We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
from VIETNAM
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 June 2019
Three distinct characteristics of Vietnam's development in 2017 were the consolidation of power in the hands of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) and its leadership, politico-administrative reforms, and fashioning a foreign policy to deal with a worsening external environment.
Consolidation of Power
The process of consolidation of power in the hands of the party and its leadership began after the CPV's Twelfth National Party Congress in January 1916. It picked up steam and led to several high-profile trials and a major purge in 2017.
This process included three elements: a campaign against corruption, efforts to rebuild and strengthen the party, and a crackdown on dissidents.
Anti-corruption Campaign
The Twelfth National Party Congress of the CPV resulted in a victory for the party's General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong over Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, and of the party over the state. Immediately after the congress, Trong moved to consolidate his power and that of the party, placing his supporters in the top positions of all the important commissions of the Central Committee, bringing control of the fight against corruption back to the party's Central Committee on Corruption Prevention and Fighting (CCCPF), and renewing the anti-corruption campaign. In 2017, Trong's position was further strengthened by the addition of two of his supporters — head of the Central Department of Internal Affairs Phan Dinh Trac and director of Ho Chi Minh National Institute of Politics Nguyen Xuan Thang — to the party secretariat, and the ousting from the Politburo of Dinh La Thang, a powerful protégé of former prime minister Nguyen Tan Dung.
The anti-graft campaign began with a move against the “biggest case” of economic corruption involving Vietnam Construction Joint Stock Commercial Bank (VNCB), where the bank's CEO Pham Cong Danh and his associates were charged with embezzlement and loss totalling over 401 million dollars.
On 24 January, Ho Chi Minh People's High Court upheld the lower court's 30-year prison sentence given to Pham Cong Danh and the prison sentences of between 19 and 22 years given to three other former executives of the bank.
Investigations of Pham Cong Danh eventually led to two major developments. In April, the party Central Control Commission recommended to the Politburo and the Central Committee to consider disciplinary measures against Dinh La Thang, member of the Politburo and party secretary of Ho Chi Minh City.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.
