Vietnam's foreign minister is praising the late Sen. John McCain John Sidney McCainAnalysis: Biden victory, Democratic sweep would bring biggest boost to economy The Memo: Trump's strengths complicate election picture Mark Kelly: Arizona Senate race winner should be sworn in 'promptly' MORE (R-Ariz.) for "healing the wounds" of the Vietnam War, Reuters reported.

“For both the government of Vietnam and its people, Senator McCain was a symbol of his generation of senators, and of the veterans of the Vietnam war,” Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh wrote in a condolence book on Monday at the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi, according to the news service.

“It was he who took the lead in significantly healing the wounds of war, and normalizing and promoting the comprehensive Vietnam-U.S. partnership,” Minh wrote.

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McCain died on Saturday, a year after being diagnosed with brain cancer. He was 81.

Reuters reported that Vietnamese citizens and U.S. citizens visiting the country have turned a monument near the site where he was captured and taken prisoner during the war into a makeshift memorial. Visitors have left notes, flowers, flags and other items.

McCain was captured in 1967 after his plane was shot down during a mission in Vietnam. He suffered multiple broken bones, was tortured and beaten and refused to be released ahead of other U.S. soldiers who were taken prisoner before him.

McCain was held prisoner for five years, and later pushed for normalizing relations between the U.S. and Vietnam.

While the Vietnamese leader offered praise for McCain, President Trump Donald John TrumpSteele Dossier sub-source was subject of FBI counterintelligence probe Pelosi slams Trump executive order on pre-existing conditions: It 'isn't worth the paper it's signed on' Trump 'no longer angry' at Romney because of Supreme Court stance MORE reportedly nixed a statement from the White House calling the Senate giant a "hero." Trump instead issued a tweet upon McCain's passing offering his sympathies to the senator's family.

McCain was one of Trump's most outspoken Republican critics.

The senator is scheduled to lie in state in the Arizona state Capitol on Wednesday and the U.S. Capitol on Friday.