U.S. Offers More Vietnam Aid if MIA Resolution Is Speeded

The United States agreed Thursday to give Vietnam more humanitarian aid in exchange for a faster resolution of the issue of missing Americans, but Hanoi called the sum modest and urged that the U.S. trade embargo be lifted.

Assistant Secretary of State Richard H. Solomon said he and Deputy Foreign Minister Le Mai agreed on seven areas where Washington would provide a minimum of about $3 million in annual aid. He said this would be in addition to $6 million that U.S. non-governmental groups are giving Vietnam.

Solomon told reporters that during two days of talks, Foreign Minister Nguyen Manh Cam had proposed new ways that Hanoi would help resolve the question of American servicemen still listed as missing in action from the Vietnam War.

Le Mai told the news conference, given jointly with Solomon, that the talks were constructive and that Hanoi appreciates Washington’s humanitarian assistance.

“But there’s one thing that we think is a humane question and something that the United States should do--that is to lift the trade embargo,” he said.

Le Mai said the promised U.S. aid is small given Vietnam’s needs, its efforts to satisfy past U.S. demands and the United States’ resources.

“I must be very frank in saying that the response from the U.S. government remains very modest,” he said.

Solomon said Washington is sticking to a four-phase “road map” it presented to Hanoi in April, 1991, for normalizing ties and lifting the embargo, adding that both sides are still in phase one of that plan.

He said the United States agreed to give aid to displaced children in Vietnam, increase funding for artificial limbs, provide $250,000 in medical equipment and allow doctors with U.S. teams searching for MIA remains to treat local people.

Solomon said Vietnam also agreed to a two-year U.S. plan for joint search efforts, including five extended field investigations and excavations in Vietnam in the next 10 months.