Friday's 5Oth anniversary of the end of the 56-day Dien Bien Phu campaign will have minimal effect on the bilateral relationship.

Today, foreign direct investment, development aid and trade ties are the issues that really matter for Hanoi and Paris. To this extent, France's economic position in Vietnam looks quite flattering.

France is the sixth biggest foreign investor in the country and one of the top European ones, with pledged investment of around 2.1 billion dollars since

However, heavyweight French companies are conspicuously absent from the communist nation, often preferring China instead.

Last year, France ranked as the 21st largest investor in Vietnam, unceremoniously sandwiched between the Ukraine and Brunei.

"In the field of investment, the figures have still not returned to the levels before the 1997 Asian crisis," said a French diplomat in Hanoi.

Paris is also the biggest European aid donor to Vietnam, giving 77.1 million euros last year in loans and grants.

This vast and ambitious programme involves a multitude of organizations, ministries, parliamentary groups, universities, educational exchanges.

"This profusion of actors is similar to what Japan does here. But Tokyo accounts for one third of total assistance to Vietnam and France accounts for around three percent," said a French observer who requested anonymity.

France's strengths in its former colony are not negligible, and are evident particularly in some high tech fields such as research, telecoms, aviation, medicine and education.

But Paris is not a priority for Hanoi.

"Seen from Paris, France appears to have a large influence. Seen from here, it is just one of a number of Vietnam's partners," said the observer.

During the visit at the end of February by the French development minister Pierre-Andre Wiltzer, Communist Party chief Nong Duc Manh was cited in state media as referring to France as one of Vietnam's "key European partners" and stressing the importance of bilateral ties.

Despite Paris' satisfaction at seeing its minister meet the regime's top leader, such rhetoric is bestowed on nearly all visiting foreign dignitaries.

One of the few weapons France has in distinguishing itself from other countries is the French language.

"It is a language of culture and science which has a positive image and which enjoys a 'quality' niche," said the observer.

But only a tiny percentage of Vietnamese speak French. English is considered by most people a far more valuable and practical second language, particularly among businessmen.

In the political arena, France today is trying to figure out how to exercise its influence over the country which is more inclined to look towards its powerful northern neighbour China or the United States.

But France remains as ambitious as ever. Ministerial visits follow one after the other, and French President Jacques Chirac is due to come to Hanoi in October shortly before the Asia-Europe summit here.

Chirac's trip would represent the third visit by a French head of state in 10 years to Vietnam, following his visit in November 1997 for the Francophone summit and another visit by Francois Mitterand in 1993 when he travelled to Dien Bien Phu.

"The French definition of a multi-polar world, with extreme cultural diversity, and liberalism moderated by the intervention of the state, are concepts appropriate to Vietnamese leaders," said the observer.

The colonial past has no real influence, neither good nor bad.

"No position can be considered as won for ever. As for Dien Bien Phu, it is a founding myth for Vietnam, but it is not a bleeding wound between the two nations," he said.

WAR.WIRE