U.S. and Vietnam may open mission this year<\/p>\n
HANOI (Reuter): Vietnam repeated yesterday its hopes that U.S.
\nand Vietnamese diplomatic missions would open in the two capitals
\nthis year, but a U.S. official said no schedule had been agreed.<\/p>\n
Foreign Minister Nguyen Manh Cam met U.S. Secretary of State
\nWarren Christopher in Washington this week and \"expressed the
\nhope that the liaison offices will be established before the end
\nof this year...,\" the official Vietnam News Agency (VNA)
\nreported.<\/p>\n
But a U.S. official in Hanoi said the timing was hard to call
\nbecause no agreement had been reached on the future of diplomatic
\npremises seized at the end of the Vietnam War in 1975.<\/p>\n
\"There has been some development, we've solved a number of
\nissues and we're moving closer together,\" U.S. diplomat Chris
\nRunckel said.<\/p>\n
\"But we have not yet completely solved the diplomatic
\nproperties issue or agreed on a date for the opening of liaison
\noffices.\"<\/p>\n
The two governments are trying to sort out the future of 22
\nU.S. government buildings occupied by Vietnamese -- 19 of them in
\nHo Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon -- and of the former South
\nVietnamese embassy in Washington.<\/p>\n
Claims involving private property dating back to the war
\nappear a less contentious issue as they move towards opening
\nliaison offices in a step toward exchanging full embassies.<\/p>\n
When Washington lifted a U.S. economic embargo against Hanoi
\nlast February, the two governments said they intended to open
\ntheir first diplomatic missions in each other's capital since the
\nwar. They exchanged letters in May agreeing to the move.<\/p>\n
Office<\/p>\n
Despite heavy demand for quality housing and office space,
\nU.S. officials have found an office building and a residence for
\ntheir head of mission and are refurbishing them.<\/p>\n
Cam told Reuters late last month there were no political
\nreasons for delays in opening the offices, and \"everything now
\ndepends on how long the renovation and internal decoration take\".<\/p>\n
A key issue for the United States is determining the fate of
\nover 2,000 U.S. airmen and soldiers still listed as missing in
\naction (MIA) from the war.<\/p>\n
U.S. President Bill Clinton has said progress on the MIA issue
\nwill determine the pace of normalization of relations with Hanoi,
\nwhich several U.S. MIA pressure groups are trying to prevent.<\/p>\n
The National Alliance of Families -- which believes Hanoi held
\nU.S. prisoners after 1973, when both governments said it freed
\nall its war prisoners -- said last month it was working hard to
\nslow down the opening of liaison offices.<\/p>\n
Joint Vietnamese-U.S. teams started the latest field search
\nfor MIA remains last Saturday.<\/p>",
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