US First Lady Hillary Clinton arrived here Thursday afternoon, hours before her husband Bill was due to become the first American president to visit since the war.
Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Dinh Bin, Vietnamese ambassador to the United States Le Van Bang and other foreign ministry officials were on hand to welcome the First Lady.
But in the city center an ultra-low-key reception awaited the senator-elect for New York.
The only US flags to be seen were at the Daewoo Hotel, a Korean joint venture where the presidential party will stay.
Four Stars and Stripes flew alongside the red and yellow star colors of communist Vietnam while a banner announced the Clintons' visit, but they appeared to be more a private effort than an official welcome.
Minimal security was visible ahead of Hillary's arrival -- an AFP correspondent saw just a handful of uniformed police on the road out to the airport and journalists were able to walk around freely on the tarmac.
Vietnamese officials have done their utmost to play down the US portrayal of the visit as historic, insisting Clinton is just another visiting head of state.
On Thursday the main official newspapers here made no mention of the Clintons' arrival later in the day and the front-page photographs that normally precede a head of state's visit were nowhere to be seen.
Hillary flew in separately from her husband after attending the Jerusalem funeral of Leah Rabin, the widow of slain Israeli prime minister Yitzhak.
Daughter Chelsea accompanied her father to a summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Brunei which closes later Thursday.
They were due to touch down in Hanoi at 11:10 p.m. (0410 GMT) – HANOI (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
