In with the old - to lead Vietnam's new battle

THE recent re-election in Vietnam of a veteran leader spearheading the so-called "blazing furnace" anti-corruption reforms, Nguyen Phu Trong, as the chief of the country's ruling Communist Party signals much-needed continuity rather than radical change. It also reflects a preference for experience over raw youth, especially because the economy has been roiled by the pandemic.

Above all, it marks a reassertion of the supremacy of the party, ensuring that it stays first among equals within the country's "collective leadership" model whose "four pillars" (or tu tru) consist of the party (under a general secretary), the government (under a prime minister), the National Assembly (under its chairman), and the largely ceremonial state president.

Mr Trong's re-election - for a third term - as the general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) at the party's 13th National Congress on Jan 31 marked an act of rare political longevity in the recent history of the country for the 76-year-old pro-China conservative who is believed to be in poor health.

In giving Mr Trong an age waiver, the party departed from its credo of political renewal where leaders do not serve beyond the age 65, and no single leader gets to hold power for an extended period of time as Vietnam carefully avoids the creation of a personality cult. But Mr Trong has become the only general secretary to serve a third term since the Doi Moi economic reforms began in 1986. Since then, the only person to have served two terms as general secretary was Nong Duc Manh (2001-2011).

In the party's history, there is a precedent for long tenures. At the height of the Vietnam War, the revolutionary leader Le Duan served a lengthy period because his leadership was required in the liberation struggle against both the United States military and the forces of South Vietnam. He was the First Secretary of the Vietnam Workers' Party or VWP (precursor to the CPV) from 1960-1976. After the party was restructured in 1976, Le Duan's position was known as general secretary which he held till his death in 1986.

The leader to have served the longest remains Ho Chi Minh, who was chairman of the VWP from 1951 to 1969. The Party has left the position of chairman vacant ever since in respect for Ho Chi Minh's contribution to national liberation.

Mr Trong's third term is expected to see a continuation of his "blazing furnace" anti-graft wave that has swept through the ranks of the party, the police and the military. The image of a fiery furnace has won the support of the people and many party officials. In a sense, Mr Trong is viewed as someone who is preserving the traditional high standards of governance that had existed in revolutionary leaders such as Ho Chi Minh, Le Duan, and the military general Vo Nguyen Giap.

It was widely expected that the CPV's policymaking body, the Politburo, would see an injection of younger blood and more vigorous leadership. But the newly elected 13th Politburo (with 18 members) has an average age of 63, making it older than the 12th Politburo which had 19 members with a younger median age.

The composition of the new 13th Politburo is different from the 12th. As many as 13 of its 18 members are party officials, whereas in the 12th Politburo just eight of the 19 represented the party. The government is thinly represented in the new Politburo, through five ministers and the chief justice of the Supreme Court. The number of women also came down from three to one.

The party allowed two exceptions to its age rule, permitting Mr Trong (76), and Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (66), to remain on the Politburo. But Mr Phuc may have to leave his position as he is expected to become the state president, which is a ceremonial position and lacking in executive authority that he exercised as prime minister.

GROOMED WITHIN THE PARTY

Mr Phuc and Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam (age 58) played a decisive role in implementing an effective strategy to combat the pandemic and to spark a quick economic recovery. Part of their plan was to leverage Vietnam's geographic location, skilled workers, and stable polity to position the country as an alternate supply chain to China. Owing to their effort to modernise the economy, the duo have seen their popularity grow inside and outside the party.

While technocrats were the flavour of 2020, the new Politburo will operate under the authority of the party. A snapshot of General Secretary Trong's life and career gives an insight into his overall approach as he was weaned and groomed within the party system.

Born in Hanoi into a poor peasant family during French colonial rule, he joined the party as a student. After studying philology at the University of Hanoi, he got his doctoral degree in politics, majoring in party-building, and then worked as a professor. His official resume says that he holds "high level" qualification in political theory.

He spent about two decades at the party's Communist Review magazine, working at its document department from December 1967 to July 1968. He was an editor of the magazine's party-building department between July 1968 and August 1973. He then took a post-graduate course at the Nguyen Ai Quoc Party School on politics and economics from August 1973 to April 1976. From May 1976 to August 1980, he was on the editorial staff of the party-building department of Communist Review, and a deputy secretary of the party cell.

He entered the national political mainstream in January 1994 with his election as a member of the CPV's Central Committee and was re-elected in June 1996. He rapidly ascended the hierarchical ladder within the party where he worked in various influential positions.

In his long-running political career he has served six consecutive tenures in the Politburo. He was also a four-time deputy to the National Assembly. And now, he is a three-time party general secretary.

While Le Duan served 26 years as a wartime and postwar party chief, Mr Trong has already worked for 10 years as a peacetime leader, and his election to a third term indicates that the ruling party views the current pandemic and economic turmoil as a crisis no less than war.

• The writer is the editor-in-chief of the Rising Asia Journal.