Vietnam's APEC membership hailed

Vietnam's APEC membership hailed

WASHINGTON (Kyodo): A senior U.S. official said she supports Vietnam joining the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in November 1996 -- the next time new membership will be considered.

"Completely on a personal note, I think that Vietnam would be the next natural addition and that would be a strong step toward integrating it into Southeast Asia," Sandra Kristoff, coordinator for APEC at the State Department, told a Center for Strategic and International Studies forum Thursday.

President Bill Clinton announced Tuesday the normalization of diplomatic relations with Vietnam 20 years after the end of the Vietnam War.

Against this backdrop, Kristoff said the issue of Vietnam's membership "has just begun and will have to be looked at, not only by APEC members, but within the U.S. government in terms of our systematic approach to enhancing one by one ties with Vietnam."

But she said it will not become the main agenda during the annual APEC meetings in November in Osaka.

"Ministers won't be confined with that decision until Manila (APEC meetings) in November of 1996," Kristoff said, noting, "So I may expect to see Vietnam debated much for next year."

"We have asked...senior officials to produce some papers...to lay out criteria and evaluate new members," she said.