US embassy cable - 03HANOI517

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HANOI 000517 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR EAP/BCLTV, EAP/RSP 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PREL, EAID, VM, NAM, ASEAN 
SUBJECT:  VIETNAM VIEWS ON NON-ALIGNED MOVEMENT SUMMIT 
 
REF:  Kuala Lumpur 1080 and previous 
 
1.  (SBU)  SUMMARY:  From the GVN's perspective, the 
recently concluded Non-Aligned Movement summit in Kuala 
Lumpur demonstrated that NAM continues to "revitalize and 
unify."  While NAM came out strongly against a war on Iraq, 
Vietnamese officials did not view the conference as "anti- 
American."  President Tran Duc Luong, who led the GVN 
delegation, conferred with numerous leaders during the 
summit.  Vietnam was pleased with the emphasis on "south to 
south" cooperation, and plans to take a "more active" role 
in NAM.  END SUMMARY 
 
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NAM "MORE RELEVANT" 
------------------- 
 
2.  (SBU)  Le Hoai Trung, Deputy Director for the MFA's 
International Organizations Department (MFA/IO), met with 
poloff on March 3 to discuss Vietnam's perspective on the 
13th NAM summit held in Kuala Lumpur February 25-26.  Trung 
was part of the GVN delegation.  (Biographic Note:  Trung 
was graduated from the MFA's Institute of International 
Relations, has an MA from the Fletcher School, and served 
three tours in Vietnam's Mission to the U.N. End Note). 
 
3.  (SBU)  Trung said that the GVN delegation came away from 
the summit "very impressed" that NAM appeared "more unified 
and more relevant" in a "very complicated world situation." 
He opined that the summit's focus on "strengthening security 
and political independence" was "quite appropriate," 
especially regarding timely issues such as Iraq, Palestine- 
Israel, and the Korean Peninsula.  Trung, who also attended 
the last NAM summit five years ago, claimed that this summit 
was "less contentious," likely due to greater consensus over 
the "tense and complicated" world security situation. 
 
--------------------------- 
ANTI-WAR, NOT ANTI-AMERICAN 
--------------------------- 
 
4.  (SBU)  Trung noted that President Luong had stressed in 
his remarks that during this "difficult period" it is 
"especially important" to demonstrate NAM's "unity against 
war."  Trung emphasized that, from the GVN's perspective, 
the strong stand against war should not be viewed as "anti- 
American" per se.  He admitted that some speeches "could be 
construed as "anti-American," but claimed that, since NAM 
works on a consensus basis, the final document was 
"relatively moderate."  Trung also admitted, however, that 
"some" participants viewed the US actions (current or 
planned) concerning Iraq "if not anti-Muslim, then a form of 
discrimination, considering what is going on in the Korean 
Peninsula and Palestine."  Some members also feel "insecure 
and nervous," he added.  Trung noted that the general theme 
of settling the Iraq issue "peacefully and within the UN 
framework" was one with which Vietnam agrees and has 
repeatedly stated publicly and privately. 
 
------------------------------------- 
"POSITIVE" MEETINGS WITH WORLD LEADERS 
------------------------------------- 
 
5.  (SBU)  Over the course of the two-day summit, President 
Luong held separate bilateral meetings with 15 heads of 
state, according to Trung and press reports.  Most were 
relatively short, "sideline" meetings, but Trung highlighted 
several deliverables from these talks: 
--the opening of a Vietnamese embassy in Bangladesh; 
--Namibia's attendance at a conference on Vietnam-Africa 
cooperation scheduled for late May in Hanoi; 
--continuation of rice exports to Indonesia and progress on 
settlement of overlapping claims on the continental shelf; 
and, 
--boosting trade with Iran. 
 
----------------- 
CAN VIETNAM HELP? 
----------------- 
 
6.  (SBU)  Trung said that due to the "complicated" world 
situation, economics took a back seat to the political 
issues, but the GVN was "gratified" to see that there was 
more discussion on "south to south" cooperation.  In 
addition, there was discussion about "triangular 
assistance," a method Vietnam has applied to assisting 
Benin, Madagascar, Senegal, and the Democratic Republic of 
the Congo.  Under this scheme, Vietnam provides some 
expertise (normally in rice production) along with 
contributions from the host government and UN and/or NGO 
assistance.  Trung said African nations "very much 
appreciate" Vietnam's technical assistance.  He added that 
these efforts fit well with Vietnam's goal to increase its 
presence in Africa, with the understanding that Vietnam does 
not have the capability to be an Official Development 
Assistance donor.  Some foreign officials told Trung that 
the "triangular assistance" model could be useful as a 
vehicle for additional "south to south" cooperation. 
 
--------------------------------- 
VIETNAM LOOKING FOR A LARGER ROLE 
--------------------------------- 
 
7.  (SBU)  Trung claimed that Vietnam's status within the 
NAM appeared to have improved over the past five years, 
likely due to Vietnam's outreach efforts and to its own 
developing economy and "impressive" growth rate.  As further 
evidence of the country's rising stature among NAM members, 
Vietnam was elected as one of the NAM summit's 25 vice 
chairs, he noted.  Trung predicted that Vietnam would 
continue its efforts "to make further contributions to the 
organization, without taking on a leadership role." 
 
8.  (SBU)  Separately, Professor Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy, 
Deputy Dean of Hanoi National University's Faculty of 
International Studies, opined that, while the NAM remains a 
useful organization for Vietnam, it is "very large and 
complicated, and members' interests change over time."  She 
predicted that ASEAN would remain more important to 
Vietnam's overall interests. 
BURGHARDT