Bush to host Vietnam president in historic visit

President George W. Bush, hosting Vietnam's president in a historic visit, will welcome robust trade ties the United States has developed with a former enemy but also will voice concerns on Hanoi's human rights record.
Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet is making the first US trip by a head of state from his country since the Vietnam War ended in 1975. Triet's meeting with Bush is another step by both countries to move beyond the painful history of the war.
The Vietnamese president is especially keen to bolster a growing trade relationship with the United States, Vietnam's biggest export market. As he signed a trade and investment pact with the United States on Thursday, Triet promised US business leaders his country would "widely open our arms to you." He also had sought to woo investors on an earlier leg of his trip to New York.
But Washington's concerns about the treatment of political dissenters by Hanoi's one-party, communist-ruled government is among the sensitive issues that will come up in his Oval Office session with Bush. The two will have lunch after the meeting.
"I think the tone of the meeting will be generally positive," said Michael Green, an Asia expert and former White House adviser now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "Bush will probably have a pretty tough message about the need for Hanoi to make economic reforms and to respect human rights and religious freedoms."
Green said Vietnam and the United States had a strong interest in a friendly relationship. Among the shared strategic interests is concern about China's rising clout.
Ahead of the meeting, a crowd of about 200 Vietnamese-American pro-democracy protesters, some holding Vietnamese and American flags, gathered behind police barricades in Lafayette Park across from the White House. They held signs reading "Down with Vietnamese Communists" and many were clad in T-shirts that said "Human rights for Vietnam."
WARNING ON HUMAN RIGHTS: Bush in November became the second US president, after Bill Clinton, to visit Vietnam since the war. Vietnam and the United States established diplomatic relations in 1995.
In announcing Triet's visit earlier this month, the White House praised progress in the economic relationship but warned the jailing by Hanoi of political dissenters could jeopardise growth in the trade ties.
The White House has criticised an increasing number of arrests of dissidents and said they were out of character with Vietnam's recent modernisation. Triet heard complaints about his country's human rights record from lawmakers in a visit on Thursday to Capitol Hill.
Since May 10, Vietnam has freed three of those on a US list of people Washington said should be released from imprisonment or detention. White House national security adviser Gordon Johndroe said the releases were a "good step."
"There's probably some more to do," he said. "Certainly, President Bush will raise the issue of human rights and openness with the Vietnamese president." Triet has made clear he will discuss with Bush the lingering effects of wartime "agent orange" dioxin sprayed by US and South Vietnamese forces to defoliate jungles used by communist troops. Dioxin is a small compound within the "agent orange" herbicide and is one of the most toxic compounds known.
The United States maintains there is no scientifically proven link between dioxin and the 3 million people Vietnam estimates are disabled or suffer from its effects.