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CNN Live At Daybreak

Secretary of State Colin Powell Visits Vietnam

Aired July 26, 2001 - 07:41   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Secretary of State Colin Powell is in Vietnam, the latest stop on his diplomatic tour of Asia. And it is the first time he's been back to Vietnam since he was a soldier fighting there 30 years ago. In Hanoi, Powell praised the team searching for American MIAs from the Vietnam War.

CNN's Andrea Koppel is traveling with Powell.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The ceremony was simple and brief, but for the first time since he arrived in Hanoi, Secretary of State Colin Powell took a break from focusing on Vietnam's present and future and paid his respects to the past. A tragic accident this spring took the lives of a group dedicated to finding and bringing back the remains of those American soldiers still missing in action from the Vietnam War.

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: And I noted that I first came here 39 years ago before most of these kids were born and they are doing something that is very important.

KOPPEL: Thirty-nine years ago, Secretary Powell was a young captain, serving in the A Shau Valley in the highlands of South Vietnam. His arrival in Hanoi on Tuesday was his first trip back in more than 30 years.

POWELL: I was in the cockpit as we landed, and I just kind of wanted to see it and just to see the patties and beautiful green. And then to hear the voice of the air traffic controller in the tower and, you know, greeting our pilot and giving him instructions. And to hear that voice and the accent again, it brought back lots of memories of years ago.

KOPPEL: But the Vietnam that greeted Secretary Powell once he landed was far from the enemy he once knew.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Vietnam and U.S. very good -- now a friendship.

KOPPEL (on camera): More than half the population is now under the age of 25 and wasn't born when the war ended. And according to the now thriving American Chamber of Commerce here in Hanoi, last year, U.S.-Vietnam trade was a whopping $1.2 billion. That's a 500 percent increase in only six years.

(voice-over): Vietnam's communist party may still run the country, but Western culture has captured the imagination of many of its people.

KOPPEL: For Secretary Powell, his quick tour of central Hanoi brought back a flood of memories.

POWELL: Reminded me of my days in in Hue and Quang Tri -- same kinds of shops, smiling people, happy people. They wanted to talk.

KOPPEL: But before long, duty called for this former U.S. soldier turned top U.S. diplomat. His time here in Vietnam now focused on a new mission to work with Vietnam's leaders to resolve the issues of the past and move forward.

Andrea Koppel, CNN, Hanoi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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