Vietnam President To Lam. File
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

Vietnam announced on Monday (August 26, 2024) three new Deputy Prime Ministers, the latest high-level political changes during a turbulent period for the ruling Communist Party.

Political upheaval was highly unusual for decades in Vietnam, where all changes were carefully orchestrated with an emphasis on cautious stability. However, a prominent anti-graft purge has swept up several high-level figures since 2021, including two presidents and three Deputy Prime Ministers.

President To Lam was named as general secretary — Vietnam’s top leader — this month following the death of his predecessor, Nguyen Phu Trong.

Mr. Trong, the most powerful man in decades, was the mastermind of the “blazing furnace” crackdown on corruption.

Vietnam’s four-pillar leadership structure includes the General Secretary, President, Prime Minister and head of the National Assembly.

The rubber-stamp parliament met at its eighth “extraordinary” session in Hanoi on Monday and announced a new chief judge and chief prosecutor, three new Deputy Prime Ministers and two new ministers. Only one of the outgoing politicians was explicitly linked to the anti-corruption campaign.

Former Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai was sacked Monday (August 26, 2024) for violating party regulations and law. The government now has five Deputy Prime Ministers.

Thousands of people, including top officials and senior business leaders, have been caught up in the anti-corruption drive, with Lam vowing to speed up the campaign.

To Lam, Vietnam’s newly elected President, recently concluded a three-day visit to China. Mr. Lam’s choice of China as the destination for his first overseas visit since assuming office was a testament to the new leadership to strengthen ties with its bigger communist neighbour with which it fought a war in 1979.

The welcome ceremony for Mr. Lam and his wife was held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, with the highest honours reserved for heads of state, including a 21-gun salute. Mr. Lam, who succeeded long-serving Communist Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong, who died at 80 in July 2024, moved fast in consolidating power at home and strengthening Vietnam’s partnerships abroad.

Mr. Lam was born in 1957, the year a communist insurgency began in southern Vietnam. A member of the Communist party since 1981, Mr. Lam cut his teeth in the police service. He studied at the People’s Security Academy and was recruited into the security force in October 1974 and rose through the ranks, eventually becoming the Minister of Public Security in April 2016, a post which would turn him into one of the most powerful men in the one-party dictatorship.

He has been a member of the 12th and 13th Politburo of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), which holds immense power in the country by directing the government’s policies.

Steak controversy

Mr. Lam had his share of controversies as well. In 2021, he was seen eating gold-plated steak at celebrity chef Nusret Gokce’s fine dining restaurant in London. Mr. Lam was in London after attending the UN COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland. The video went viral on TikTok, at a time when Vietnam was navigating economic complications after the COVID-19 pandemic. The video was quickly removed from TikTok, but not before it was viewed by millions of people.

The video, posted on November 3 on Mr. Gokce’s TikTok account, showed the chef personally preparing steak dishes in front of the delegation, and himself feeding a slice of meat to Mr. Lam.

A noodle vendor in Vietnam, who went viral for impersonating chef Gokce’s typical salting style, was imprisoned for five years in 2023 for “anti-state propaganda”. The vendor had posted a video of himself shortly after Mr. Lam’s video went viral.

The Human Rights Watch (HRW) has also raised alarm about Mr. Lam’s rise to power in Vietnam. According to the group, his “rise to power is indicative of the Vietnam government’s worsening repression, its complete intolerance of criticism, and utter hostility to basic civil and political rights”. In 2016, when Mr. Lam was the Minister of Public Security, activists were reportedly barred from meeting former U.S. President Barack Obama during his historic trip to the country.

Vietnamese security forces, under Mr. Lam, were also accused of kidnapping former party official Trinh Xuan Thanh from Berlin in July 2017, and blogger Truong Duy Nhat from Bangkok in January 2019.

German authorities said Vietnamese businessperson and former politician Thanh and a companion were abducted and dragged into a van in downtown Berlin, while Vietnam countered that he surrendered to Vietnamese authorities after evading an international arrest warrant for nearly a year. Mr. Thanh was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2018.

Truong Duy Nhat was sentenced to 10 years in prison in March 2020 for “abusing his position and power while on duty” as a reporter, the Committee to Protect Journalists reported. Mr. Nhat worked for Radio Free Asia’s Vietnamese language service, which is funded by the U.S.

According to the HRW, Vietnamese courts convicted at least 32 people for posting critical opinions about the government and sentenced them to multiple years in prison in 2021 when Mr. Lam headed the Ministry of Public Security. Mr. Lam will continue as the President of Vietnam until 2026 when the party selects a new set of officeholders at its next five-yearly congress.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Vietnam President To Lam meet at the Great Hall of the People on August 19, 2024 in Beijing, China on Mr. Lam’s three-day visit to China, his first overseas.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

China’s President Xi Jinping held talks on Monday (August 19, 2024) with Vietnam’s new leader To Lam in Beijing on his first state visit since he took office, Chinese official media Xinhua said.

The meeting signals the close ties between the two communist-run neighbours, which have well-developed economic and trade relations despite the occasional boundary clashes in the energy-rich South China Sea.

China, displaying exuberance over Mr. Lam’s choosing China for his first official trip, said last week it “fully reflects the great importance he attaches to the development of ties between both parties and countries”.

Mr. Lam arrived in China’s southern province of Guangzhou on Sunday (August 18, 2024) for a three-day visit that would include meetings with Chinese Premier Li Qiang and other Chinese top officials.

While in Guangzhou, he visited some Chinese locations where former President Ho Chi Minh conducted revolutionary activities.

Last December, China and Vietnam signed more than a dozen agreements when Mr. Xi visited Vietnam.

The agreements, specifics of which were not announced, covered strengthening railway cooperation and development, investments in various fields and establishing communication to handle unexpected incidents in the South China Sea.

In a lengthy joint declaration, both countries said they would work on cross-border railway connectivity, naming three rail projects that included one connecting through mountainous Lao Cai in Vietnam’s northwest to the port city Haiphong and a potential one linking two coastal cities to Haiphong.

The statement mentioned continued support for both countries’ railway companies to further cooperate to improve the efficiency of Vietnamese goods transiting through China.

It also mentioned working on other projects under China’s flagship infrastructure programme, the Belt and Road Initiative. It emphasised investment cooperation in agriculture, infrastructure, energy, digital economy, green development and other fields.

China and Vietnam forged diplomatic ties in 1950. They established a comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation in 2008 that was jointly fortified five years later to extend to more shared international and regional issues of concern.