Former President Tran Duc Luong, the man who opened the door to Vietnam's integration

The historic handshake

The most memorable and historically significant moment during President Tran Duc Luong's tenure was the official reception of US President Bill Clinton in Hanoi in November 2000. This was the first visit by a US President to Vietnam since the end of the war.

President Tran Duc Luong talks with President Bill Clinton at a reception during the US President's visit to Vietnam, November 2000.

More than a diplomatic ritual, the moment the two leaders shook hands had great historical significance, because it was the moment that paved the way for the future. "Putting aside the past, looking towards the future" - from that moment on, it was no longer a slogan, but a desire, an action, a mindset of Vietnam on a new development process.

At the meeting that day, the head of the Vietnamese State affirmed that the visit of President Bill Clinton and his wife was a new development in the process of improving relations between the two countries, and hoped that the visit would mark the opening of a new relationship between the two countries - a long-term cooperative and friendly relationship based on the principles: respect for each other's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, non-interference in each other's internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and not harming each country's relations with any third party...

"Vietnam prioritizes developing relations with neighboring countries, traditional friends and major countries," President Tran Duc Luong stated.

Referring to the relationship between Vietnam and the US, President Tran Duc Luong expressed satisfaction with the steps to improve relations between the two countries after 8 years of normalization. "Those developments are in line with the interests and aspirations of the people of the two countries", but "to move towards the future, the two countries cannot help but look back to the past", President Tran Duc Luong said, affirming Vietnam's consistent stance on a number of issues.

For his part, President Bill Clinton said that what has been achieved in the relationship between the US and Vietnam is the basis for continuing to expand cooperation between the two countries, especially in economic and trade. As a result, many commitments were made by the US during this visit.

At the reception that evening, from the results of the talks, President Tran Duc Luong once again affirmed that President Bill Clinton's visit was a new milestone in the process of fully normalizing relations between the two countries. "The Vietnamese people love peace, respect humanity, and always wish to build friendship and live in harmony with people of all nations in the world, including the United States of America," the President emphasized.

With his moderate and humane diplomatic style, President Tran Duc Luong was one of the people who changed the US's view of Vietnam from a post-war country to a potential partner. And since that visit, Vietnam-US relations have entered a phase of comprehensive cooperation, with rapid progress in many fields.

Realizing the aspiration of "being friends with all countries"

In his speech at the reception for President Clinton on the evening of November 17, 2000, President Tran Duc Luong assessed that Vietnam and the US had come a long way in improving relations between the two countries. However, he acknowledged that this was only the beginning, and hoped that the visit of the first US President to Vietnam would mark a new phase of long-term friendly cooperation. As a result, diplomatic history has recorded that since that beginning, Vietnam has participated more and more deeply in the integration process. Cooperation relations have been continuously expanded, both bilaterally and multilaterally.

French President Jacques Chirac awarded President Tran Duc Luong the Legion of Honor, first class (Paris, October 28, 2002)

Coinciding with the pivotal stage of the integration process, the term of President Tran Duc Luong was the period when Vietnam entered a period of strong expansion of multilateral and diversified foreign relations. This was the time when Vietnam's aspiration to "be friends with all countries" was realized through a series of high-level visits, signing of strategic partnerships, bilateral trade negotiations and especially the important process of preparing to join the World Trade Organization (WTO).

It can be said that, as President, he is one of the people who contributed to shaping the integration ideology with Vietnamese characteristics: integration must go hand in hand with maintaining independence and autonomy; international cooperation must be closely linked to the principle of "for the benefit of the nation and people"; integration but not dissolution... This viewpoint was affirmed by President Tran Duc Luong in his inaugural speech before the National Assembly: "Our State continues to persevere in its foreign policy of independence, autonomy, openness, diversification, multilateralization, seeking increasingly widespread consensus and support from countries, international organizations and people of the world. On the basis of maintaining independence, autonomy, equality and mutual benefit, preserving and promoting national identity, we proactively and actively promote foreign affairs activities, further enhancing the role and position of Vietnam in forums as well as in regional and international organizations".

During the period when Vietnam negotiated to join the WTO (ending in 2006, officially joining in early 2007), President Tran Duc Luong actively supported the roadmap for institutional reform, building laws in line with international standards and opening the market in a planned manner. Up to now, when Vietnam has become a strategic partner of many major powers, an active member of many prestigious international organizations, it can be seen that the foreign policy imprint of President Tran Duc Luong and his generation of leaders has been, and is being, inherited and promoted.

Being careful in his words, moderate in his messages, but steadfast in his principles, former President Tran Duc Luong contributed to creating an image of Vietnam as calm and open, receiving respect from many partner countries.

According to Hai Trieu (TNO)

Source: https://baogialai.com.vn/nguyen-chu-tich-nuoc-tran-duc-luong-nguoi-mo-rong-canh-cua-hoi-nhap-cua-viet-nam-post324620.html