Clinton looks to Vietnam's future amid symbols of the past
HANOI -
Bill Clinton on Friday began a visit to Vietnam, the first by
a US president to Hanoi, saying he hoped to open a new
chapter in relations with the one-party state.
Twenty-five years after the Vietnam war ended with victory
for the Communist north over the US-backed south, Mr
Clinton told his hosts: "Our history is painful and hard.
We must not forget it but we must not be controlled by it."
In an event powerful in its imagery for many Americans who lived through the
Vietnam war, Mr Clinton - an opponent of the campaign who avoided the draft -
began the formal part of the visit by inspecting a Vietnamese guard of honour. The
Stars and Stripes flew side by side with the Vietnamese flag, a single yellow star
on a red background.
Later, as he spoke at Vietnam National University, the country's most prestigious,
Mr Clinton was flanked by an outsized white bust of Ho Chi Minh, the north's war
era leader.
Mr Clinton's university speech returned to a theme that he has used before, most
notably in his 1998 visit to China: that economies work better when people are
allowed political freedom.
"In our experience, young people are much more likely to have confidence in their
future if they have a say in shaping it, in choosing their governmental leaders and
having a government that is accountable to those it serves," said
But he added: "Let me say emphatically, we do not seek to impose our ideals, nor
could we." Vietnam is a one-party state where other political parties are banned.
Mr Clinton met President Tran Duc Luong, and followed it with a meeting with
prime minister Phan Van Kai. On Saturday, he meets Le Kha Phieu, the
Communist Party secretary who is regarded as the most conservative of the
triumvirate that runs the country.
The president, who on Saturday also visits a site north-east of Hanoi where a joint
US-Vietnamese team is excavating the crash site, handed over 350,000 pages of
documents aimed at helping Hanoi locate the estimated 300,000 Vietnamese
who remain missing after the war.
The US has already handed over 400,000 pages of such documents, which
include records from US medical units that treated Vietnamese soldiers, and Mr
Clinton said a third set of a further 1m pages would be provided by the end of the
year
Sandy Berger, the president's national security advisor, said the Vietnamese
public had given "one of the warmest and most spontaneous receptions I think we
have ever received". This was the case even though the state media downplayed
the visit. "This was not a generated crowd," he said.
However, the reception from the students to the president's speech was polite but
cool. Some in the audience said that might have been because many of the
audience, chosen because they were top performers in their class, did not speak
English.
One English student who gave her name as Huong Diu said the speech showed
"he quite understands about the history of the Vietnamese people." Another, Mai
Thu, said: "He has good intentions to Vietnam."
During the day, the two governments signed a bilateral trade agreement,
negotiated in July. This accord is depicted by US officials as a decisive move in
favour of further economic reform in the country, a commitment that has wavered
in recent years.
US officials said that President Tran Duc Luong told Mr Clinton that Vietnam
wanted "very much" to join the World Trade Organisation and obtain permanent
normal trade relation status from the US. Mr Clinton indicated US support for
these ends but said Vietnam should begin by implementing the bilateral
agreement.
Vietnam Airlines also signed a letter of intent to buy up to three long-range Boeing
777-200 aircraft, which could have a value of $480m at list prices.
Mr Clinton began the effort to normalise relations seven years ago, lifting some
sanctions on the country and lifting a trade embargo in 1994 . He was
accompanied by his wife and daughter and a Congressional delegation that
included the former Vietnamese prisoner-of war, John Kerry, Democratic senator
from Massachusetts.
By Stephen Fidler - The Financial Times - November 17, 2000.
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