Nguyen Phu Trong, general secretary of Vietnam's ruling Communist Party and the country's most powerful politician, has died following months of ill health. He was 80.
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"General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party Nguyen Phu Trong passed away at 13:38 on July 19, 2024, at the 108 Central Military Hospital due to old age and serious illness," the Nhan Dan newspaper said.
Officially, Vietnam has no top leader, but the Communist Party chief is traditionally seen as the most powerful.
Trong had dominated Vietnamese politics since 2011, when he was elected party chief. During his tenure, he worked to consolidate the Communist Party's power in Vietnam's single-party political system. In the decade before he took the top role in Vietnamese politics, the balance of power had shifted more toward the governmental wing led by then-Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.
He viewed corruption as the single gravest threat in maintaining the party's legitimacy.
"A country without discipline would be chaotic and unstable," Trong said in 2016 after being re-elected to the party's helm.
He launched a sweeping anti-corruption campaign known as the 'blazing furnace' that singed both business and political elites. Since 2016, thousands of party officials have been disciplined. They included former presidents Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Vo Van Thuong and the former head of parliament, Vuong Dinh Hue. In all, eight members of the powerful Politburo were ousted on corruption allegations, compared to none between 1986 and 2016.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was "saddened" by Trong's death and called him "a pivotal figure in Vietnam's recent history," UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.
During Trong's tenure as president and Communist Party chief, Guterres said, "Vietnam continued its remarkable development journey to emerge as one of the world's fastest-growing economies and an important partner for the United Nations," the spokesman said.
Trong studied in the Soviet Union from 1981 to 1983, and there was speculation that under his leadership, Vietnam would move closer to Russia and China. However, the Southeast Asian nation followed a pragmatic policy of "bamboo diplomacy," a phrase he coined that referred to the plant's flexibility, bending but not breaking in the shifting headwinds of geopolitics.
Vietnam maintained its traditional ties with its much larger neighbour, China, dispute differences over sovereignty in the South China Sea. But it also drew closer to the United States, elevating its ties with its former Vietnam War foe to its highest diplomatic status, a comprehensive strategic partnership.
Vietanamese President To Lam was appointed the party caretaker while Trong received treatment for his ill health. As Vietnam's top security official, Lam had led the anti-graft campaign until becoming president in May, when his predecessor resigned after being caught up in it.
Trong' death leaves behind a yawning political vacuum in Vietnam. Although Lam is widely viewed as the likely next party chief, Giang predicted "a very uncertain time" in Vietnamese politics because the norms and institutions governing the country are "very shaky."
Australian Associated Press
