Former General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam Nguyen Phu Chong died on Friday at the age of 80 after a long illness. A day earlier, the country's president To Lam had taken over his duties.
Reactions
V. “South China Morning Post” reports that social media users in Vietnam have changed their profile pictures to black backgrounds as a sign of sadness for the “perfect communist”. His funeral will take place on July 25 and 26, with cultural events cancelled. The organizers of entertainment and sports events have already stopped their activities, the publication adds.
The Chinese Communist Party immediately sent its condolences. In the condolence message, the party's Central Committee, its top decision-making body, praised Chong as a "good comrade, a good brother and a good friend", as well as a "close comrade and sincere friend of the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese people".
"He inherited and developed the traditional friendship of "comrades and brothers" between the two parties and the two peoples, and established deep friendship with the Chinese Communist Party and Chinese leaders," the message said. It highlighted the joint efforts of Chong and Xi Jinping, President of China and General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, to elevate these ties to a "community of shared destiny of strategic significance" last year.
"China has always regarded Vietnam as a priority in its neighborly diplomacy, and is willing to work with Vietnam to continuously strengthen mutual political trust, strengthen solidarity and cooperation, and to more deeply and more practically advance the construction of a Sino-Vietnamese community with a shared destiny so as to benefit both peoples and contribute to peace and development in the region and the world," the statement said.
The longtime leader
Nguyen Phu Chong was the first general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China to serve three terms in the country's highest post since the liberalization of the economy in 1986. He joined the Politburo in 1997 and led the country since 2011.
His death comes amid political turmoil in Hanoi, which has seen three of the country's five top leaders step down amid an anti-corruption campaign. Nguyen Phu Chong headed the anti-corruption commission since 2013, recalled in the “Bangkok Post”.
In recent years, he has likened his anti-corruption campaign to a "flaming furnace," whose flames, at least as of 2021, have engulfed dozens of government officials and business leaders.
The anti-corruption campaign is being presented as part of Vietnam's efforts to boost its appeal as a destination for foreign investment amid fierce competition between the US and China, as well as to ensure the party's legitimacy in the face of massive scandals. However, it also led to fear among bureaucrats, causing them to delay making decisions and approving legal documents needed for new construction and other business-related activities, notes the "Bangkok Post".
Elected General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam in 2011 and re-elected to the post in 2016 and 2021, he also became President in 2018 following the death of then-President Chiang Dai Quang, a rupture with the party tradition.
Chong stepped down as president in 2021, but his election that year to a rare third term as general secretary made him the longest-serving party leader since Le Duan, who held the post from 1960 until his death in 1986
Nguyen Phu Chong was known for his policy of “bamboo diplomacy”, targeting the flexibility and adaptability of this plant. The main motto of this policy is to weather the world's geopolitical storms with minimal damage, avoiding firm commitments to one camp or another.
"Nguyen Phu Chong is undoubtedly the most influential Vietnamese politician of the 21st century," said Linh Nguyen, lead analyst for Vietnam at Control Risks, quoted by the “Bangkok Post”. "He leaves behind a legacy of fully restored unchallenged party power and an unprecedented anti-corruption campaign that has caught up with hundreds of corrupt senior politicians."
Chong was a strong proponent of opening the once-isolated country to foreign investment. With the signing of numerous free trade agreements, Vietnam has become one of the most trade-dependent economies in the world. By the end of 2023, the value of Vietnam's exports is roughly equal to the size of its economy, with former enemy the US now its biggest export market.
In 2015, Chong became the first Vietnamese party chief to visit the US, where he met with then-President Barack Obama at the White House. On this occasion, Obama stated that "difficult history" between the US and Vietnam is being replaced by a relationship based on mutual economic and security interests in a region increasingly concerned by the rise of China. Chong, for his part, declared that the US and Vietnam had managed to "rise above the past" and become friends.
During his tenure, Chong also developed close relations with the Chinese government and the Communist Party, although the two countries still have unresolved disputes in the South China Sea that sometimes erupt into clashes.
Beijing is Hanoi's leading trading partner and major foreign investor. And in recent years, Vietnam has become a leading destination for supply chain and manufacturing companies leaving China amid trade tensions and geopolitical rivalry between Washington and Beijing.
At the same time, Chong-led Vietnam also maintained relations with Russia and North Korea.
Chong was born in Hanoi on April 14, 1944. His official biography, cited by the VNA, said he came from a “poor peasant family".
In 1967, he received a bachelor's degree in philology from Vietnam National University, according to the government website. He was interested in folk literature from an early age, according to a biography published on the university's website, which also featured one of his first published works, a review of folk poetry from 1967.
In 1983, Chong defended his doctoral thesis at the Department of Party Building of the Academy of Social Sciences of the former Soviet Union. From 1973 to 1976, he was a graduate student in economics and politics at the National Academy of Politics in Ho Chi Minh City.
Thanks to his previous experience as Hanoi Party Secretary and Speaker of the National Assembly, in 2011 Chong was selected as a compromise candidate for the post of General Secretary, said Le Hong Hiep, a former Foreign Ministry official now a senior research fellow. in the Vietnam Studies Program of the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore.
There had been speculation for years that Chong's health had declined. He appeared concerned about assuming the presidency in 2018, pointing out during his acceptance speech to the National Assembly the "alarming" his age and his failing health.
After being re-elected as party boss in 2021, he also said he would prefer to retire because "I am old and not in good health". He was unable to secure his replacement with his preferred candidate during the party reorganization, forcing him to remain as party leader.
Possible successors – the president?
Choosing a leader is a top secret process and analysts expect the top vacancy could spark fierce competition in the politburo and central executive committee.
Lam is in a strong position to become the next party chief after taking over from Chong on an interim basis, but his success is not guaranteed. The former security minister and longtime anti-corruption aide to Chong helped boost Vietnam's ranking on Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index to 83 last year, up from 113 in 2016.
Beginning his career in Vietnam's state police, with the temporary post, To Lam became the highest-ranking official in Vietnam.
The choice of the former minister is not surprising. As noted by the East Asia Forum, the 67-year-old leader has been taking steps to remove his rivals from Vietnam's political landscape for years. Six out of a total of 15 of his colleagues in the Politburo of the Party's Central Committee have been deposed since 2023.
Vietnam's police forces are diligently gathering information on any official who could prevent Lam from rising to the top of the Vietnamese party-state. Apparently, Lam used police records effectively to thwart the aspirations of his rivals.
There remains at least one real contender for the top post in the Communist Party of Vietnam - Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, who has not yet expressed his ambition to be the next general secretary.
The question is whether, having been elevated to the high-profile but relatively innocuous post of president, Lam is still a serious contender for the top post of general secretary of the CPSU. Obviously, much depends on whether Lam can continue to maintain the loyalty of senior officials in the Ministry of Public Security until the 14th Party Congress is convened in January 2026, experts at the forum said.
To Lam's elevation to the post of Secretary-General is still uncertain. However, the removal of his rivals by the state security apparatus - plus his elevation to the state president - put him in a strong position. Nguyen Phu Chong may not yet have an official successor, but there's no denying Lam's ambition.
Human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch warn that the former Minister of Public Security may worsen the situation with regard to human rights in the country.
Just days after becoming minister, To Lam is already ordering actions to intimidate, beat and jail activists. The aim is to cover up Vietnam's worst environmental disaster caused by a toxic waste spill.
In 2018, during his ministerial term, the Cybersecurity Act was introduced. At least three activists were abducted from abroad, from Bangkok and Berlin, and taken to Vietnam. Two of them have already received long sentences.
Measures against human rights defenders and activists in the country are also crushing.
In 2021, To Lam was embroiled in a scandal while Vietnam is in isolation due to COVID-19. A video posted online shows the minister eating a $2,000 steak served to him in London by celebrity chef "Salt Bae". In 2023, noodle seller Bui Tuan Lam was sentenced to 5.5 years in prison for anti-state propaganda after posting a parody of this case on social media.