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  • Vietnam in 2013Domestic Contestation and Foreign Policy Success
  • Carlyle A. Thayer (bio)

Vietnam


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Introduction

The year 2013 marked the mid-way point in the tenure of the Vietnam Communist Party (VCP) Central Committee elected at the eleventh national party congress in 2011. During the year the Central Committee began to assert its prerogative as the party’s executive authority between national party congresses. The Central Committee’s new political assertiveness has been at the expense of party Secretary General Nguyen Phu Trong and his supporters in the Politburo. The Central Committee’s assertiveness also strengthened the power and influence of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.

Outside party circles, as events in 2013 illustrated, Prime Minister Dung was widely criticized for his handling of the economy. The Prime Minister and his Cabinet did poorly in the first vote of confidence conducted by the National Assembly.

During the year political activists, bloggers and journalists became more vocal in criticizing corruption and the party’s efforts to entrench further its role as “the force leading state and society” in the state Constitution.1 The state responded to these challenges by stepping up repression against its critics.

In contrast, Vietnam’s external relations went from strength to strength. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung played a high-profile role internationally delivering major addresses to the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore and the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Senior Vietnamese leaders paid visits to all the major powers and Vietnam hosted official visits by government [End Page 355] leaders from Japan, South Korea, China and Russia. Vietnam also forged strategic partnerships with five countries. Vietnam increased the number of strategic partnerships from eight to thirteen.

Domestic Politics

This sub-section reviews major domestic developments under six headings: anti-corruption campaign, seventh Central Committee plenum, National Assembly vote of confidence, eighth Central Committee plenum, political repression, and constitutional amendments and leadership changes.

Anti-Corruption Campaign

In 2011, during his first term in office as prime minister, Nguyen Tan Dung set up the Central Steering Committee for Anti-corruption and appointed himself as chair. The Steering Committee made little progress. Early in his second term, Prime Minister Dung was removed as chair and replaced by party Secretary General Trong. In January 2013, Trong appointed Nguyen Ba Thanh, secretary of the Da Nang municipal party committee, to head the Central Commission on Internal Affairs.2

As head of the Internal Affairs Commission Thanh was given responsibility for leading the national campaign against corruption as well as implementing the new Law on Corruption. According to well-informed sources, Secretary General Trong set up seven working groups to check on high-profile corruption cases.3 Thanh was given powers to consult with a number of bodies including party committees in government ministries, the Central Military Party Committee, and other agencies specifically charged with dealing with corruption, such as the Ministry of Public Security. Thanh reported directly to the Central Steering Committee, a body comprised of representatives from the party’s various factions.

Thanh gained a reputation in Da Nang for being progressive in managing urban development and pioneering the first direct election of the chairman of the municipal people’s committee. In 2000 rumours circulated that Thanh had accepted bribes in connection with several infrastructure construction projects. He was also mentioned in letters of denunciation for accepting kickbacks from urban development schemes. These rumours and allegations found their way into party and government reports but no formal action was taken against him.4 [End Page 356]

Thanh obviously had the support of Secretary General Trong and soon became the target of Prime Minister Dung and his faction. The Government Inspectorate issued a report concluding that Thanh, as chairman of the Da Nang People’s Committee in 2003, should be held accountable for any “land-related wrongdoings”.5 Acting on the report Prime Minister Dung ordered an investigation and authorized making its finding public.

The year ended with several high-profile trials and convictions of officials involved in embezzling funds from the Vietnam National Shipping Lines (Vinalines). In December, Vinalines Chairman Duong Chi Dung was sentenced to death. Dung...

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