Vietnam's top leaders pay respects to Thach
HANOI - Vietnam's top communist leadership and old war-time revolutionaries turned out in force on Thursday to pay their respects to former foreign minister
Nguyen Co Thach who died last week.
Thach, whose nickname was ``Mr America,'' served as foreign minister from 1980-1991 but fell out of favour at the end of his tenure over ideological differences in policy towards long-time foes the United States and China.
But any lingering political animosity was cast aside on Thursday when almost all of Vietnam's key officials and military heroes attended his solemn funeral in central Hanoi.
Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Nguyen Manh Cam told reporters Thach had made a great contribution to Vietnam.
``He made a big contribution to the cause of our people, to the liberation and independence of our people, especially in the diplomatic field,'' Cam said as hundreds of mourners filed into a large chamber at the back of Military Hospital 108
where Thach's coffin lay.
Thach will be buried later on Thursday at a cemetery on the outskirts of Hanoi reserved for Vietnamese revolutionaries.
First to pay his respects was Communist Party Secretary General Le Kha Phieu.
He walked into the chamber behind two goose-stepping soldiers carrying a large wreath.
Inside the chamber incense burned near Thach's coffin, which was draped with Vietnam's distinctive red flag emblazoned with a yellow star.
A military band played solemn music as some 50 members of Thach's family wearing white headbands sat nearby.
Other leaders followed Phieu, including President Tran Duc Luong, Prime Minister Phan Van Khai and most of the cabinet.
Vietnam's military genius Vo Nguyen Giap also paid his respects. General Giap, 85, saluted in front of Thach's coffin after walking unaided into the chamber.
Giap, mastermind of Vietnam's defeat of French and American military muscle in the 30 years following World War Two, then doffed his army hat as he peered through a small window on the coffin.
Thach died at the age of 75 after a long illness although official media has not given the exact cause of death.
An accomplished diplomat, Thach was a friendly face among Hanoi's dour communists during Vietnam's long international isolation following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975.
Thach was a committed reformer but remained loyal to the communist party line and was a firm believer in socialism.
However, he was blamed for failing to warn of the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and to prepare Vietnam for an abrupt cut in Soviet aid.
A failure to normalise ties with the United States and possible Chinese demands for his removal as a precondition for renewed relations added to his demise.
Official records show Thach was born on March 15, 1923, to a poor peasant family in the northern rovince of Nam Dinh.
By Dean Yates - REUTERS, April 16, 1998.
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