“It’s not a question of improving or not,” Triet said, hours after meeting with Bush. “Vietnam has its own legal framework, and those who violate the law will be handled.”

His comments this week have not satisfied angry U.S. lawmakers, who say they will keep pressing Vietnam to stop increasing repression of political activists and religious leaders.

Triet acknowledged differences in the countries’ positions on human rights and suggested more dialogue. He said his talks with Bush were “frank and open,” and disagreement over the issue would not stop a thriving trade relationship from getting stronger.

“The Vietnamese laws could not be 100 percent the same as the United States laws, due to the different historical backgrounds and conditions,” Triet said through an interpreter. “There is a different understanding on this issue.”

Bush said he pressed upon Triet during their meeting the importance of having a strong commitment to human rights and democracy. U.S. lawmakers, in a meeting Thursday, urged Triet to treat Vietnam’s citizens better.

“I explained my strong belief that societies are enriched when people are allowed to express themselves freely or worship freely,” Bush said in the Oval Office after a meeting with Triet.

“We want to have good relations with Vietnam,” Bush said, as dozens of protesters outside the White House waved flags and carried signs critical of Vietnam’s government.

Vietnam tolerates no challenges to Communist one-party rule; it insists, however, that only lawbreakers are jailed. In recent months, Vietnam has arrested or sentenced at least eight pro-democracy activists, including a dissident Roman Catholic priest who was sentenced to eight years in prison.

White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino said Bush hoped that Triet would take his “words to heart, and that we’ll see some behavior changes in Vietnam.”

Triet has tried to keep the focus on vibrant trade ties between the United States and one of Asia’s fastest-growing economies. The countries began a bilateral trade agreement in 2001; trade reached nearly US$10 billion (euro7.4 billion) last year.

Triet, who is known as a crusader against corruption and a supporter of economic liberalization, said in the interview that his government is working hard to make Vietnam attractive to foreign investors by improving administrative procedures.

Triet is leading a delegation of more than 100 Vietnamese businessmen. He signed with the United States a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement, which sometimes acts as a road map to eventual free trade negotiations.

During an hour-long private meeting Thursday, senior U.S. lawmakers repeatedly took Triet to task on human rights abuse claims.

Democratic Rep. Earl Blumenauer, who resigned recently as chairman of the U.S.-Vietnam Caucus in Congress to protest human rights abuses, said the message from both political parties during Triet’s visit has been clear.

“They’re being told that the biggest single obstacle to further progress in the relationship, and especially in the economic relationship, is this crackdown on human rights,” Blumenauer said in an interview Friday.

Triet’s next stop was in suburban Los Angeles, where hundreds of protesters demonstrated Friday night against Triet and his government’s human rights record. A huge number of Vietnamese resettled in California’s Orange County after the war.

Most of the demonstrators along the Pacific Coast Highway near the St. Regis Resort, Monarch Beach, were of Vietnamese descent. They waved American flags and the red-striped yellow flag of the former South Vietnam.

When Triet’s motorcade arrived, protesters were kept at a distance by county sheriff’s deputies on horseback but still found a way to express their anger.

“Nguyen Minh Triet go home!” they screamed.

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