Lam, Vietnam’s longtime minister of public security and recently appointed president, is the leading candidate to replace Trong as party secretary, the most influential post in the Vietnamese system. Politburo leaders announced Thursday that Lam would temporarily take over Trong’s duties.
“The Politburo calls on the entire Party, all people and all military to have absolute confidence in the Party’s leadership,” the Politburo said in a statement carried by the state news agency.
Trong led Vietnam through a period of dramatic change. Widely seen as a party hardliner, he tightened the party’s control over domestic unrest and criticism while opening up the country to greater foreign investment and economic cooperation.
Here’s what you need to know about Trong’s achievements and what his departure means for Vietnam, an increasingly important swing state in the competition between the United States, Russia and China.
Why was Trong considered Vietnam’s greatest leader?
Vietnam’s top leadership is made up of four members – the Communist Party secretary-general, the president, the prime minister and the speaker of the National Assembly – and they rule by consensus, but the party secretary is widely considered the most powerful.
when President Biden Biden met one-on-one with Trong during a visit to Hanoi last September to try to improve relations between the United States and Vietnam. It is rare for Biden to meet with a foreign leader who is not a head of state or government.
What were Trong’s priorities when in power?
Trong was educated in the former Soviet Union and took over as the party’s head in 2011. He was re-elected in 2016 and begins an unprecedented third term as party secretary in 2021.
Vietnam underwent a period of political liberalization in the early 2000s that analysts say was dramatically reversed under Trong’s administration. Putting pressure on big tech companies Mehta removed criticism of party leaders from the platform and implemented laws restricting free speech. Many political opponents and critics arrestedThe government has imprisoned about 200 people for political reasons, including environmental activists, journalists and trade unionists, according to the 88 Project, a Vietnam-focused watchdog group.
In recent years, Trong has become known for his signature anti-corruption campaign, which led to the resignation of senior party officials, including two provincial premiers, several provincial leaders and dozens of members of the party’s Central Committee. The campaign, known as the “burning furnace” in Vietnamese, has ushered in a period of unprecedented political instability in Vietnam.
Nguyen Thanh Giang, a Vietnamese analyst at the Singapore-based ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute, said the campaign “was meant to repair the regime, but in reality it exposed its vices of corruption and political decadence.”
How did U.S.-Vietnam relations develop under Trong’s administration?
Vietnam under Trong has warmed ties with its former foe, the United States, which has sought stronger security ties with Vietnam as a bulwark against growing Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific region. Pressure to diversify supply chains away from China has also led U.S. companies to look to Vietnam as a nearby alternative.
Vietnam, meanwhile, has sought to use Washington as a counterweight to Beijing in the face of increasingly assertive Chinese stance, particularly in the South China Sea, which Vietnam claims parts of.
But Vietnam also maintains strong ties with China and Russia, and Foreign Minister Trong has hosted both Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Hanoi in recent months.
What does his departure mean for Vietnam?
Analysts say Chung’s departure from his post as party leader could create a power vacuum within the party and exacerbate internal infighting already entrenched in the corruption investigation.
Many expect Lam to eventually succeed Trong. Lam, once Vietnam’s top police officer, was elevated to president in May, replacing two men who were ousted in quick succession. Human rights groups have blamed Lam for Vietnam’s crackdown on civil society and fear his promotion could lead to more arrests of civil society leaders.
“We can expect to see an escalation in the brutal crackdown that Lam has carried out as police chief over the coming years,” said Ben Swanton, co-director of the 88 Project.
