Hanoi - The US Defence Secretary, Mr William Cohen, began a historic trip to Vietnam yesterday, meeting government officials and visiting a paddy field site where an American jet fighter crashed during the Vietnam War.
Speaking at a press conference in the paddy field on the outskirts of Hanoi, he said he had held "cordial and warm talks" with his counterpart, Gen Pham Van Tra, about developing modest military ties.
He stressed both sides wanted to move carefully, and that joint efforts to account for the some 2,000 American servicemen still listed as missing-in-action from the war would remain the centrepiece of the military relationship.