IF YOU WANT TO DO BUSINESS IN VIETNAM, FORGET ABOUT HELP FROM Washington. Encouraged by the recent opening of a U.S. liaison office in Hanoi, executives from Caterpillar and Boeing last January asked to talk to National Security Adviser Anthony Lake about business opportunities in Vietnam. When their request was denied, Alaska Senator Frank Murkowski tried to help by requesting his own meeting with Lake. Could the Senator bring the executives along? Lake replied that he would be happy to talk with Murkowski, but not with the businessmen.
When the subject is Vietnam, Clinton officials are not interested in talking business....