- Vietnam’s National Assembly has approved the country’s top security official, To Lam, as the new president.
- Vietnam’s presidency is largely ceremonial, but experts say this new role positions Lam to become the next general secretary of the Communist Party, the country’s most important political position. .
- Lam oversaw police and intelligence operations at a time when Vietnam’s secret services were accused of violating international law.
Vietnam’s top security official, Tho Lam, was confirmed Wednesday as the country’s new president. He oversaw police and intelligence operations at a time when human rights groups said fundamental freedoms were being systematically suppressed and Vietnam’s intelligence services were accused of violating international law. was.
Lam was confirmed by Vietnam’s parliament after his predecessor resigned amid an anti-corruption campaign that has shaken Vietnam’s political and business elites and led to several changes at the top levels of government.
Vietnam’s presidency is largely ceremonial, but his new role as head of state gives the 66-year-old a “very powerful position” to become the next Communist Party general secretary, the country’s most important political position. “position,” Nguyen Khak Giang said. , an analyst at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore.
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Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong was elected for a third term in 2021, but as he is 80 years old, he may not seek re-election after 2026.
Mr. Trong is an ideologue who sees corruption as the gravest threat facing the party, and Ms. Lam has led Mr. Trong’s sweeping anti-corruption campaign as Vietnam’s top security official.
Following Mr. Lam’s approval as president, Deputy Minister of Public Security Tran Quoc To was appointed as Mr. Lam’s replacement at the ministry on an interim basis.
Mr. Lam will take the oath of office after being elected president at the National Assembly in Hanoi, Vietnam, on May 22, 2024. (Pham Trung Kien/VNA, via AP)
Lam worked at the Ministry of Public Security for more than 40 years before becoming minister in 2016. His rise comes amid a growing anti-corruption movement and as Vietnam’s Politburo loses six of its 18 members, including two former presidents and the speaker of Vietnam’s parliament. There is.
Zhang said Lam was involved in many investigations into big-time politicians.
Mr. Giang said Prime Minister Pham Minh Trinh is seen as another possible candidate to succeed Mr. Trong.
The current vice-president of Vietnam’s National Assembly was approved by the National Assembly speaker on Monday, following the resignation of his predecessor, Vuong Dinh Hue, amid an anti-corruption campaign. Mr. Hue was also widely seen as a possible successor to Mr. Trong until his resignation.
This unprecedented instability in Vietnam’s political system has spooked investors as the country seeks to position itself as an alternative for companies looking to relocate their supply chains from China.
Rather than join the “Four Asian Tigers” of Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan, which have experienced rapid industrialization and recorded high economic growth rates due to a surge in foreign investment, especially in the manufacturing sector of high-tech products such as smartphones and computers. Expectations were high.
But scandals and uncertainty, including a death sentence for a real estate mogul accused of embezzling nearly 3% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2022, have contributed to uncertainty and bureaucratic reluctance to make decisions. Brought. Due to the slowdown in exports, the economic growth rate fell from 8% last year to 5.1% in 2022.
During Lam’s years at the helm of the Ministry of Public Security, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and other watchdog groups have strongly criticised harassment and intimidation of Vietnam’s critics.
According to Human Rights Watch, in 2021, courts convicted at least 32 people and sentenced them to multi-year prison terms for posting opinions critical of the government, while police charged them with trumped-up charges. At least 26 people were arrested.
Under the watch of Mr. Tam, Vietnam’s top security officer, civil society faces further restraints, foreign aid restrictions introduced in 2021 will be tightened in 2023, and the country will jail climate change activists and Laws have been introduced to censor social media, said Ben Swanton of the 88 Project. An organization that protects freedom of expression in Vietnam.
“With Tho Lam becoming president, Vietnam has literally become a police state,” Swanton said, adding that Vietnam’s ruling Politburo is controlled by current and former security officials. He said further repression and censorship is expected.
In 2021, while Vietnam was under lockdown due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Turkish chef Nusret Gökçe, commonly known as Salt Be, showered Tam with money in London. A video of him being fed steak was released. Despite censorship efforts, the video went viral, sparking widespread anger among people enduring viral lockdowns that have exacerbated economic poverty.
Meanwhile, Bui Tuan Lam, a Vietnamese noodle shop owner who ran a parody of Salt Bae following the video, was arrested and sentenced to five years in prison for spreading anti-state propaganda.
“In 2017, when Lam was minister of public security, German authorities said Vietnamese businessman and former politician Trinh Xuan Thanh and his companions were abducted and dragged into a van in downtown Berlin, a violation of German and international law.”
Vietnam claims Mr Thanh surrendered to Vietnamese authorities after nearly a year of evading an international arrest warrant. Germany responded by announcing that he and his companions had been kidnapped, summoning the Vietnamese ambassador for talks, and expelling the intelligence attaché.
Thanh was tried in Vietnam and sentenced to life in prison in 2018.
Germany’s federal prosecutor’s office said it would indict men allegedly involved in Thanh’s abduction on espionage-related charges in 2022, describing the kidnapping as a “Vietnamese secret service operation” carried out by Vietnamese agents and embassy staff in Berlin, among several Vietnamese living in Europe.
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The suspect, identified only as Anne TL under German privacy laws, was convicted in 2023 of aiding and abetting kidnapping as a foreign agent and sentenced to five years in prison.
“German-Vietnamese relations are shaken to this day by this crime,” a German court said at the time.
Another suspect, identified as Long NH, was convicted of espionage-related charges by a Berlin court in 2018 and sentenced to nearly four years in prison.
