Senator John McCain (Photo: AFP/VNA) Washington DC, (VNA) – Senator JohnMcCain, who passed away on August 25 (US time) at the age of 81, has a veryspecial position in the history of the Vietnam-US relationship, said VietnameseAmbassador to the US Ha Kim Ngoc.
In an interview granted to Vietnam News Agencyon August 26, the Ambassador recalled his meeting with McCain in the early1990s when the US Senator and Senator John Kerry were members of a specialcommittee on American prisoners of war or missing in action soldiers.
Ngoc shared that he had opportunities to workwith McCain as his interpreter during the US Senator’s working trips toVietnam.
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From those trips, Ngoc noticed the Senator’s strategicvision, leadership and high political determination for the normalisation ofVietnam-US relations despite very great internal obstacles.
It can be said that Senator McCain is a symbol of the Vietnam-USreconciliation process during which the two sides overcame their past as oldenemies to normalise and develop bilateral relations.
McCain enthusiastically supported and madeuntiring efforts for the Vietnam-US comprehensive partnership, Ngoc said.
Along with Senator John Kerry and other senatorslike Patrick Leahy or Jim Webb, McCain had been at the forefront in thenormalisation and enhancement of Vietnam-US friendship and cooperation, headded.
At the most difficult time of the bilateralrelations when many still expressed suspicion and even protest about theVietnam-US ties, McCain and Kerry and other senators had played a decisive rolein the irreversible process of normalisation, Ngoc said.
Therefore, it could be said that McCain deservescredit for promoting the Vietnam-US relations and later, the comprehensivepartnership between the two countries, according to the ambassador.
He said even during his illness, McCain still paidattention to Vietnam-related issues such as cooperation with Vietnam, the EastSea issues and the catfish programme that affects poor farmers in the MekongDelta region of Vietnam.
The ambassador held that the work by McCain andother incumbent and former members of the US Congress had inspired young USCongressmen to promote the bilateral relations.
He expressed his belief that with the support ofboth the Republican and Democratic Parties in the US Congress, the Vietnam-US comprehensivepartnership will continue thriving for the benefits of the two peoples.
McCain served in the invading war of the US inVietnam. He joined in the Rolling Thunder air campaign in 1967, bombing targetsin the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (northern Vietnam). His plane was shotdown on October 26, 1967 and McCain was taken prisoner. He was returned to theUS in an exchange of prisoners in 1973.
Returning from Vietnam, McCain joined politicsand was one of the first persons campaigning for normalization of US-Vietnamrelations through promoting humanitarian issues such as removing unexplodedordnance left by the war, searching for missing-in-action personnel, supportingpeople with disabilities caused by the war, and detoxifying areas polluted bydioxin.
In 1994, the US Senate approved a resolutionsponsored by McCain and Senator John Kerry, calling to end the economic sanctionagainst Vietnam, paving the way for the normalization of relations between thetwo countries one year later.-VNA
From those trips, Ngoc noticed the Senator’s strategicvision, leadership and high political determination for the normalisation ofVietnam-US relations despite very great internal obstacles.
It can be said that Senator McCain is a symbol of the Vietnam-USreconciliation process during which the two sides overcame their past as oldenemies to normalise and develop bilateral relations.
McCain enthusiastically supported and madeuntiring efforts for the Vietnam-US comprehensive partnership, Ngoc said.
Along with Senator John Kerry and other senatorslike Patrick Leahy or Jim Webb, McCain had been at the forefront in thenormalisation and enhancement of Vietnam-US friendship and cooperation, headded.
At the most difficult time of the bilateralrelations when many still expressed suspicion and even protest about theVietnam-US ties, McCain and Kerry and other senators had played a decisive rolein the irreversible process of normalisation, Ngoc said.
Therefore, it could be said that McCain deservescredit for promoting the Vietnam-US relations and later, the comprehensivepartnership between the two countries, according to the ambassador.
He said even during his illness, McCain still paidattention to Vietnam-related issues such as cooperation with Vietnam, the EastSea issues and the catfish programme that affects poor farmers in the MekongDelta region of Vietnam.
The ambassador held that the work by McCain andother incumbent and former members of the US Congress had inspired young USCongressmen to promote the bilateral relations.
He expressed his belief that with the support ofboth the Republican and Democratic Parties in the US Congress, the Vietnam-US comprehensivepartnership will continue thriving for the benefits of the two peoples.
McCain served in the invading war of the US inVietnam. He joined in the Rolling Thunder air campaign in 1967, bombing targetsin the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (northern Vietnam). His plane was shotdown on October 26, 1967 and McCain was taken prisoner. He was returned to theUS in an exchange of prisoners in 1973.
Returning from Vietnam, McCain joined politicsand was one of the first persons campaigning for normalization of US-Vietnamrelations through promoting humanitarian issues such as removing unexplodedordnance left by the war, searching for missing-in-action personnel, supportingpeople with disabilities caused by the war, and detoxifying areas polluted bydioxin.
In 1994, the US Senate approved a resolutionsponsored by McCain and Senator John Kerry, calling to end the economic sanctionagainst Vietnam, paving the way for the normalization of relations between thetwo countries one year later.-VNA
VNA