NGUYEN CAO KY VISITS HCMC AGAIN

NGUYEN CAO KY VISITS HCMC AGAIN

 ADVISING THE GVN?

1. (SBU) Summary: We met November 9 in HCMC with former Vice President of the Republic of South Vietnam Nguyen Cao Ky, who made headlines with a well-publicized reconciliation visit to Vietnam in January 2004. Ky told us he was back on a "quiet working visit" to engage the GVN on Viet Kieu reconciliation as well as domestic socio- economic issues, including the Central Highlands and corruption. Ky told us that GVN officials informed him that they had approved an initiative to rehabilitate a large ARVN cemetery near HCMC a gesture that the Mission had separately urged the GVN undertake in its efforts to build bridges with the Vietnamese community overseas. Ky says that almost all GVN officials that he has met even many in the North are keen to improve ties with the United States, in part to act as a counterbalance to Chinese influence in the region. End Summary.

2. (SBU) At the implicit suggestion of Special Envoy of the PM to the South, Vo Viet Thanh (septel), DPO and PolOff met November 9 at the ConGen with Nguyen Cao Ky, former General and Vice President of the Republic of Vietnam. Ky, who had been in country for two days, told us that he was in Vietnam as an unofficial advisor to the GVN on a range of issues, from the GVN's policy in the Central Highlands to its outreach efforts with the Vietnamese Diaspora in the United States. Unlike his previous visit during the "Tet" holidays in January 2004, this visit was very low key. Ky expressed surprise to have received VIP treatment upon his arrival, having been whisked through customs by the External Relations Office, Police and other GVN officials. Since his arrival two days ago, Ky said that he had met with Director of the HCMC Office of External Relations Hung, twice with special advisor to the Prime Minister Vo Viet Thanh and with Deputy Chairman of
the HCMC People's Committee, Dr. Nhan. Other meetings with GVN officials are planned in Hanoi, Danang, Nha Trang and Dalat over the course of the next monh. Ties to the Viet kieu nad the United States.

3. (SBU) Ky said that he is a core member of a quiet process of reconciliation between the GVN and the Viet Kieu community in the United States. Despite the negative press that his initial visit to Vietnam created in the Viet Kieu community in the United States, the long-term fallout to him and his family has been minimal. He maintained that both in Vietnam and in the United States, hardliners were a dying breed. This process of reconciliation has happened to him on a personal level as well. He said he and Vo Viet Thanh (who, inter alia, was a Viet Cong leader) now are "brothers," a sentiment echoing Thanh's comments in our meeting with him November 8

4. (SBU) Ky said that he was particularly encouraged by a recent GVN decision to rehabilitate  a major ARVN cemetery near HCMC. He told us that in his February 2004 meetings with GVN officials, they had expressed real reticence to move forward, largely because the issue still was "too sensitive" for conservatives and military officials. Ky advised them, however, that, "if you want to reconcile with the Viet Kieu, you have to reconcile with their dead first”.

5. (SBU) Ky told us that three weeks ago he hosted a reception for visiting Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Phu Binh in Orange County and Binh said that the GVN had agreed to move ahead quietly with the cemetery's rehabilitation. Ky said the GVN has assigned Deputy PM Pham Gia Khiem and the MoD to oversee therehabilitation. After the work is completed, Ky will lead a delegation of Viet Kieu to reopen the cemetery.

6. (SBU) Ky added that officials in southern Vietnam had expressed a clear desire to forge close ties with the United States. Vietnamese officials were driven both by a fear of China by and a desire to expand business ties. While he had not yet visited Hanoi on his current visit, during his January visit he had sensed more suspicion of the United States. But even in Hanoi, Ky said that GVN officials had told him Vietnam needs to "counterbalance" China, a role that only the United States Could play. 

Corruption

7. (SBU) Ky said GVN leaders clearly understand that corruption is the biggest threat to economic growth and, ultimately, the legitimacy of the one-party state. In Ky's view, the fundamental problem is that almost all GVN and Party leaders are buried deep in corruption, making it hard for them to argue that the next generation of leaders should behave any differently. This corruption, he said, goes all the way to the top of the Party and to the highest levels of the government. What he saw in South Vietnam when he was Vice President pales in comparison with corruption in Vietnam today, Ky assert.

8. (SBU) While part of the problem is structural Vietnam does not have the institutions to combat corruption Ky also indicated that the other part of the problem is ideological. Other than for old-timers in the party, Communism is dead. Vietnam, he argued, is left with a one-party state with no ideological moorings.  

Déjà vu in the Cetral highlands

9. (SBU) Ky said that GVN officials also have asked him during this visit to take a look at the problems they face in the Central Highlands. Ky recounted the development, social disenfranchisement and minority/majority tensions over land that he had encountered as Vice President. (Note: With the exception of the new dimension of religious freedom, eerily similar conditions exist today. End note.) Ky said the key to easing problems in the region was to ensure that local officials are pressed from the center to implement the government's policies. Official development support from the international community also was important to help the process of reform in the Highlands. In his opinion, GVN officials at least at the central level would welcome U.S. development assistance.

WINNICK