US embassy cable - 03HANOI807

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HANOI 000807 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED 
 
STATE FOR EAP/BCLTV, DRL, and DRL/IRF 
STATE PASS TO US CIRF 
 
E.O. 12958:  NA 
TAGS: PHUM, PGOV, KIRF, VM, HUMANR, RELFREE 
SUBJECT:  Thich Huyen Quang Tarries in Hanoi 
 
Ref:  HANOI 0631 
 
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Please stay 
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1.  (SBU)  Thich Huyen Quang, Patriarch of the pre-1975 
United Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV), explained to 
emboffs on April 1 that he had not yet returned to Quang 
Ngai province because senior GVN officials still wished to 
meet with him.  He noted that he had been "invited" to stay 
for such meetings by a Ministry of Public Security official, 
and that he was quite willing to do so.  Thich Huyen Quang 
said that he did not know exactly who wanted to meet him but 
speculated that it was Prime Minister Phan Van Khai or 
Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.  He believes the 
meeting might take place in the next few days. 
 
2.  (U)  The Patriarch emphasized that GVN had not/not 
required him to stay in Hanoi, as claimed by some 
international followers.  He indicated that he still planned 
to return to Quang Ngai "in a few days" after the 
meeting(s).  He noted that he had already written to Quang 
Ngai provincial authorities to inform them that he would 
return to "resume the conditions of my house arrest." 
 
3.  (U)  Thich Huyen Quang expressed appreciation for 
Ambassador's interest in calling on him; a tentative meeting 
has been set for April 4. 
 
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Train troubles 
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4.  (SBU)  Thich Huyen Quang's followers provided two 
different accounts of attempts to purchase train tickets to 
return to the south, apparently before the MPS "invitation" 
to stay.  One stated that the party numbered ten people; it 
had proven impossible to buy a block of ten tickets so that 
they could travel together unless they delayed their travel 
several days.  A young monk separately claimed that he had 
been the one who had gone to the train station and been 
refused tickets without explanation.  He speculated that 
tickets were likely available, but that the GVN had ordered 
the railway not to sell them to him. (Note:  This would 
suggest active MPS monitoring of the comings and goings of 
Thich Huyen Quang and supporters, which is not improbable. 
End note) 
 
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Expressing his views 
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5.  (SBU)  Thich Huyen Quang said that he had sent a six- 
point letter drafted by Thich Tue Sy to the GVN on or about 
March 26.  Thich Huyen Quang declined to describe the 
content of this letter, apart from indicating that it was 
critical on the Government Committee on Religious Affairs' 
handling of religion.  Later that day, a GVN official 
contacted the head nun of Kim Lien Pagoda, where Thich Huyen 
Quang's party has been staying.  The official reportedly 
informed her that Thich Tue Sy should not be allowed to 
remain there any longer.  The monk apparently departed Hanoi 
that night.  The Patriarch initially indicated that Thich 
Tue Sy had left because the GVN had found three of the 
letter's six points objectionable, but another follower 
separately noted that Thich Tue Sy had left primarily 
because he does not have a identification card or a 
residence registration and is therefore unable to stay 
anywhere other than his legal place of residence more than 
ten days.  The Patriarch said that he had subsequently sent 
a second letter to the GVN withdrawing the three most 
controversial points of the first letter. 
 
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Paying the bills 
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6.  (U)  Thich Huyen Quang said that his followers had 
initially paid his hospital bills.  Subsequently, the GVN 
had insisted on picking up the tab, and the hospital then 
reimbursed the followers for these expenses, which ran only 
about 1.5 million dong (USD 100). 
 
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Comment 
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7.  (SBU)  Reports that Thich Huyen Quang is being kept in 
Hanoi against his will appear to be wholly incorrect.  His 
followers here, as well as at the International Buddhist 
Information Bureau in Paris, seem to have their factional 
differences and appear to generate these contradictory and 
sometimes factually false accounts, likely for their own 
anti-SRV or personal agendas.  A meeting between the UBCV 
Patriarch and Prime Minister Khai or Deputy Prime Minister 
Dung would be unprecedented, as apparently was the call on 
him by Vietnam Fatherland Front Head Pham The Duyet.  Thich 
Huyen Quang does not/not appear to be under any imminent 
threat from the GVN and there has been no obvious effort by 
the GVN to limit access to the Patriarch while he has been 
in Hanoi.  It is not clear what may have led to this 
possible change of heart by the CPV and GVN, but repeated 
expressions of concern by the USG and international 
observers, as well as decades of bad publicity generated by 
the IBIB and others, may have begun to wear away at the 
stone and convinced them that a little respect to an elderly 
bonze would not actually be fatal to the SRV or endanger 
"national solidarity." 
BURGHARDT