France said in arms talks with former Vietnam foes PARIS - France is engaged in arms sales negotiations with communist Vietnam, whose forces defeated French troops in a bloody 1946-1954 war of independence, the respected defence newsletter TTU said on Thursday. The weekly said a senior official of France's state DGA arms authority recently visited Hanoi to discuss the possible sale of light frigates, aviation equipment, radars and missiles. The DGA press office was not immediately available for comment. TTU said Hanoi planned to send a delegation to France to study high technology items it was interested in acquiring. However, the publication reported that Colonel Bui Trong Nhu, deputy head of the Vietnam Defence Ministry's foreign relations bureau, had commented that French prices were high in view of Vietnamese budget difficulties. The Vietnamese delegation's initial visit will be followed in the next few months by a separate trip to France by Vietnam's armed forces chief of staff, TTU said. Vietnam's armed forces were traditionally equipped by the Soviet Union and its allies. Reuters - December 23, 1999.