6. Telegram From the Embassy in France to the Department of State1

5419. Subj: US-VN Relations: SRV FonMin’s Reply to Secretary’s Letter. Ref: Paris 3875.2

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1. SRV First Secretary Do Thanh came to Embassy at 1730 Feb 23 to deliver SRV FonMin Nguyen Duy Trinh’s Feb 21 reply to the Secretary’s letter of Feb 8.3 Text of the English language version of the letter is contained in para 2. The Vietnamese original, the English version and a copy of the SRV Embassy transmittal note are being pouched to EA/VLC.4 EmbOff told Do Thanh that the letter and his oral points, para 3, would be immediately forwarded to Washington.

2. English language text: Quote.

Hanoi, February 21, 1977.

Mr. Secretary of State,

I have received your letter dated February 8, 1977, in which you expressed the wish to start a process leading to the normalization of relations between the United States and the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, in the interest of both countries as well as to have an exchange of views on matters of mutual concern.

As you have known, the Government of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam has repeatedly stated its readiness to discuss with the U.S. Government the solution of questions of interest to each side and the normalization of relations between the two countries as provided for by the Paris Agreement on Viet Nam.5 In this spirit, the Government of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam is ready to receive in Hanoi the Presidential Commission headed by a representative of the U.S. President.

In order to contribute to making the Vietnamese-U.S. meeting fruitful, the Vietnamese side is prepared to examine and solve with goodwill the question of Americans missing in action and other matters of interest to the United States. The U.S. side should adopt the same attitude regarding the U.S. contribution to the healing of the wounds of war and to postwar reconstruction in Viet Nam and other matters of interest to Viet Nam.

The Vietnamese side believes that the period from March 6 to March 11 or from March 16 to March 19, 1977, would be convenient for the visit of the U.S. President’s representative to Hanoi. The Vietnamese side is prepared to consider any other suggestion you might make regarding the timing of the visit.

To ensure that the forthcoming meeting in Hanoi may proceed smoothly, I wish to propose that one week before the U.S. President’s representative comes to Hanoi, representatives in Paris of the Socialist [Page 17] Republic of Viet Nam and the United States should meet to prepare the content of the talks in Hanoi.

Please accept, Mr. Secretary of State, the assurances of my high consideration.

Minister for Foreign Affairs

Socialist Republic of Vietnam

Nguyen Duy Trinh (S)

His Excellency Cyrus Vance

Secretary of State

United States of America. Unquote.

3. Oral Points. Do Thanh said that he had been asked to convey to us orally the following two points:

(A) Dates of Visit. The SRV has suggested March 6 to 11 or March 16 to 19 because during these two periods the Foreign Minister and his colleagues will be free to devote nearly full time to the American Commission. It would be possible to arrange the visit at another time during March but then the visit would conflict with visits of other delegations and the Vietnamese side would be unable to make itself totally free for conversations with the President’s Commission.

(B) Members of the U.S. Delegation. Hanoi wishes to have ASAP the names of the principal members of the U.S. Commission. While it will wish to know all members including support personnel prior to the actual visit, it would like to know soonest the names of the President’s representative and his principal colleagues. EmbOff said he hoped to have a response concerning the dates and names of the principal members of the delegation for Do Thanh soon.

4. Paris Preparatory Meeting. Do Thanh noted the suggestion that representatives of the two countries in Paris meet a week prior to the visit “to prepare the content of the talks in Hanoi.” He said that they had in mind a meeting between DCM Gammon and their First Counselor Than Hoan along the lines of the November 12 meeting.6 They would be prepared to consider a different kind of contact here if Washington prefers. Do Thanh said that the preparatory meeting would be designed to set forth the ideas of the two sides about the principal matters to be discussed (i.e., the agenda), and would not attempt to decide on such things as the response which each side would make. Do Thanh said his government understood the Secretary’s proposal was one for an exploratory meeting, and Hanoi viewed it in the same light.

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5. Do Thanh implied that FonMin Nguyen Duy Trinh would be the principal member on the SRV side, but clearly Hanoi is waiting to see the composition of the U.S. delegation before indicating the names of the persons with whom they will principally deal.7

Rush
  1. Source: Department of State, Miscellaneous Old Vietnam Political Records, 1968–1991, Lot 94D430, Viet Nam—US Talks with VN, 1977. Secret; Immediate; Nodis.
  2. In telegram 3875 from Paris, February 8, the Embassy noted that Vance’s message to Trinh had been delivered. (Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Country File, Box 22, France: 1–12/77)
  3. See Document 4.
  4. Not found.
  5. See footnote 6, Document 1.
  6. See footnote 2, Document 2.
  7. In a February 24 memorandum to Carter, Brzezinski stated that Carter needed to decide upon the dates of the visit, when to announce the visit, and the composition of the delegation. Carter approved March 16–19 as the visit dates and approved February 25 as the announcement date. Brzezinski also recommended that Carter approve Woodcock to head the delegation. Carter approved the recommendation and added the following handwritten notation, “will decide after talking to 1) Woodcock, 2) Mansfield, 3) Yost, 4) Montgomery (Speaker O’Neill), 5) ?.” (Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Brzezinski Office File, Country Chron File, Box 56, Vietnam, 1977)