Vietnam renews leadership amid increased repression

From January 26 to February 2, 2021, the Vietnamese Communist Party Congress is due to renew leadership and set political direction in the next five years.

AP - Hau Dinh

Text by: RFI Follow

4 min

The Congress of the Vietnamese Communist Party opens this Monday, January 25 in Hanoi, an opportunity for the country to renew its leaders and define its main orientations for the next five years, against a background of increased repression of the opposition and tensions with Washington and Beijing.

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Gathered until February 2 under the great portraits of Ho Chi Minh, Marx and Lenin, 1,600 delegates will choose the General Secretary of the Vietnamese Communist Party (PCV), the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister and the President of the National Assembly, the four pillars of the regime.

Everything is in principle concluded upstream of this five-year high mass, but in this country where the media are entirely controlled by the PCV in power since the end of the Vietnam war in 1975, the general public does not have access to the negotiations. .

Analysts are banking on continuity, unlike the last congress in 2016, which saw the old guard and the reformers clash.

Management of the pandemic welcomed 

Nguyen Phu Trong, 76, a pro-Beijing conservative, could serve a third term as PCV secretary general and continue his anti-corruption campaign that has allowed him to clean up the ranks of the party, the army and of the police.

Nguyen Phu Trong would on the other hand give up the post of President of the Republic in favor of the current Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, 66, hailed for his management of the coronavirus pandemic and his economic record.

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Read also: Coronavirus: how Vietnam managed to contain the epidemic

Doubling of political prisoners

In the months leading up to the great masses of the Communist Party, the authorities used to intensify their repression.

This thirteenth congress is no exception to the rule.

In early January, three journalists were sentenced to 11 to 15 years in prison for criticizing the regime.

In the end, the number of political prisoners has doubled since 2016, from 84 to 170, according to Amnesty International. 

 To read also: Vietnam: the criticized imprisonment of 3 journalists in the run-up to the Party Congress

Economic performance

The economic outlook will be at the heart of the Congress debates.

The country recorded growth of 2.9% in 2020, the lowest in two decades.

But this performance remains very solid in the face of a global economy in full recession with the coronavirus crisis.

Mass quarantines, large-scale contact tracing and strict movement controls have enabled Vietnam to control the pandemic - fewer than 1,600 cases and 35 recorded deaths - and more often than not to keep its factories open.

The country has also profited from the trade war between the United States and China, which has reoriented world trade, and is emerging as a major technological hub.

International tensions

It remains to balance its relations with Beijing and Washington, against a backdrop of tensions with the two great powers.

The United States recently accused Vietnam of deliberately devaluing its currency against the dollar to gain unfair trade advantage.

Washington has not issued any sanctions yet and the Biden administration will have to decide.

At the same time, Vietnam remains heavily dependent on China, the largest source of materials and equipment for its thriving manufacturing industry.

But disagreements are numerous on the South China Sea, Beijing accentuating its claims on this strategic area by deploying warships and installing outposts there, to the chagrin of Hanoi which claims part of it.

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To read: The "small" neighbors of the "great" maritime China

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