Praise and Criticism in Asia

Köhler is no stranger to foreign policy balancing acts. During previous visits with senior Chinese officials, the German president was widely credited with cultivating friendly ties and criticizing human rights abuses all at once.

Köhler is expected to strike a similar balance this week in Vietnam, where he is meeting with the socialist nation's top three officials.

The German president, who holds mostly ceremonial and diplomatic duties, was met by Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet in Hanoi on Monday, and is set set to hold talks with Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and Nong Duc Manh, the General Secretary of the Communist Party.

Minh Triet, Tan Dung and Duc Manh are among Vietnam's most influential leaders. They are regarded as advocates of a moderate reform policy, and have furthered Vietnam's transition from a state-managed to an open market economy.

"We, as well as the foreign investors, are reaping considerable benefits" from these market reforms, Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet said in an interview published Monday in Germany's Der Spiegel news magazine.

A shared cultural history

With annual growth rates of about 7 percent, Vietnam currently has one of the world's fastest-growing economies. Only China is growing faster, with an average annual growth rate of almost 10 percent over the last 25 years.

Despite its unbridled growth, Vietnam was still a relatively poor country in 2006, with an annual gross domestic product of $3,300 (2,454 euros) per capita and inflation rates around 7.5 percent, according to the Economist. But deep poverty -- those living on under $1 a day -- is in decline while the purchasing power of the public is on the rise.

Vietnam is also one of Germany's most important Asian trading partners, and no other country in the European Union has such close economic ties with Vietnam. President Minh Triet told Der Spiegel that his government "protects the interests of Western investors, and that benefits them as much as it benefits us."

But education and culture are also important areas of German-Vietnamese relations. Cooperation in this area dates back to Germany's own Communist past: Some 90,000 Vietnamese workers and 10,000 academics were educated in the former East Germany.

Today, roughly 2,500 Vietnamese students are enrolled at German universities.

To emphasize this bond, Köhler plans to visit the Goethe-Institute in Hanoi to discuss current topics with young German teachers. He also plans to attend a German-Vietnamese forum on education, science and law.

Human rights activists jailed

Discussions about Vietnam's human rights record are likely to be more a test of Köhler's diplomatic skills. Human rights organizations have criticized the Vietnamese leadership for suppressing meaningful political opposition and democratic development.

Only recently, several human rights activists were sentenced to lengthy jail terms for allegedly disseminating "propaganda against the socialist republic" by organizing a peaceful free-speech rally.

The European Union has sharply criticized the Vietnamese government for its actions and has called on its leadership to release all peaceful political activists. Köhler will likely have to address this issue, at least behind closed doors.

Focus on energy

After his two-day stay in Vietnam, the German president will travel to China, where he is set to meet with President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao in Beijing.

In China, Köhler's itinerary is centered on energy policy. He plans to visit a German-backed solar-cell project in the southwestern province of Yunnan, where several remote mountain towns are now solar-powered.

Köhler also plans to meet with representatives from various environmental organizations to discuss strategies for mitigating the consequences of China's enormous industrial growth.

The other burning question is how to satisfy China's seemingly insatiable demand for energy resources and raw material.

China's energy-policy under fire

While addressing the issues in the past, Köhler has cautioned emerging nations against the exploitation of the world's resources. He is especially concerned about Africa, where newly industrialized countries, especially China and India, have increasingly been tapping into the continent's abundant natural resources.

Köhler has said Africa's great mineral wealth should benefit African nations first, and he has expressed concern that the rapid depletion of its resources would reverse what Köhler calls positive developments towards responsible governance.

The German president is expected to voice this same concern to the Chinese leadership, which has been mining African resources more intensively as its own demand increases.