Khai US visit stirs Vietnam media

Vietnam still celebrates its victory over the US

Vietnam's state-controlled media have given great prominence to Prime Minister Phan Van Khai's visit this week to the United States. "Vietnamese and US leaders agree to lift bilateral ties to new height," reads a headline in the leading daily Nhan Dan.

An editorial in Nhan Dan acknowledges that "Vietnam and the US have differences in terms of regime, socio-economic structure, the level of development".

Dozens of correspondents asked the Vietnamese Prime Minister many intolerable questions Tuoi Tre

But it goes on to praise "progress in bilateral ties made following the diplomatic normalisation".

"The potential for the development of Vietnam-US co-operative ties is still great," the editorial continues, expressing the hope that the Khai visit will "make the US people have a more accurate understanding of Vietnam."

Common concerns

A report on Voice of Vietnam radio says Mr Khai "points out that despite a number of differences in viewpoints, Vietnam and the US do not have any major disagreements. In fact, the two countries share common concerns and interests in their bilateral relations and on many international issues".

The style of reporting is generally neutral but one Vietnamese paper did highlight the tension which arose at a news conference in Seattle, where American journalists were accused of provoking the visiting delegation.

"Dozens of correspondents asked the Vietnamese prime minister many intolerable questions," says a report in the youth paper Tuoi Tre.

One contentious question about the possibility of changing Vietnam's national flag to reflect the wishes of emigre Vietnamese "maintaining an attachment to the former three-red-stripe yellow flag of South Vietnam" was met with anger, the paper reports.

"A high-ranking official of Vietnam furiously remarked: 'Such an absurd question should not be answered'," Tuoi Tre reports.

However, it quotes Mr Khai as responding "frostily" that "such overseas Vietnamese are unrealistic people. The yellow flag is now history".

"The prime minister simply and quietly took control of the situation despite the ill-intentioned questions from the journalists."

The wish of Prime Minister Phan Van Khai is that the visit will open up new opportunities for the development of deep and far-reaching ties Le Courriere de Vietnam

Tuoi Tre concludes: "The first official visit by the Vietnamese Prime Minister to the United States in the 30 years after the war is a landmark event. The visit also manifests a new image of an economically integrated Vietnam. The ability to reveal this new image to the world community is what we need at the current stage."

A report in the army daily Quan Doi Nhan Dan says that Mr Khai extended the hand of friendship to Vietnamese emigres.

"All Vietnamese living at home or abroad, whether or not they took sides during the war, are considered members of the Vietnamese community under the unified Vietnamese nation," the paper quotes Mr Khai as saying.

Recalling that the war had ended three decades previously, he calls on "all Vietnamese in various communities to promote unity to rebuild our fatherland".

Divided families

"Members of the same family took different sides. As a result, those who fled the country to live abroad still have complex feelings. However, those who have had a chance to visit Vietnam have changed their minds," Quan Doi Nhan Dan quotes him as saying.

"I strongly believe that the Vietnamese community, in the spirit of patriotism and national unity, will function as an important bridge for promoting the friendly relations and co-operation between the two peoples and business circles of our two countries," Mr Khai is quoted as saying.

However, there is no mention in the press or media of the various protests by Vietnamese-Americans against the visit.

BBC Monitoring selects and translates news from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages. It is based in Caversham, UK, and has several bureaus abroad.