HANOI — Opportunities and contradictions abound as Vietnam races into the global economy while keeping a tight grip on internal politics and public discourse. The Oct. 16 United Nations vote that made Vietnam a member of the powerful Security Council for the next two years was the latest acknowledgment that the Communist nation has significantly adjusted its world view and is becoming more politically important in Asia.

Vietnam's economy is among the region's fastest-growing, and it became the 150th member of the World Trade Organization in January.

"With the increasing role of Vietnam in the international arena, Vietnam becomes a more constructive and positive player in international relations," said Nguyen Ba Hung, who oversees the Americas department of Vietnam's foreign ministry.

The U.N. role will create "more opportunities for consultation and collaboration with the U.S.," he told The Advertiser in an interview at ministry headquarters. "It will create big opportunities and big challenges. We'll have to be much more pro-active."

Already, Vietnam's relationship with the U.S. is closer than it's ever been since the last crowded helicopter famously lifted off from the roof of the American embassy in Saigon 32 years ago, bringing an end to the bitter war that had split both nations.

The Communist victory reunited Vietnam and secured its independence but failed to lift its people out of poverty. The collapse of the Soviet Union, and the eventual thawing in relations with the U.S., have produced dramatic changes since then.

"Vietnam may now be the most pro-U.S. power in Southeast Asia," said Raymond Burghardt, U.S. ambassador to Vietnam from 2001 to 2004. "This may seem extraordinary to some because of the war. But Vietnam has a very pragmatic approach and is not bogged down in the past."

Burghardt, now director of seminars at the East-West Center in Honolulu, noted that Vietnam and the U.S. share common strategic interests — trade with China, and concern about China's growing influence in the region.

But Vietnam should not be viewed as part of a U.S.-led containment policy aimed at China, he said.

China is investing in heavy industries in Vietnam, such as steel production. But much of Vietnam's recent economic growth is a direct result of trade with the U.S.

Market-oriented economic reforms and a 2001 bilateral trade agreement have made the U.S. Vietnam's biggest export market, and trade between the two nations is now worth $10 billion per year and growing.

The ConocoPhillips oil company is the largest U.S. investor, and Vietnam is Southeast Asia's third-largest crude oil producer, following Indonesia and Malaysia. Spices, clothing and seafood are other key export products.

Less than 20 percent of Vietnamese now live in serious poverty, down from 58 percent in 1993, according to the government and the Asian Development Bank. The country's gross domestic product expanded 8.2 percent in this year's first three quarters — the fastest growth in a decade. The challenge now is to sustain growth, curb inflation and limit income disparities.

"It's easy to grow when you're growing from small numbers," said Walter Blocker, CEO of Gannon Vietnam Limited, an American firm that's building a major new power plant in Dong Nai Province.

"It's harder to maintain growth. That's a big challenge because otherwise people get discouraged."

Foreign businesses hope to see more transparency in government regulations, which often appear arbitrary, he said.

"We need to at least know what the rules are, even if they're excessive and bureaucratic," Blocker said.

The red-hot economy and entrepreneurial boom have created striking contrasts as the government clings to Communist ways in politics, internal security and control of mass media.

News of the U.N. vote was overshadowed in the state-controlled press by the visit of Vietnamese Communist Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh to North Korea, where he met with leader Kim Jong Il for a series of ceremonial events.

Vietnam makes no pretense of having a free and objective press, and it remains an authoritarian one-party state that crushes any serious dissent.

"The Communist Party has opened up to allow more voices within the party, but it's not about to open up for other parties, or for voices outside the party system," said a Western diplomatic source who requested anonymity.

"The people who are on the politburo now rose up through the party and the game as it is played, and are not going to open up or allow the game to be changed."

In foreign policy, Vietnam is becoming more confident in defining its self-interests and taking positions on issues outside the region, but "would do just about anything to avoid conflict with China and having to choose between China and the U.S.," another diplomatic source said.

Although independent journalism and commentary are suppressed, media piracy is widespread.

Hawkers patrol tourist areas with armloads of bootleg paperbacks, including Graham Greene's "The Quiet American" and Robert McNamara's "In Retrospect." Pirate editions of newly released movies and video games are available within days, and sometimes hours.

Contrasts between the old and new economies, and examples of the fast-changing consumer culture, can be seen everywhere. One recent morning, an old woman in a traditional conical hat carried baskets of ripe durian fruit suspended from a shoulder pole as she shuffled past a brightly illuminated storefront. Inside, models clad in slinky designer undergarments smiled salaciously from larger-than-life advertising posters.

National hero Ho Chi Minh casts a benevolent gaze from countless statues and banners, but the face of another sprightly old man with a wispy beard is becoming increasingly visible: Col. Sanders, of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame. The American fast-food chain now known as KFC began opening outlets in Ho Chi Minh City — the former Saigon — a decade ago, and expanded to Hanoi in 2005.

Ho led the former North Vietnam to independence from France but died in 1969, six years before the final withdrawal of U.S. troops and the Communist victory over the south. He remains revered by most Vietnamese, but has been reduced to a T-shirt icon for many foreigners who visit his tiny former home and the massive mausoleum constructed nearby.

In the Ho Chi Minh Museum, a constant stream of Vietnamese and foreigners pause to have their pictures taken beneath a large statue of "Uncle Ho." In the museum's cafe one afternoon, a Vietnamese American woman and her two daughters were all clad in Ho shirts as she angrily admonished the staff in English over the scarcity of cake for sale.

In the Thai-owned Melia Hanoi hotel, American businessmen sipped cocktails and munched tapas in the "Latino Room" that evening while Filipino singers crooned. At the grimy street market next door, vendors scraped fish scales into the gutter and offered stacks of roasted dogs for sale.

Another night, at the rooftop Saigon Saigon bar of the Caravelle Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City, old hands recalled how brightly burning tracer bullets and parachute flares could often be seen in the distance during the war. These nights, the flashes of light come from arc welding electrodes as workers hustle to build modern new office towers.

Nguyen Tao, an aging bicycle-taxi driver, is among those who won't be working inside. A former soldier in the conquered South Vietnam army, he didn't fare well under Communism. Pedaling one of the contraptions, known as a cyclo, was among the few ways to make a living.

But the tourism boom that's accompanied Vietnam's growth spurt has brought him a new level of prosperity. He recently traded in a rattling old cyclo for a shiny new one, and he now carries a cell phone.

"Things have really changed over the past five years or so," he said over steaming bowls of pho at a sidewalk stall. "Life is much better."

Reach Johnny Brannon at jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com.