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Budget bill

restricts U.S.-Vietnam ties

WASHINGTON: A $159 billion budget bill signed by President Bill Clinton on Friday bans expansion of the U.S. diplomatic presence in Vietnam unless Hanoi is cooperating in accounting for Americans missing since the Vietnam War.

The provision in the wide-ranging bill was also contained in a foreign affairs bill that Clinton vetoed.

The White House said then that it unduly restricted the president's ability to pursue national interests in Vietnam, could threaten progress made on Prisoner of War/Missing in Action issues and put U.S. firms at a competitive disadvantage.

In order to increase U.S. diplomatic personnel or open a new consular post in Vietnam, the president would have to certify to Congress that the Vietnamese government was cooperating in full faith on accounting for missing Americans, recovering and repatriating remains, speeding up provision of documents and aiding investigations ith Laos.

The bill provides government funding for the remainder of the fiscal year and expires after Sept 30.-Reuter