HANOI (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama is set to lay out more of his plan for a stronger alliance with Vietnam on Tuesday, after scrapping an arms ban that was the last big hurdle between two countries drawn together by concern over China’s military buildup.

The removal of a vestige of the Vietnam War suggests U.S. worries about Beijing’s building of man-made island in the South China Sea and deployment of advanced radars and missile batteries in the disputed region trumped concern about Vietnam’s human rights record.

Washington had for years said a lifting of the ban would require concrete steps by Vietnam in allowing freedom of speech, worship and assembly and releasing political prisoners.

In a joint news conference on Monday with his Vietnamese counterpart Tran Dai Quang, Obama said “modest” human rights improvements had been made and the decision to end the embargo was about the changing dynamic in ties and “not based on China”.

The Global Times tabloid, run by the Chinese Communist Party’s official People’s Daily, said that was a lie and made a point of the what it said was a U.S. willingness to relax standards on human rights for the sake of containing China.

The White House “is taking advantage of Vietnam to stir up more troubles in the South China Sea”, it said.

Obama is to meet civil society representatives on Tuesday, among them dissidents, who may disagree with his arms ban decision. Some Vietnamese activists have expressed disappointment that Obama may have given away leverage with the communist leadership.

A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there was evidence engagement had worked in nudging Vietnam to make concessions, like its “unprecedented” commitment to set up independent labour unions under a U.S.-inspired Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal.

In a statement late on Monday, Communist Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong spoke of the importance of building relations of mutual respect while “not interfering in each other’s internal affairs”.

TRADE PUSH

Obama will give a speech in Hanoi about the development of relations since normalisation in 1995 and will champion his signature TPP, which would remove tariffs within a 12-nation bloc worth a combined $28 trillion of gross domestic product.

Vietnam’s manufacturing and export-led economy is seen as the biggest TPP beneficiary. Annual U.S-Vietnam trade has swelled from $450 million when ties were normalised to $45 billion last year, and Washington is a big buyer of Vietnam’s televisions, smartphones, clothing and seafood.

The TPP is not a done deal, with opposition expected in Washington amid concern about competition and a loss of U.S. jobs. Obama said he was confident the trade pact would be approved by legislators and he had not seen a credible argument that the deal would dent American business.

Obama will on Tuesday fly to Ho Chi Minh City, the country’s commercial hub, which was called Saigon until North Vietnamese tanks rolled into the city in April 1975 to bring U.S.-backed South Vietnam under communist rule.

He will meet young entrepreneurs at one of the co-working spaces that host Vietnam’s budget tech startups, which have been receiving attention from angel investors and Silicon Valley funds.

Obama spoke of a U.S. intention to work more closely in defence areas with Vietnam, which is keen to build a deterrent against China. Vietnam and the United States last year held coastguard and humanitarian training exercises.

Washington has longstanding defence alliances in the region with the Philippines, which is also at odds with China, and Thailand, and organises annual war games with both.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry attended a ceremony on Tuesday in which a deal was agreed with Vietnam to allow the U.S. Peace Corps to work there.

Tuesday’s English-language China Daily said Obama’s visit “bodes ill for regional peace and stability”, and would further complicate the situation in the South China Sea, and risk turning the region into a “tinderbox of conflicts”.

 (Additional reporting by My Pham, Ho Binh Minh and Mai Nguyen in HANOI and John Ruwitch in SHANGHAI; Editing by Robert Birsel)

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HANOI (Reuters) – Stand-up comedian Nguyen Cong Vuong wants to shake up Vietnam’s notoriously dull politics, and says images of lawmakers snoozing in televised debates is no laughing matter.

It’s a view shared by Mai Khoi, a sassy, pink-haired singer who says politics should not be the exclusive domain of the ruling Communist Party.

They are not political activists but among an unprecedented number of ordinary Vietnamese who want to run as independents in a parliamentary election to unseat the war veterans and greying bureaucrats they say are out of touch with a young, fast-changing country.

“I want to change perceptions of politics, bring some youth and energy to the National Assembly,” said Vuong, 34, a well-known TV comedian and performance artist.

“It’s our push for democracy. We don’t want to see people sleeping in parliament. They should realise its better for the country to bring some new faces and fresh ideas.”

But that is easier said than done when the Communist Party controls the 500-seat, rubber-stamp legislature and a small minority of non-party lawmakers are endorsed by state institutions.

The party also decides who gets on the ballot papers.

Some 100 people in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City have registered as self-nominated candidates for the May election, generating support on Facebook and a level of public interest about politics seldom seen in Vietnam.

Their chosen path is unorthodox and contentious, shunning the traditional route of joining the 4.5 million member Communist Party, which is largely considered unfashionable by a swelling young population.

GAGA OVER POLITICS

Often dubbed Vietnam’s version of Lady Gaga, Mai Khoi, 32, has courted controversy with her provocative on-stage attire and lyrics, which include the word “orgasm”.

She wants to address social issues in parliament, like same-sex marriages, and said being an independent means not being shackled by the Communist Party’s strict rules and traditions.

“Many people are surprised and wonder why a singer like me wants to join the National Assembly,” she told Reuters.

“Everyone should care about politics. It affects all of our lives … The NA allows more chances to speak up.”

Talk of political plurality is taboo in Vietnam, even more so as the party’s legitimacy is increasingly challenged by the public’s insatiable appetite for social media.

Asked by Reuters for his views on everyday people seeking election, retired lawmaker and social science professor Nguyen Minh Thuyet said it was “not suitable” for him to comment.

Some potential candidates are causing a stir, however, with 20 activists, bloggers and protesters running disciplined campaigns to test the sincerity of the party’s promises of inclusively.

The five-yearly election is the only national poll the public votes in. What has raised eyebrows is that in Vietnam’s two biggest cities, there are more self-nominated applicants than ones backed by the party or state bodies.

The party now has the tricky task of deciding how open it is prepared to be.

Some independents say they’re experiencing friction.

Vuong is angered by media articles accusing him of being a proxy for anti-government groups, while Mai Khoi said her application had hit a snag over paperwork, which she insisted was in order.

The Hanoi election committee on Thursday said unsavoury elements were trying to influence the poll, saying some applicants were backed or funded by “domestic and foreign reactionary forces”.

That aside, the committee’s propaganda chief Nguyen Van Phong hailed the process as a success.

“It shows that the democratic spirit has prevailed,” state media quoted him saying. “People want to contribute to society.”

(Reporting by Martin Petty; Additional reporting by My Pham and Mai Nguyen; Editing by Robert Birsel)

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