OPENING TO VIETNAM: THE OVERVIEW; U.S. GRANTS VIETNAM FULL TIES; TIME FOR HEALING, CLINTON SAYS

View page in TimesMachine

Saying the time was at hand to "bind up our own wounds," President Clinton today extended full diplomatic recognition to Vietnam 22 years after the American withdrawal from a bitterly divisive war that still scars the national psyche.

Mr. Clinton, the one-time student protester who avoided serving in a war he once said he "opposed and despised," announced the normalization of relations in a brief ceremony in the East Room attended by military figures, the families of those still missing in action and members of Congress who were veterans of the war and prisoners of the Vietnamese.

"This moment offers us the opportunity to bind up our own wounds," the President said, evoking words used by Lincoln at the end of the Civil War. "They have resisted time for too long. We can now move onto common ground."

"Let this moment," he said, "in the words of the Scripture, be a time to heal and a time to build." [ Excerpts, page A9. ]

But the decision drew criticism as well as support from legislators, veterans' groups and families of missing servicemen.

Mr. Clinton said the United States would continue to press Vietnam for a full accounting for the 2,202 United States service personnel officially listed as missing in Southeast Asia. He said that in the months since he lifted the United States trade embargo on Vietnam in February 1994, the remains of 29 more missing Americans had been identified and Hanoi had turned over hundreds of pages of documents.

"We will keep working until we get all the answers we can," Mr. Clinton said. "Our strategy is working."

Vietnam's Prime Minister, Vo Van Kiet, responded positively to Mr. Clinton's decision in a statement broadcast Wednesday morning, Hanoi time. He pledged to continue Vietnam's cooperation in helping to account for missing Americans.

Mr. Clinton's announcement of full diplomatic relations completed a process begun by the Bush Administration in 1991 when Washington and Hanoi agreed on a detailed series of steps that would lead to recognition. Recognition was sought as eagerly by American business groups as it was bitterly opposed by the American Legion and some relatives of Americans missing in the war.

But the move was particularly risky for a President whose efforts as a young man to avoid military service in Vietnam became a campaign issue in 1992, and who faces an electorate still sharply divided over the unpopular war that took 58,000 American lives.

The often loquacious Mr. Clinton spoke somberly for just under 10 minutes, ending with "God bless America." Several Congressional veterans of the war stood by his side as he made his announcement; Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican who spent more than five years as a Vietnamese prisoner of war, was closest. Afterward, Mr. McCain praised Mr. Clinton for an "act that required some courage."

Yet 20 years after the last helicopter rising from the roof of the United States Embassy in Saigon became an indelible image of American defeat, Congress was as bitterly divided over Mr. Clinton's move as it once was over the war itself.

Senator Bob Dole, a veteran of World War II whose right arm remains withered from his wounds, denounced Mr. Clinton's decision from the Senate floor, saying the President had not addressed the "central question" of whether Vietnam is continuing to withhold information and remains that could be easily provided.

"The President ignored this question in announcing his decision for the very good reason that all signs point to Vietnam willfully withholding information which could resolve the fate of many Americans lost in the war," said Mr. Dole, the Senate majority leader and the leading contender for the Republican Presidential nomination.

Mr. Dole said the lawmakers would monitor the progress of relations with Vietnam, and he warned that Congress must approve funds for any diplomatic operations in Vietnam and that the Senate must confirm any ambassador.

Senator Trent Lott, the majority whip from Mississippi, said he would support efforts to amend appropriations legislation to stop the opening of a United States Embassy in Vietnam. "What's the reason for doing this?" he asked. "How do you justify recognizing Vietnam and not recognizing Taiwan?"

But Senator Bob Kerrey, a Nebraska Democrat who attended the White House ceremony, vowed to fight efforts to block embassy funding. "It's a total mistake," he said. "It's wallowing in the past." Mr. Kerrey, who lost part of one leg and won the Medal of Honor in Vietnam, added that if Mr. Dole or others tried to make political gain by blocking embassy funding, they would "face people like me who say, 'Shame on you."'

Veterans were also divided. John Sommer, the executive director of the more than 3 million member American Legion -- the nation's largest veterans group -- condemned the move, saying that normalization of relations left the Administration with little leverage to extract more information about the missing. But a group calling itself the Vietnam Veterans for Reconciliation handed out leaflets supporting the President on the White House lawn after the ceremony.

Mr. Clinton's decision to recognize Vietnam had been endorsed by all of his senior advisers, according to Anthony Lake, the national security adviser. Mr. Lake said Gen. John Shalikashvili had polled the Joint Chiefs of Staff over the weekend and had found unanimous support.

Aides said the President's decision stemmed, in part, from a desire to act now, before the 1996 campaign moves into full gear. It was also partly dictated by Secretary of State Warren M. Christopher's trip to Asia at the end of this month to meet with foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian nations.

The President announced that Mr. Christopher will now visit Vietnam early next month, which will make him the first Secretary of State to visit the country since the American-backed Government in Saigon fell to Communist forces in 1975.

While in Hanoi, Mr. Christopher will negotiate the details of the restoration of diplomatic relations.

Resumed ties to Vietnam could give the Administration an important Asian ally at a time when relations with China have become more tense, although officials denied today that the policy change was in any way related to China.

In Beijing, a Chinese Government spokesman welcomed the news. "The Chinese Government has always stood for improvement of relations between the United States and Vietnam," said a Foreign Ministry spokesman, Shen Guofang.

In his broadcast statement, Mr. Kiet said Vietnam would negotiate with the United States "to set up a new framework for the relationship between the two countries on the basis of respect, independence, and mutual benefit of the two countries in harmony with the rule of international law."

The Administration was silent today on who would become the ambassador to Vietnam, an appointment that could be fraught with symbolism. Officials said the Administration wanted a distinguished appointee, perhaps a veteran, who would face no trouble in a confirmation hearing. Among names under discussion are Under Secretary of State Peter Tarnoff; Frank G. Wisner, the Ambassador to India, or Mr. Lake himself. All three made their names in Vietnam.

Administration officials said they had now set up interagency groups to examine such questions as trade, investment and tax treaties, all of which are of interest to American companies that were allowed to begin doing business in Vietnam in February 1994, when the President lifted the trade embargo.

By some estimates, Vietnam will spend $7 billion during the next seven years on roads, ports and a modern telecommunications system.

Willard A. Workman, vice president of the international division of the United States Chamber of Commerce, said businesses hoped that the announcement would clear the way for crucial United States agencies, including the Export-Import Bank and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, to help American companies in Vietnam.

Businesses are also eager for Vietnam to receive most favored nation trade status, which would drastically reduce tariffs between the two nations. Such status must be negotiated and approved by Congress. In addition, in order to normalize trade with Vietnam fully President Clinton must issue a finding that Vietnam allows free and open emigration or issue a waiver of that requirement.