New U.S. ambassador to Vietnam assumes duties
HANOI - Raymond F. Burghardt became the second U.S.
ambassador to postwar Vietnam when he presented his credentials at a state
ceremony Tuesday morning.
Burghardt, 56, a career Foreign Service officer, most recently served as
director of the American Institute in Taiwan. The institute serves as
Washington's unofficial diplomatic mission in Taipei.
Burghardt also previously served as consul general in Shanghai, China, and as
deputy chief of mission at U.S. embassies in Manila, Philippines, and Seoul.
After a post-college stint in the Peace Corps, Burghardt joined the Foreign
Service in 1969. During the Vietnam War he worked as a political officer in
Saigon, now Ho Chi Minh City. Later, in the Reagan administration, he had a post
on the National Security Council and worked on Latin American affairs with
Oliver North and other military officers and diplomats.
Burghardt was the first of several new ambassadors to present their credentials
to President Tran Duc Luong. Afterward, Burghardt declined interview requests
and issued no statement.
He succeeds the popular Pete Peterson, who was tapped by President Clinton to
become the first U.S. ambassador to communist Vietnam.
Peterson, a former prisoner of war in Hanoi, served four years as ambassador
before stepping down last summer. He recently returned to Vietnam to work on
trade and business issues as head of the U.S.-Vietnam Trade Council.
By Mark McDonald - Knight Ridder Newspapers - February 05, 2002.
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