Role of government in religion vexes in Asia

I was in Washington, DC, earlier this week and saw, on the national mall, what I am now thinking must be a regular installation about Falun Gong, the religious movement that has faced oppression in China and has been trying to solicit support through a media campaign and demonstrations in other countries.

Then, today, I saw this article about a dispute between Buddhist monks and the government of Vietnam.

A particularly interesting element of the article is a quote that "Managing religious groups does not mean controlling them." In my Western viewpoint, managing the information from or about religious groups is, in fact, a powerful method of control, because it impairs or aids the religious group in spreading its message. What think you?