WASHINGTON — Welcoming a Vietnamese prime minister to the White House for the first time since the end of the war, President Bush on Tuesday hailed the two nations' growing economic and security ties but stepped gingerly around the divisive issue of human rights.
Although religious conservatives, Vietnamese Americans and others have been urging the White House to push Hanoi for human rights reform, Bush said nothing critical in his appearance with Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai.
Instead, he praised as a "landmark" a recent bilateral agreement aimed at increasing religious liberty in the Southeast Asian country. He also announced that he would visit Vietnam next year, pairing meetings with Vietnamese leaders with participation in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation gathering to be held in Vietnam. Bush will become the second U.S. president to visit since the Vietnam War ended in 1975; Bill Clinton traveled there in 2000.
Bush and Khai issued a joint statement pledging that the two countries would have an "open and candid dialogue on issues of common concern, including human rights practices and conditions for religious believers and ethnic minorities." It said Bush "welcomed Vietnam's efforts to date and encouraged further progress."
Bush's conciliatory tone was striking, especially at a time when the administration is taking a hard line on the human rights practices of some Middle Eastern governments, among others. Analysts said the softer approach reflected, in part, the administration's desire to forge security and economic ties with Hanoi amid increasing concern about China's growing power.
"It's interesting that the administration is willing to take this really very gentle approach," said Fred Brown, a longtime analyst of Southeast Asia at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington. "This isn't going to win him any points with religious conservatives."
Brown added that it was noteworthy that the joint statement said the relationship between the two counties would be a partnership of "equality" and "mutual respect." That tone could make it easier to convince Vietnamese hard-liners still leery of ties with the U.S. that a relationship with Washington could be beneficial, he said.
Bush's plans to visit Vietnam next year, plus his decision to support Hanoi's bid to join the World Trade Organization, triggered some shock and disappointment in Orange County, home to the largest Vietnamese community in the United States.
