi said that he 
sent written instructions to the HCMC CRA to provide 
guidance to the group on how to register their religious 
activities.  Hotels are not religious places, and if the 
group wants to use a Vietnamese place of worship, it only 
needs to register with the proper authorities.  This kind of 
case seems unusual for HCMC, which is normally more 
"flexible," and Chairman Thi surmised that it may just 
involve some procedural problem.  On the Quang Ngai church- 
burning case, Chairman Thi said this was the first he heard 
of it and pledged to investigate. 
 
12. (SBU) The religious situation in Vietnam continues to 
improve, Chairman Thi averred.  However, while we have to 
recognize that there will be problems, we cannot let 
individual incidents color our overall perception of the 
situation.  The Chairman concluded by promising to continue 
to work with the Ambassador and the Embassy to further 
promote progress. 
 
13. (SBU) The Ambassador agreed that breathing life into 
Vietnam's laws and regulations is a key challenge, and that, 
while there has been progress, challenges remain, 
particularly in the registration and recognition process. 
Incidents will occur, but information sharing can help to 
ameliorate this, and the Ambassador promised to continue to 
keep Chairman Thi informed of incidents and problems that 
come to our attention.  Gia Lai Province is indeed a model 
for others, and we hope that the GVN and the CRA can 
convince Dak Lak Province and others to pay attention to how 
Gia Lai handles issues related to religious freedom. 
Thanking the Chairman for the information on the New Life 
Fellowship, the Ambassador noted that, although HCMC may 
seem to be more flexible on certain matters, other problems 
in the past, notably involving the Mennonites and Pastor 
Quang, show that sometimes even the most progressive local 
authorities need help to get back on the right path. 
 
14. (SBU) Comment:  Chairman Thi showed a refreshing 
willingness to acknowledge shortfalls in some areas, 
particularly the gaps between the Central Government and 
local authorities and the slowness of the registration 
process.  Moreover, we are in full agreement with his 
assessment of Gia Lai Province as an oasis of 
progressiveness in the Central Highlands.  We will continue 
to work with Chairman Thi and his CRA to share information 
and bring problem areas to their attention.  End Comment. 
 
15. (SBU) List of prisoners provided to Chairman Thi of 
Vietnamese citizens who are imprisoned for reasons related 
to their religious views. 
 
Begin list: 
 
Tran Van Hoang:  Hoa Thoi Village, Dinh Thanh Commune, Thoai 
Son District, An Giang Province.  Forty-seven-year-old Hoa 
Hao Buddhist, detained on February 25, 2005, and sentenced 
to nine months' imprisonment for distributing audio 
cassettes and DVDs with religious teachings on them. 
 
Ma Van Bay:  Ha Giang Prvovince.  A Protestant church 
leader, B?y was allegedly arrested in 1997 and charged with 
theft after collecting voluntary donations for church use. 
Bay escaped from custody and lived for several years in Binh 
Phuoc Province.  In November 2003, he was allegedly arrested 
again and returned to Ha Giang and sentenced to six years' 
imprisonment on April 28, 2004. 
 
End list. 
MARINE