U.S., Vietnam Agree on Amerasian Program

The State Department announced Friday an agreement in principle between Washington and Hanoi that could mean thousands of children fathered by U.S. servicemen may start coming to the United States from Vietnam soon.

“After 18 months of persistent U.S. diplomatic activity to get the Amerasian program resumed, it now appears that once more Amerasians will be allowed to leave Vietnam for resettlement in the United States,” spokesman Charles Redman said.

He said an agreement in principle to resume the program, halted by Hanoi on Jan. 1, 1986, had been reached after two days of talks in the Vietnamese capital between U.S. and Vietnamese officials Tuesday and Wednesday.

Redman said before the program was shut down, almost 9,000 Amerasians--about 3,750 children and 5,000 close relatives--had been permitted to leave Vietnam.

Redman said the program could now resume “perhaps as early as several weeks” from now and said the two governments have exchanged lists of names of Vietnamese who want to resettle in the United States. He said applications from 8,800 children and 18,000 close relatives are on file in the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand.

Washington and Hanoi have no diplomatic relations.

The United States and Vietnam have improved cooperation on a number of humanitarian issues since a visit to Hanoi in early August by U.S. presidential envoy Gen. John W. Vessey Jr..

Talks during the Vessey visit covered Amerasian children, Vietnamese trying to emigrate and American servicemen missing in action.