Vietnamese tells Cohen they want to set past aside, look to the future
HO CHI MINH CITY - US Defense Secretary William Cohen, ending a historic journey to Vietnam Wednesday, won assurances from his hosts that
Vietnam is ready to look beyond the past in its military ties with Washington.
Cohen ended his three-day visit in the former Saigon, where the last US troops fled from the rooftop of the US embassy nearly
25 years ago as North Vietnamese troops advanced on the city.
Cohen, the first US defense secretary to come back since 1971, said after meeting US businessmen here the visit represented a
"significant step forward."
"I am encouraged that there is a new openness and willingness to forget about the past," he said shortly before his departure for
Tokyo.
Cohen made only passing references to the war during his visit.
He received assurances that Vietnam is ready to move foward on a deeper relationship with the United States, including
broadened military ties.
"We are happy to see the policy that is conducted by our two countries: that is, to put aside the past and look to the future,"
Lieutenant General Phan Trung Kien, the commander of the Seventh Military District, told Cohen.
At the Ho Chi Minh City hall, once the seat of French colonial rule, the chairman of the municipal people's committee called
Cohen's visit "a milestone."
"I'm very pleased to see continued progress in relations between our two countries," said Vo Viet Thanh.
Both the United States and Vietnam are concerned that China may take the visit the wrong way. Beijing has taken a dim view
of US efforts to strengthen its military relationships in east Asia.
The war and its legacy found their way into Cohen's conversations here despite the upbeat spin on the visit.
Kien told Cohen that his military region was the most severely affected by the war, Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon said.
He mentioned the 300,000 Vietnamese still missing in action from the war and others who today suffer from the effects of
exposure to dioxin in herbicide sprayed by US forces, he said.
A lot of live ordnance is still lying around and many people have been killed, the general said, according to Bacon.
Cohen said he had asked Vietnamese Defense Minister Pham Van Tra to draw up a list of equipment that Vietnam could use to
detected unexploded ordnance.
Actress Jane Fonda's name was brought up in the conversation by Major General Vu Tan, Cohen's escort during the visit, who
said he was a fan of hers while serving in a special forces unit in Saigon during the war, Bacon said.
Fonda, an anti-war activist, went to Hanoi to denounce the US bombing of the north.
As he flew into Ho Chi Minh City Tuesday, Cohen told reporters he was optimistic after his talks with Vietnamese leaders in
Hanoi.
"Not one individual I've met with in this entire time has said any thing about looking back to the past. It's always been look
forward to the future," Cohen said.
He said he foresaw a day when US warships will call at Vietnamese ports and expressed hope that US military contacts with
Vietnam will grow into a full-fledged security relationship.
In two days of meetings in Hanoi, Cohen and Vietnamese defense officials explored ways in which they can broaden a military
relationship that has focused almost entirely on the recovery of remains of US war dead.
Cohen proposed more regular contacts between US and Vietnamese military officials as well as cooperation on de-mining,
environmental clean-up, and engineering techniques to control floods.
"We don't want to rush in trying to force that result but by building confidence over a period of time ... hopefully one day we'll
have the same kind of relationship with them" as with US allies in east Asia.
AFP - March 15, 2000.
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