U.S. Raises Flag in Hanoi for 1st Time in 40 Years
Tran Ngoc Lien, 91, got a glimpse Wednesday of something unseen for nearly half his life--an American flag flying in Hanoi.
Tran appreciated the moment and craved more. “If we had the Vietnamese and American flags flying together, it would be very good,” Tran said. “We would become like brothers.”
The Stars and Stripes flapped outside the U.S. liaison office, which opened 12 days ago on a busy Hanoi street. An American diplomat said the flag-raising was delayed while the office was readied for business.
The last U.S. diplomatic office here--a consulate--closed in 1955 after Washington refused to recognize the Communist government of Ho Chi Minh, which had taken power from colonial France the previous year.
The liaison office, where 11 diplomats will be stationed, is a likely transitional step toward full diplomatic relations. But President Clinton has said Vietnam must do more to help solve the cases of U.S. servicemen unaccounted for from the Vietnam War before the United States agrees to exchange embassies. Vietnam says about 300,000 Vietnamese also are unaccounted for from the war.
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