How Vietnam’s communist party chief earned a surprise third term at this year’s National Congress.
By
March 05, 2021
Newly re-elected Vietnamese Communist Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong, center, leaves after a press conference at the closing ceremony of after the Party’s 13th National Congress in Hanoi, Feb. 1, 2021.
Credit: AP Photo/Minh Hoang
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This article is the second in a two-part series. Part 1 is available here.
When Nguyen Phu Trong assumed Vietnam’s presidency following the death of President Tran Dai Quang in September 2018, he became the first Vietnamese leader since the 1980s to hold two of the country’s four senior leadership posts.
18 February 2021
‘
Di bat bien, ung van bien’ a phrase evoked by Ho Chi Minh in 1946 is the Vietnamese rendering of a Chinese maxim which may be translated ‘to respond to the changing with the unchanging’. This could sum up the essential lesson to be drawn from the 13th Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) held from 25 January to 1 February this year.
The Congress began with an upbeat tone. Vietnam has been lauded by the international community for its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. With a population of 97 million people, Vietnam has only recorded 35 deaths. It seems to have done all the right things closing borders early, heavily controlling locally targeted confinements and maintaining transparency in its communication strategy to encourage patriotic behaviour to combat the virus. While the rest of Southeast Asia is in recession, Vietnam recorded a growth rate of 2.9 per cent in 2020.
New permanent member of CPVCC’s Secretariat named 14:42 | 06/02/2021
VGP – The Political Bureau organized a ceremony on Saturday to announce decisions on assignment of tasks Politburo members Vo Van Thuong and Tran Tuan Anh.
Participants at the ceremony included former Politburo member and former permanent member of the Communist Party of Viet Nam Central Committee (CPVCC) Secretariat Tran Quoc Vuong, Politburo member and Chairman of CPVCC’s Organization Commission Pham Minh Chinh and Secretary of the CPVCC and Chief of the CPVCC Office Le Minh Hung.
Party General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong (right) hands over decision to Politburo member Vo Van Thuong, assigning him to the new role as permanent member of the CPVCC’s Secretariat, Ha Noi, February 6, 2021.
Saturday, 13:48, 06/02/2021
VOV.VN - The Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Vietnam has assigned Politburo member Vo Van Thuong to hold the post of the permanent member of the Party’s Secretariat of the new tenure.
Party General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong (R) on February 6 hands over the Politburo’s decision to assign the new post to Vo Van Thuong
Thuong, 51, was re-elected to the Party’s Political Bureau at the freshly-concluded 13th National Party Congress in Hanoi.
He used to work as the First Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union, the Secretary of the Quang Ngai provincial Party Committee, and the Deputy Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee.