The head of an outlawed
Buddhist church in Vietnam has held talks with a senior American diplomat in Ho
Chi Minh City.
The US Consulate says Thich Huyen Quang, 86, patriarch of the Unified Buddhist
Church of Vietnam (UBCV), met US consul general Emi Yamauchi on Friday.
The meeting took place at the An Quang Pagoda, the headquarters of the
state-sponsored Vietnamese Buddhist Church.
It came several hours after Quang met for the second time in a week with his
detained deputy, Thich Quang Do.
The Paris-based International Buddhist Information Bureau says the monk told Ms
Yamauchi he appreciated his recent talks with the authorities, but says his
church is determined to remain independent of control by the ruling Communist
Party.
Quang also told the consul general the UBCV would ask the government to allow
its members full freedom to meet and discuss the future of Buddhism without
official interference.
The Vietnamese government banned the UBCV in 1981 and created the Vietnamese
Buddhist Church in its place. Quang was under effective house arrest in Quang
Ngai province from 1982 until earlier this year.