Vietnam Named Perot as Commercial Agent in U.S. : Hanoi: His spokesman says talks about POWs, MIAs were not a means to making money.
Although Ross Perot was designated a future commercial agent for the Vietnamese government during his efforts to free Americans from Southeast Asia, he did not look upon Vietnam as a profit-making venture, Perot’s spokesman said Thursday.
The spokesman, James Squires, did not dispute a story in Thursday’s New York Times that Perot--who visited Hanoi in 1987 as part of his attempt to locate Americans missing from the Vietnam War--discussed private business opportunities with top Vietnamese officials and was later named as Vietnam’s agent in obtaining capital investment in the United States.
But Perot told the New York Times that he did not accept the role, and Squires maintained that Perot was not trying to make money from his dealings with Vietnam. Instead, he said, Perot believed the Vietnamese were requesting his assistance.
“Obviously, Mr. Perot believes the idea that he went to Vietnam or in any way looked on those opportunities as profit-making ventures for his business is a mischaracterization,” Squires said. “If you were interested in international business, you wouldn’t pick that as a market. Any kind of business in Vietnam is a high-risk financial venture, and not an astute business decision.
“He looked at that effort by Vietnam, as he looked at many other ventures over the years, as a request for help. He thought they (Vietnamese officials) were asking for help in trying to attract business to their country.”
Talking with Vietnamese officials about future commercial prospects does not violate any law. However, the disclosure that Perot and the Vietnamese talked about business stunned some of the Americans who have been working on locating American POWs.
“I was shocked,” said Ann Mills Griffiths, director of the National League of Families of American POWs and MIAs. “I didn’t know about it.”
She said that if Perot were seeking to land business in Vietnam, it would have undercut official efforts by the U.S. government to maintain its trade embargo on Vietnam while trying to obtain Hanoi’s cooperation on the POWs.
Despite Squires’ suggestion Thursday that Perot would not have viewed Vietnam as a favorable market for business, a number of large American companies have been trying to put themselves into position to set up operations in Vietnam as soon as the trade embargo is lifted. They include banks, oil firms and hotel chains.
It was in a letter to Perot in June, 1990, that Vietnamese Foreign Minister Nguyen Co Thach formally invited Perot and his company, Electronic Data Systems, to “assist Vietnam in its economic recovery” after relations between Washington and Hanoi were normalized.
In addition, the letter said, “Vietnam will appoint Ross Perot and his company as agent of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in the procurement of capital investment” and other services from U.S. firms.
After Perot’s 1987 trip to Hanoi, one of his aides, Harry McKillip, made a series of trips to Vietnam. The New York Times quoted a senior Vietnamese official, Le Van Bang, as saying the discussions with Perot and his associate had covered possible assistance for Vietnam in the fields of electronics, computers, oil and gas, transportation and real estate.
Meanwhile, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), chairman of the Senate Select Committee on POW-MIA Affairs, announced Thursday that Perot will testify before Congress on his efforts on behalf of prisoners of war and those missing in action.
The hearings will begin June 24; Perot will testify June 30.
