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Will tragedies like the Mai Lei be forgotten by this visit? |
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November 20, 2000
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam--(UNB/AP)- Concluding a historic visit, U.S. President Bill Clinton urged this communist nation Sunday to open its economy and allow greater individual freedoms, saying the rewards of a free-market system "should be embraced, not feared." Clinton, the first U.S. president to visit since the Vietnam War, declared: "The years of animosity are past. Yesterday we have a shared interest in your well being and your prosperity. We have a stake in your future and we wish to be your partners. We wish you success." The president's last stop on a three-day visit was at a shipping dock on the Saigon River. Under the shadow of two giant cranes, Clinton spoke at a container terminal that is a joint venture between a Vietnamese state-owned company and a multinational firm. Clinton said Vietnam's own government acknowledges that state-owned enterprises cannot create enough jobs for Vietnam, one of the poorest countries in the world with an average annual income of dlrs 372. "But Vietnam's young people have the talent and ideas to create the jobs of the future for themselves in a new era of entrepreneurship, innovation and competition "That must be the future for Vietnam and its young people," Clinton told about 2,000 people gathered despite the midday heat. Vietnam and the United States signed a sweeping trade agreement this year that will force major economic reforms and allow generally unfettered commerce. Clinton said it would draw more investors. "It will also help to develop a more open, sophisticated free market based on international rules of law," Clinton said. "And that will bring more rewards for the creativity and initiative of the remarkable Vietnamese people. He urged both country to ratify and implement the agreement. "The changes it will bring should be embraced, not feared," he said. Clinton promised that the United States would establish a dlrs 200 million line of credit to support U.S. investment in Vietnam. Earlier, Clinton plunged into crowds on a narrow shopping street, shaking hands and stopping at markets to buy gifts in the bustling city of 5 million known as Saigon before its surrender to communist forces 25 years ago. He sat in a courtyard of Ho Chi Minh City's fine arts museum to discuss Vietnam's future with young people in business, academia, the arts and the media. "One of the great debates every society must have is how to balance individual freedom with the need for ... cohesion of families, communities and nation," Clinton said. Despite his pleas, Vietnam's powerful Communist Party chief said his country would go its own way. "We respect other nations' choices of lifestyle and political systems," Le Kha Phieu was quoted as telling Clinton. "We also demand other nations respect our country's political system and choices." After two days in Hanoi, Clinton arrived near midnight Saturday in Ho Chi Minh City, renamed after the revolutionary leader after U.S.-backed troops surrendered Saigon. Thousands of Vietnamese, many waving and cheering, lined the motorcade route. Clinton also was to meet John Baptist Pham Minh Man, archbishop of Ho Chi Minh City, in a demonstration of support for the right to religious worship, U.S. officials said. Earlier, police broke up a sit-in by more than 150 demonstrators camped out beneath protest banners for several months near a government office. The communist government's decision to allow the protest over a land dispute to go on for so long suggested a gradual loosening of official controls. But the peaceful overnight dispersal revealed the limits of what the regime will tolerate, as well as its sensitivity to international scrutiny during the U.S. president's visit. On Saturday, Clinton honored the war's dead - 3 million Vietnamese and 58,000 Americans - and focused on American MIAs and Vietnamese children maimed from leftover mines and bombs. "Whether we are American or Vietnamese," Clinton said, "I think we all want to know where our loved ones are buried." He met four children maimed by unexploded ordnance. Hoan Quang Sy, 11, extended both arms to Clinton in a traditional Asian greeting, but his left hand was gone, the result of an old bomb. Leaving Hanoi, Clinton stood at attention as a U.S. military honor guard took possession of the remains of three missing Americans. "It's a shame this is so short," Vietnamese President Tran Du Luong said Saturday. "I hope the next U.S. president will continue what we have started." He called Clinton's visit "a new page" in relations. --- On the Web: CIA World Factbook: http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/vm.html
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