WASHINGTON – President Bush yesterday said he’ll visit Vietnam next year as he welcomed the country’s prime minister to the Oval Office for Hanoi’s first official visit since the war ended 30 years ago.
Bush’s visit will be the first by a U.S. president since Bill Clinton went there in November 2000 after restoring relations.
Bush – who served in the Texas Air National Guard domestically during the Vietnam War – thanked Vietnamese leader Phan Van Khai for continuing to try to find the remains of U.S. soldiers who died in the conflict.
“It’s very comforting for many families here in America to understand that the government is providing information to help close a sad chapter in their lives,” Bush said.
Scores of demonstrators marched outside the White House to protest the visit, which marked a new stage in the development of relations with America’s former enemy.
Bush also prodded Khai to allow more human rights and religious freedom in Vietnam, and said they had signed “a landmark agreement that will make it easier for people to worship freely in Vietnam.”
The joint statement commits Vietnam to provide new laws allowing churches to open and ending the detention of religious leaders.
Khai welcomed Bush’s support for Vietnam to join the World Trade Organization, and said his country’s 80 million people could be “a huge market for American businesses.”