Bài viết bằng tiếng Anh trên The New York Times. Khá dễ đọc.
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WASHINGTON (AP) -- With a smile and a handshake, U.S. and Vietnamese defense ministers met Monday to talk about Asian security and other bilateral issues -- the first such meeting since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975.
Flanked by an honor guard, a smiling Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld stood on the steps of the Pentagon to greet Vietnam's Pham Van Tra. A Pentagon statement said the meeting ``underscores the advancement of U.S.-Vietnamese ties as relations between the two countries are normalized.''
Officials later said their agenda included talks about closer military ties and cooperation in promoting regional security in Asia, where terrorism is a problem.
Rumsfeld announced at an unrelated press conference later in the day that he will travel this week to visit two other Asian nations -- longtime allies Japan and South Korea. He said the trip was to ``discuss the arrangements we have with them and our close cooperation in the global war on terror.''
The United States has been forging stronger ties around the world in its search for help with the counterterror war and is seeking Vietnam's help in the counterterror war.
Vietnamese officials have said they want the United States to help ease Vietnamese suffering from exposure to Agent Orange, a chemical sprayed by U.S. planes during the war to remove leaves off of trees. It has been linked to cancer, diabetes, spina bifida, birth defects and other illnesses.
Tra also wants the Bush administration to do more to clear unexploded weapons that kill and maim dozens of people every year.
The United States and communist Vietnam had no formal relations and limited contact for two decades after the last American combat troops left South Vietnam in 1973.
The first President Bush initiated contact when he sought cooperation from the Vietnamese in accounting for Americans missing in action. President Clinton lifted the trade embargo in 1994 and established diplomatic relations the following year. In 2001, he visited Vietnam.
Over time, Vietnam and the United States have developed trade ties and discussed issues such as U.S. misgivings about Vietnam's human rights record.
Recent developments in the relationship include last month's aviation agreement to begin direct flights between the two countries. A U.S. Navy ship will visit Ho Chi Minh City this month in the first such port call since the war.
Some 58,000 U.S. troops and 3 million Vietnamese military and civilians died in what the Vietnamese call the American War. The decade-long U.S. intervention in Vietnam's internal conflict deeply divided American citizens.
The United States continues to press for information on more than 1,800 Americans still missing from the fighting, which also spread into Laos and Cambodia. More than 700 others have been accounted for.
Bài viết bằng tiếng Anh trên The New York Times. Khá dễ đọc.
-----------------------------------
WASHINGTON (AP) -- With a smile and a handshake, U.S. and Vietnamese defense ministers met Monday to talk about Asian security and other bilateral issues -- the first such meeting since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975.
Flanked by an honor guard, a smiling Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld stood on the steps of the Pentagon to greet Vietnam's Pham Van Tra. A Pentagon statement said the meeting ``underscores the advancement of U.S.-Vietnamese ties as relations between the two countries are normalized.''
Officials later said their agenda included talks about closer military ties and cooperation in promoting regional security in Asia, where terrorism is a problem.
Rumsfeld announced at an unrelated press conference later in the day that he will travel this week to visit two other Asian nations -- longtime allies Japan and South Korea. He said the trip was to ``discuss the arrangements we have with them and our close cooperation in the global war on terror.''
The United States has been forging stronger ties around the world in its search for help with the counterterror war and is seeking Vietnam's help in the counterterror war.
Vietnamese officials have said they want the United States to help ease Vietnamese suffering from exposure to Agent Orange, a chemical sprayed by U.S. planes during the war to remove leaves off of trees. It has been linked to cancer, diabetes, spina bifida, birth defects and other illnesses.
Tra also wants the Bush administration to do more to clear unexploded weapons that kill and maim dozens of people every year.
The United States and communist Vietnam had no formal relations and limited contact for two decades after the last American combat troops left South Vietnam in 1973.
The first President Bush initiated contact when he sought cooperation from the Vietnamese in accounting for Americans missing in action. President Clinton lifted the trade embargo in 1994 and established diplomatic relations the following year. In 2001, he visited Vietnam.
Over time, Vietnam and the United States have developed trade ties and discussed issues such as U.S. misgivings about Vietnam's human rights record.
Recent developments in the relationship include last month's aviation agreement to begin direct flights between the two countries. A U.S. Navy ship will visit Ho Chi Minh City this month in the first such port call since the war.
Some 58,000 U.S. troops and 3 million Vietnamese military and civilians died in what the Vietnamese call the American War. The decade-long U.S. intervention in Vietnam's internal conflict deeply divided American citizens.
The United States continues to press for information on more than 1,800 Americans still missing from the fighting, which also spread into Laos and Cambodia. More than 700 others have been accounted for.
