To Lam has become the most powerful Vietnamese leader since Ho Chi Minh.
Vietnam’s powerful leader
When Vietnam’s national assembly this week chose Communist Party secretary general To Lam as the country’s president, it did so unanimously with all 495 deputies present backing him for a five-year term. Lam now joins Xi Jinping and Thongloun Sisoulith in the neighbouring communist states of China and Laos in becoming leader of both the party and the state.
The move doesn’t mark a complete departure from Vietnam’s collective leadership model that has traditionally shared power between the party leader, the president, the prime minister and the chair of the national assembly. But it makes it more asymmetrical, giving Lam greater authority to push through administrative and economic reforms aimed at maintaining Vietnam’s high economic growth.
Other Communist party leaders, including Lam himself, have held the post of president for a few months on an interim basis, usually following the death of an incumbent. But the last figure to occupy both posts for an extended period was Ho Chi Minh, the revolutionary father of independence who defeated the United States in the Vietnam War and served as Communist party general secretary and state president from 1951 to 1969.
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A former head of public security, Lam will serve in both positions for a five-year term, which can be renewed. The national assembly this week chose as prime minister Le Minh Hung, a 55-year-old former central banker.
Hung’s father was public security minister, during which time he was Lam’s boss, and two of the new prime minister’s brothers are generals. Addressing lawmakers after his election, Hung said he would pursue sustainable growth policies and do all he can to achieve the party’s annual growth target of 10 per cent every year until 2030.
His challenge has been complicated by the US war in Iran, which has hit Vietnam especially hard because the country imports 80 per cent of its crude oil from Kuwait, and supplies have dried up due to the near-blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Diesel prices have risen by 70 per cent and the price of petrol is up by 50 per cent since February, triggering long queues at filling stations amid panic buying.
The diesel shortage is affecting heavy equipment used for construction, slowing down work on major projects, and the soaring price of jet fuel has put up the cost of air fares, potentially damaging the tourism industry. Domestic oil reserves only cover a month’s worth of consumption so a resumption of the war in Iran could have very serious consequences for Vietnam.
Outgoing prime minister Pham Minh Chinh visited Russia last month and signed an agreement to collaborate in building one of two nuclear power plants Vietnam plans to open within the next decade. He also discussed the potential for increasing imports of oil and gas from Russia and working together to develop oil storage facilities in Vietnam.
In an attempt to ease trade tensions with Washington last year, Vietnam agreed to build expensive liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants that would allow it to import more LNG from the US. But the current volatility in oil and gas prices and the unreliability of supply could prompt Vietnam to rethink the plan and to focus instead on expanding the use of nuclear power and renewable energy.
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