State press changes tack to play up Clinton's arrival
HANOI -
Vietnam's communist state press on Friday abandoned its previous near total information blackout on the historic visit of US
President Bill Clinton, but made no mention of the crowds of tens of thousands which cheered his late-night arrival.
After almost universally limiting themselves to a single paragraph earlier in the week announcing "W.J. Clinton and his wife"
would be in Vietnam this week, most newspapers carried the American trip on their front page.
In glowing praise hailing a "bright future ... at the dawn of a new century" in Vietnam, the focus of the coverage was the growing
rapprochement and trade ties between the former Vietnam War enemies.
And while no mention was made of the massed ranks of young Vietnamese who swamped Clinton's route into Hanoi from the
airport late Thursday, the unprecedented scenes appeared to have persuaded the communist authorities to play up the
importance of the visit.
Highlighting for the first time that the trip was the first by a US president since the "American War" and the first ever to a unified
communist Vietnam, the papers also mentioned it was the last scheduled foreign trip of Clinton's term in office.
The coverage contrasted with earlier attempts by the authorities to dismiss the visit as "nothing exceptional" and no different
from one by any other head of state.
Lao Dong, the trade union daily, also praised Clinton's war record, which has left him open to accusations of draft-dodging at
home but made him a hero to young Vietnamese.
"After protesting against the Vietnam War and refusing to take part, Clinton has in the last few years taken several steps to
reconstruct relations between the two countries," it said.
Several papers urged Vietnam to come to terms with past.
Lao Dong quoted Foreign Minister Nguyen Dy Nien as saying: "Vietnam and the United States have an unfortunate history
which nobody can deny ... (and which) no one can change."
The Quan Doi Nhan Dan, the army daily, was unusually frank in its assessment of how the US and Vietnam must now turn a
page in history and leave behind painful memories.
"Vietnam-US relations are long-standing but have been blighted by trials and tribulations, including the full-scale war unleashed
by the United States against Vietnam. This war had enormous and very painful consequences for Vietnam," it said.
"In keeping with the friendly and humanitarian tradition of high spirit of the nation, Vietnamese people have built and developed
ties with the US to steer themselves together towards a bright future and not to let themselves dwell on the painful chapter of
the war."
The Nhan Dan (The People), the communist party mouthpiece, praised Clinton's "important contributions ... in 1994 lifting the
US trade embargo in place on Vietnam since the 1960s, normalising ties in 1995 and building trade relations.
"At the dawn of a new century, the first visit to an American president and his wife to an independent and unified Vietnam is in
the interests of both peoples and will help to reinforce mutual cooperation and the drive to accelerate and develop friendly
relations and Vietnam-US cooperation, particularly in business and commerce."
The paper said it "warmly welcomes" the visit and hoped it would be "crowed with success."
The English-language Vietnam News also mentioned prominently that Clinton was scheduled to visit an excavation site for the
bodies of US soldiers missing in action in the northern province of Vinh Phuc as well as preside over a ceremony for the
repatriation of their remains.
Turning to trade, fostered under the country's tentative market-led reforms and boosted by the signing of a deal allowing
Vietnamese exporters access to the US market in July, the paper said a "take-off" was predicted in trade between the two
nations.
"Investors from all over the world are increasingly travelling to Vietnam to study investment opportunities and conditions," it
said, quoting Nguyen Dinh Luong, a trade department official.
Agence France Presse - November 17, 2000.
|