Clinton Pays Tribute to Vietnam Dead

H A N O I, Vietnam, Nov. 17, 2000 -- In the first live, nationally televised speech by a foreign head of state here, the first U.S. president to visit Vietnam since the war called for a “new chapter” in U.S.-Vietnamese relations.

In an unprecedented address in Hanoi today, Clinton paid tribute to those killed on both sides of the Vietnam War, which cost millions of lives — 58,000 U.S. soldiers and an estimated 3 million Vietnamese — and ended in 1975.

While a large portion of Clinton’s speech was devoted to the conflict the Vietnamese call the American War, he also suggested that Vietnam’s Communist leadership allow its people greater freedom.

“We cannot do anything about the past but what we can do is change the future,” he told students at the Vietnam National University.

While much American attention has focused on the 2,000 U.S. servicemen missing in action, Clinton also acknowledged the 300,000 Vietnamese soldiers and civilians still unaccounted for.

He thanked Hanoi for its help in recovering the remains of U.S. soldiers.

Lost in Translation

While most of Clinton’s uncontroversial remarks were rendered clearly, Reuters reported that the translation became hopelessly garbled when Clinton touched on human rights.

For example, Clinton’s words: “In our experience, guaranteeing the right to religious worship and the right to political dissent does not threaten the stability of the society; instead it builds people’s confidence in the fairness of the institution...”

Became the equivalent of: “According to our experience, the issue of allowing worshipping, allowing, (pause) that does not affect the regime but to improve our regime...”

Vietnamese who listened to the speech said the poor translation made Clinton’s remarks on human rights totally incomprehensible.

But embassy officials said they bore sole responsibility for the shoddy translation. “The translator was ours,” national security spokesman PJ Crowley, told ABCNEWS. “He was under the embassy’s employ. There was no deliberate attempt to distort the president’s message.”

U.S. embassy officials said they assigned a translator who spoke in a southern Vietnamese dialect, which can be confusing to people in the north.

Some people in the audience at the university gave up and took off their translation headsets and the embassy received at least three telephone calls from people who complained about the translation.

On With the Future

During his historic visit to Vietnam, Clinton has focused on the post-war generation, a generation with little memory of the war and a greater propensity to embrace economic reform.

Hours after his address at the Vietnam National University, Clinton had private conferences with Vietnamese President Tran Duc Luong and Prime Minister Phan Van Khai, where he urged a more open society and economy.

Speaking to reporters after the meetings, National Security Adviser Sandy Berger said there was little discussion of the ideological reasons behind the war during the conferences.

“The president believes that our national interest is not now served by rearguing debates surrounding the war,” said Berger. “They are served by remembering and using what happened to build a bridge for the future.”

Berger also insisted that the Clinton Administration had pursued normalization with Vietnam only in ways that were faithful to American values and respectful of those who served in the war.

On their part, the Vietnamese leaders did not raise the issue of reparations or in Berger’s words “some aggregate responsibility” for the war.

They did, however, ask for U.S. assistance in dealing with the specific issues of Agent Orange and unexploded ordnance. (See related story)

In one goodwill gesture, Clinton said he had turned over350,000 U.S. documents to help the Vietnamese locate their ownestimated 300,000 missing from the war and hoped to hand overone million more documents by the end of this year.

Building Economic Bridges

Much of the president’s trip to Vietnam is focused on expanding economic cooperation between the two countries. A number of executives from U.S. corporations — including Coca-Cola and FedEx — traveled as part of the President’s delegation.

Clinton used the word “pivotal” to describe the U.S.-Vietnam trade agreement signed last July at the White House, calling it “a declaration of inter-dependence.”

The emphasis was in keeping with the Clinton Administration’s policy that economic liberalization is the precursor to political reform.

Vietnam has made a few strides in economic liberalization over the past few years. Although there are only four companies listed on the Vietnamese Stock Exchange so far, Vietnam now boasts its own Wall Street.

Despite little advance publicity for the visit, thousands of people on mopeds, bicycles and on foot lined the route from the airport when the president arrived on Thursday evening.

Thousands more stood in front of the hotel where Clinton was staying.

First Lady and Senator-elect Hillary Rodham Clinton was also given a rousing welcome when she arrived in the capital on Thursday.

Newspaper editorials in Vietnam’s state press said the Clintons were “warmly welcome.”

Hours after Clinton’s speech at the National University, a light aircraft buzzed over Hanoi and dropped anti-government leaflets, witnesses said.

Signed by “The Global Alliance for UprisingAgainst Communism,” called on citizens to rise up and overthrow the Communist authorities and demonstrate for freedom. It called for the support of the free world including NATO and the United Nations.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.