Vietnam's defense minister to meet Rumsfeld monday
WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld welcomes Vietnam's defense minister to the Pentagon next Monday in a meeting that heralds a "final burying of the hatchet" by the once bitter enemies and improved political and economic ties.
Pham Van Tra will be the first Vietnamese defense minister to visit the Pentagon since the war ended in 1975.
Coupled with a planned port call by a U.S. Navy ship to Ho Chi Minh City in mid-November, the meeting "underscores the advancement of U.S.-Vietnam ties," said a U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The defense official said Rumsfeld and Tra are expected to discuss regional security, the global war on terror and future military ties.
Some 58,000 U.S. troops died in the Vietnam War, while Vietnam suffered some 3 million military and civilian deaths.
"The symbolic significance is certainly that this implies some sort of final burying of the hatchet," said Brantly Womack, a University of Virginia professor of foreign affairs.
"This is the defense minister of a country that defeated the United States. And so it implies that there could be some sort of normal and mutually respectful relationship, and that finally the ghosts of the war are back in their tombs, even among the U.S. military."
The defense official offered no details on whether Rumsfeld would raise the issue of leasing military bases such as ports for U.S. vessels, but analysts doubted Vietnam was prepared to allow a continuing U.S. military presence on its soil.
A U.S. official said Tra, who fought in what Vietnam calls the American Resistance War, will arrive in Washington on Sunday and depart next Wednesday. A Vietnamese government source said earlier Tra also plans to meet with Secretary of State Colin Powell and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.
Tra's visit reciprocates a trip to Hanoi by then-Defense Secretary William Cohen in March 2000.
Peter Brookes, Rumsfeld's former deputy assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific affairs, said the meeting is a signal to China that America intends "to continue to be a player in that part of the world."
Brookes, a Heritage Foundation analyst, noted Rumsfeld met at the Pentagon on Oct. 28 with Chinese Defense Minister Cao Gangchuan.
Brookes said the meeting represents an opportunity to deepen the U.S. relationship with the Vietnamese military, "which has up to this point been basically restricted to mid-level visits and the POW-MIA program."
Vietnam and the United States restored diplomatic ties in 1995 and signed a bilateral trade pact that took effect in 2001. The latest evidence of improving economic relations came when the United States and Vietnam agreed last month to allow direct flights between the countries.
"We have been trying over time to improve the political and economic relations with Vietnam," said a State Department official. "We still have differences with them in some areas, notably in human rights."
Some issues dating to the Vietnam War are likely to be on the agenda, including cooperation on searching for the remains of missing American troops and the effects of the defoliant Agent Orange used by U.S. forces.
Tra said last week he would not seek financial compensation from the United States for Vietnamese who suffered health problems due to Agent Orange, but urged "Americans to take responsibility" for those it harmed.
Reuters - November 04, 2003.
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