Clinton to Decide Soon on Establishing Ties With Vietnam, White House Says

With all his top foreign policy advisers recommending that he move forward, President Clinton is expected to decide within the next week or two to extend diplomatic recognition to Vietnam, Administration officials said Thursday.

The action would close the book symbolically on one of the most painful and controversial eras in U.S. history more than 20 years after the end of the war in Vietnam.

A senior official cautioned, however, that “it is not a done deal yet.” The official said Clinton’s political advisers may try to block the move, fearing a backlash from veterans groups and the families of military personnel still listed as missing in action if the President, who avoided military service in Vietnam, acts to establish normal ties with Hanoi.

“The entire foreign policy community is united on this,” the official said. “The only hitch would be if someone on the political side got to it.”

White House spokesman Calvin Mitchell said, “The President has made no decision on this issue.” However, officials said that White House aides are preparing the paperwork for an announcement that could come as early as next week. The officials said that those memos have not yet reached the President’s desk, although there is no doubt that he is aware of their existence.

The State Department would like to have the matter resolved soon, because Secretary of State Warren Christopher is scheduled to travel to Asia later this month to attend the annual meeting of the Assn. of Southeast Asian Nations in Brunei. Christopher would visit Hanoi on the trip if diplomatic relations are established in time.

American business people have long urged the U.S. government to establish normal ties with its former enemy, arguing that, without diplomatic relations, U.S. firms are closed out of the growing Vietnamese market. However, such relations are sure to be controversial, because many cases of U.S. service personnel missing in action in the Vietnam War have not been resolved.

Administration officials have said that Hanoi has cooperated with U.S. investigators on the MIA issue. Those officials have said that opening a U.S. Embassy in Hanoi almost certainly would make it easier to deal with MIA matters.

Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.), Navy veterans who fought in Vietnam, have urged Clinton to establish normal diplomatic relations with Vietnam soon, arguing that it is time to put aside the animosity of the war.

The White House is especially pleased with McCain’s stand because the former Navy pilot was a prisoner of war in Vietnam, giving his word on the issue added weight. He also is an influential Republican.

Times staff writer Doyle McManus contributed to this report.