Currently, the conflict between General Secretary To Lam and State President Luong Cuong has become the focus of the power struggle within the senior leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam. This is a battle between two factions following conservative and reformist trends within the Party.
Right from the time General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong showed signs of declining health due to age, Minister of Public Security To Lam borrowed his name under the guise of fighting corruption with “no forbidden zones” to mercilessly execute senior leaders. Those were the characters chosen by Trong.
This is the main reason leading to the situation of forming policical fractions and leading to the disintegration of comradeship as well as solidarity within the Party.
After the health of late General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong showed signs of decline but he had not died, with the strength of his faction and his own cunning, State President To Lam, in the name of the Party, gave himself the right to assume the role of acting leader of the Party and the State.
This is completely contrary to the regulations of the Communist Party of Vietnam. According to the Party’s regulations, when the position of General Secretary is vacant, the Standing Secretariat will temporarily replace him, to preside over and direct the work of the Central Committee, until the nearest plenum elects a new General Secretary.
Accordingly, the Standing Secretariat Luong Cuong would be the acting replacement, not State President To Lam. This is the reason why, during the State Funeral of General Secretary Trong, people saw the parallel existence of two different funeral organizing agencies.
The discord between Luong Cuong and To Lam quickly formed and developed. Meanwhile, To Lam defied everything to seize absolute power in the Party. Within just 172 days after Mr. Trong passed away, on August 3, General To Lam held the two top positions General Secretary and State President.
This angered a number of military generals and a large number of senior leaders in the Party. However, General Secretary To Lam had to accept giving up the position of State President to General Luong Cuong on October 21.
Analysts have compared the strengths and weaknesses between State President Luong Cuong and General Secretary To Lam, as well as the combined strength of each faction, which can be analyzed as follows:
Luong Cuong has extensive experience in the military. Before being elected as State President, he visited China, which shows that he is highly likely to be supported by Beijing leaders. However, his weakness is that his political experience in the field of state management is not extensive. The incident during his visit to Chile, in which an official in his delegation was accused of “sexual abuse” is the clearest evidence, affecting the image of the country.
General Secretary To Lam has strong points in terms of political and security experience. General To Lam is considered a politician with extensive experience in this field. However, Lam’s greatest weakness is his ambition for power. General Secretary To Lam has the ambition to unify power, similar to China’s political model.
This is against the tradition of the Communist Party of Vietnam and is also something that China never wanted. Moreover, General Secretary To Lam is said to have a very thin “leadership profile” so he still has to rely on former Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.
This is considered one of the “fatal” weaknesses that could push Lam into a state of “failure of reputation.”
Tra My – Thoibao.de
