Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Việt Nam Phạm Thu Hằng. — Photo from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

HÀ NỘI — The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Saturday refuted the assessment of a report released in June from the United States-based The National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia concerning humanitarian cooperation in the search for and identification of American service members missing in action (MIA) during the war in Việt Nam.

Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Việt Nam Phạm Thu Hằng, in response to Việt Nam News' request for reaction to criticisms contained in the report on the cooperation with the US side in the matter, stated that “These are distorted, false information, and we firmly reject them.”

“Humanitarian cooperation in the search for and identification of US service members missing in action (MIA) during the war in Việt Nam has been actively and effectively implemented by the Governments of Việt Nam and the United States for more than 50 years, helping to identify and repatriate the remains of thousands of US personnel,” Hằng said in a statement.

“This is a deeply meaningful result that has contributed to promoting bilateral cooperation in war legacy issues and serves as vivid evidence of humanitarian spirit, helping to build and strengthen mutual trust and friendship between Việt Nam and the United States,” she noted.

Việt Nam’s MIA cooperation has always been acknowledged and highly appreciated by the US side, and is regarded as a model of international cooperation, the diplomat underscored.

According to the foreign ministry, in the future, the two countries will continue to “fully cooperate in this area” in a manner conforming with the spirit of the Joint Statement on elevating Việt Nam–US relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership for Peace, Cooperation and Sustainable Development reached during US President Joe Biden’s visit to Việt Nam in 2023 at the invitation of the late Party General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng.

Following the release of the League's report, Director of the US Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) Kelly McKeague in an article published mid-July has highlighted the fact that collaboration between Việt Nam and the US on MIA issues began a decade before the re-establishment of formal diplomatic relations in 1995 and "continues to be a fundamental building block to today’s strong partnership that the two countries have forged."

He noted that because of this "enduring and essential cooperation," the US accounted for 752 Americans missing in Việt Nam from the war, bringing their remains home to their families, providing long-sought answers and some semblance of closure.

For the 1,157 estimated to be recoverable in Việt Nam, the US can fulfil its moral responsibility to find them because of the archival research and field investigations and excavations jointly conducted with Việt Nam, the officer asserted.

According to McKeague, the DPAA has deployed more than 97 investigation teams and 167 recovery teams to Việt Nam to work alongside its Vietnamese partner since 2015.

Over the last 10 years, US–Việt Nam collaboration has led to the identification of 35 missing personnel, 19 from joint field work, one from a US partner mission, and 15 from Vietnamese sources.

"They and the many who remain unaccounted for are not just numbers nor can their supreme sacrifice be monetised," he said.

Accordingly, it is the US’s solemn and sacred obligation to sustain the extraordinary efforts to search for, recover, and identify them, most of which occurs due to the support of the Vietnamese government and its people, the US official emphasised. — VNS