Rumsfeld Moves to Expand US Military Relations With Vietnam, Indonesia
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld travels to Indonesia Tuesday for talks on re-establishing contacts with the country's military. Such military-to-military exchanges are emerging as a major theme of the secretary's visit to Southeast Asia. During a stop in Hanoi Monday, Rumsfeld reached agreement with Vietnamese officials to expand military contacts, further pushing the conflict of the 1960s and 70s into the past.
Officials say the expansion of U.S.-Vietnamese military contacts will begin slowly, with a small number of Vietnamese officers coming to a U.S. military base in Texas to study English. Officials say that will be followed by medical training for Vietnamese soldiers, help on removing land mines, and increased cooperation in the effort to find American and Vietnamese troops missing from the war. Officials say a U.S. navy ship will also visit Vietnam this summer, the fourth such visit in the last four years. |