Clinton will make historic trip to Vietnam.

Byline: James Warren

WASHINGTON_Having avoided military service in the Vietnam War, President Clinton departs Monday for an eight-day Asian trip that culminates in his becoming the first U.S. president to visit a unified Vietnam.

Administration officials seek to portray Clinton's treks to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City as an attempt to show Vietnam, in the words of National Security Adviser Samuel "Sandy" Berger, "not only as a war but also as a country."

The visit will follow a three-day stay in Brunei, where Clinton will attend his final Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation forum and have one-on-one sessions with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Jiang Zemin, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and South Korean leader Kim Dae Jung.

The Vietnam trip will be heavy on symbolism, light on substantive agreements and will not include a Clinton visit to the tomb of Ho Chi Minh, who led the communist resistance to French colonial rule and was president of North Vietnam from 1945 to 1969. In what apparently is not a coincidence, the generally must-see shrine for visitors to Hanoi will be closed for annual maintenance and thus not present any potential diplomatic difficulties for Clinton.

Near Hanoi, Clinton is expected to visit a site where there is an ongoing excavation for remains of American soldiers missing in action. He also will visit a church as an expression of support for religious freedom and Hanoi National University for a talk to students and an exhibit on land mine awareness. Each year, an estimated 2,000 Vietnamese are killed or injured by mines and unexploded ordnance; the United States is providing help to solve the problem.

In the south, he'll have another discussion with students, this time at a cyber cafe in Ho Chi Minh City and will visit a container terminal as part of his general effort to praise free trade and investment. The United States normalized relations with Vietnam in 1995 and supports a bilateral trade agreement, although Congress has yet to approve it.

In talks with Vietnam's leader, it's likely Clinton will bring up human rights. The Vietnamese have made some gains, including release of some political prisoners and the certification of the Protestant Church in the south as an official church, according to Catharin Dalpino, a Vietnamese expert at the Brookings Institution.

"This trip will be far more emotional for the Americans than the Vietnamese," said Dalpino. "Many veterans will watch closely for the slightest hint of a Clinton apology [regarding the war]" and will be sensitive to statements about MIAs, she said.

Berger did not directly respond to a question on how Clinton, who protested the Vietnam War and went to well-documented lengths to avoid service, viewed the Vietnam trip in light of his own controversial background.

Instead, Berger stressed that Clinton for eight years "has carried out a policy for the United States which I think has had broad support, both bipartisan and from those who ... served and fought in Vietnam, those who didn't, those who opposed the war, those who supported it."

He noted that the president's policies have been a "collective enterprise," joined by Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., or Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., both Vietnam veterans. It was possible that one or more would join Clinton on the trip. The president begins his 54th overseas trip in the sultanate of Brunei, a growing financial capital, for a meeting of APEC, a regional trade organization that was started in 1989.

APEC began as a gathering mostly for trade ministers but was elevated in stature when Clinton attended in 1993 in Seattle. While comprising mostly Asian nations, members also include the United States, Canada and Mexico.

No significant substantive agreements are expected, with the American push for financial reform resisted by some nations suspicious of U.S. economic dominance. So the greater relevance to U.S. policy may be the individual sessions with major leaders planned by Clinton.

Heavily reliant on oil revenues, Brunei achieved complete independence from Great Britain in 1984. Citizens do not have the right to vote, and the sultan serves as prime minister, finance minister and defense minister, along with owning or controlling, along with other family members, all private newspapers.

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