Vietnam’s Leader Wants U.S. Visit To Be All Business

HANOI, Vietnam, June 13 — Bracing himself for criticism over Vietnams human rights record, President Nguyen Minh Triet said Wednesday that he would keep his eye firmly on trade and investment when he visited the United States next week.

Policemen near a courthouse last month in Hanoi, where two lawyers were sentenced to prison for their political activities. Vietnam’s president said his visit to Washington should focus on trade, not human rights.

Mr. Triet, the first Vietnamese head of state to visit Washington since the Vietnam War ended 32 years ago, is a longtime proponent of his countrys economic liberalization and integration into the world economy.

In an interview at the presidential palace, Mr. Triet said he would meet with President Bush, as well as members of Congress and business executives, to lobby for tighter economic ties.

We really want the United States to increase its investment in terms of high technology in Vietnam, he said, and we want the United States to create favorable conditions for Vietnamese goods in the United States market.

He bristled, though, over recent criticisms of the arrests and trials of several dissidents that threaten to overshadow the broader positive relations that have made visits like this one less and less remarkable.

Vietnam has experienced war and understands well the loss of human rights and freedom, he said. Therefore, we really love the fundamental rights of man and respect human rights. But if anyone violates the law we have to punish them.

Since Vietnam, a nation of about 84 million people, gained increased visibility as the host of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum last fall, it has rounded up many dissidents, most recently sentencing two activist lawyers to long jail terms last month.

The White House said President Bush would express his deep concern over the issue, and some critics of Vietnam in the United States had lobbied to cancel the visit.

The visit is all the more significant given the opposition it faced, several Vietnamese and foreign analysts said.

It strengthens the hands of the outward-looking, reform types in the government, said Jonathan Pincus, the senior country economist for the United Nations Development Program. It shows Vietnam that the United States is a reliable and mature partner. That is hugely important to Vietnam.

One strong motivation to proceed for both sides is a desire to cement their relationship in the context of the growing political and economic weight of Vietnams northern neighbor, China.

Le Dang Doanh, a leading economist, said: It is very important that the visit could take place because if not, the big neighbors to the north could try to push harder on Vietnam. And this is not good for the stability of the region and not good at all for Vietnam.

Vietnam has carefully balanced its relations between the United States and China, and in advance of his trip to Washington, Mr. Triet visited Beijing last month.

The two countries have a common target to build socialism, he said in the interview, explaining his trip to Beijing. Therefore, we want to enhance cooperation in many areas with China. As you know, China is a nation that goes further than Vietnam, so Vietnam wants to learn from Chinas lessons in development.

The United States is Vietnams largest trading partner, with an increasing two-way trade that rose to $7.8 billion in 2005, from $1.5 billion in 2001, according to Vietnamese government figures.

But Mr. Triet said he would lobby for more high-technology investment, saying American investment still lags as bilateral ties have developed.

Now trade and investment-relations development is not commensurate with the politics of the two countries, he said.

The United States ended a trade embargo in 1994 and established diplomatic relations with Vietnam the next year. In 2001, the two nations signed a trade agreement that was called the final step in postwar normalization of relations.

In January, with strong support from the United States, Vietnam officially joined the World Trade Organization.

The bilateral relationship has flourished in areas that include trade and business, military contacts, education and health care issues like bird flu and H.I.V./AIDS.

But last year, Vietnam listed the United States as only its 11th largest foreign investor with licensed projects whose total capital was $1.7 billion.

As relations have progressed, high-level exchanges have multiplied, from President Clintons highly popular visit here in 2000 to a flurry of visitors last year that included President Bush, Donald H. Rumsfeld, then the secretary of defense, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Vietnams prime minister and defense minister have both visited the United States.

Mr. Triet himself is seen as one of the outward-looking members of the Vietnamese hierarchy.

A southerner who was party chief in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, he is known for his innovations in supporting private enterprise and foreign investment.

He made his reputation as the chief of what is now Binh Duong Province, a land-locked area just north of Ho Chi Minh City with few advantages for development.

By relaxing conditions for private and foreign investment at a time when these were new and controversial policies, he created what is now one of the most prosperous regions in the country, a magnet for both business and labor.

He broke the mold, said Mr. Pincus, the United Nations economist. He was able to change the way things are governed. So he has street cred among reformers.

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