British Army chief visits Vietnam

The head of Britain’s Army began a week long visit to Vietnam today as one of the highest-ranking British military officials to tour the communist country.

General Sir Michael Jackson’s eight-day trip includes talks with senior military officials in Hanoi, a visit to a British demining programme in central Vietnam, and a tour of the Cu Chi tunnels in the south used in guerrilla warfare during the Vietnam War.

Jackson is scheduled to pay a courtesy call to legendary General Vo Nguyen Giap, 92, the military mastermind behind Vietnam’s defeat of the French and the Americans and the most prominent Vietnamese figure still living from that era.

Jackson is also expected to meet with Vietnamese soldiers enrolled in a British-funded project that offers English lessons.

The purpose of the visit is to further broaden military ties between the two countries that follows a September 2003 visit to Britain by Vietnamese Vice Minister of Defence Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Huy Hieu.