It is common for Vietnamese leaders to rely on China to hold and maintain power. A typical case is the case of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, who rose to power, from weaker power to former Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung during his first term as General Secretary of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam.
General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong had to shed tears at the 6th Plenum of the 11th Central Committee, in October 2012, when he could not discipline Comrade X, as Mr. Truong Tan Sang called then PM Dung.
But only a short time later, Trong, with China’s support, defeated Dung in the race for the position of General Secretary at the 12th Party National Congress (January 2016). At that time, Nguyen Phu Trong defeated Dung because of his bold move, deciding to rely entirely on China to maintain sole power as seen since his second term as General Secretary, from 2016 to present.
On December 25, 2015, before the opening day of the 14th Plenum of the 11th term, the last Central Committee’s meeting to finalize the personnel issue for the position of General Secretary, Trong decided to appoint Nguyen Sinh Hung, then Chairman of the National Assembly, secretly went to China to meet with the leaders of the Communist Party of China to report on the situation, with the fact that Trong could hardly beat Ba Dung in the race for the General Secretary position.
Immediately afterward, the National People’s Congress – the Chinese National Assembly – urgently issued a Resolution allowing the Chinese People’s Liberation Army to send troops abroad to protect the achievements of Socialism. At that time, PM Dung realized that General Secretary Trong relied on foreign countries to play “close game” with him, so the government leader accepted defeat, decided to withdraw his name from the candidate list, and retire.
That is why, Trong – a person who is said to have been “lucky” to sit in the position of General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam at the 11th Party Congress in 2011 – held and consolidated the position of General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam at the 11th Party Congress in 2011. In fact, the capacity and talent of this former Chairman of the National Assembly and former Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee are nothing short of outstanding.
Since the 12th Congress, General Secretary Trong emerged and became a leader with absolute power, holding the power of life and death in the Party. It can be said without exaggeration that if Trong lets anyone live, that person will live and forced anyone to die, that person will die, and was not allowed to be injured.
General Secretary Trong’s lesson of relying on China to hold absolute power attracted General and Minister of Public Security To Lam. According to observers, recently, the police chief has shown more signs of being closer to China than usual. Not only that, just one day after US President Joe Biden’s visit to Vietnam in mid-September ended, To Lam was seen in Beijing. On that trip, Lam was faster than Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, who also visited China a few days later.
On social networks, there is talk about the Ministry of Public Security handling the issue of energy security, right after the Security Investigation Agency decided to prosecute and detain 5 officials of the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Electricity Vietnam (EVN).
Activist Nguyen Anh Tuan, in a status titled “Two Arrows,” commented that: “The arrest of environmental activists coincidentally serves Beijing’s interests.”
The Ministry of Public Security arrested Ms. Ngo Thi To Nhien, who was considered an expert, not an environmental activist, and did not appear to be related to the arrest of five leaders of environmental protection NGOs before. This is an issue related to energy security, and deciding whether Vietnam will choose China or the US.
Specifically, the US and the West want to support Vietnam to ensure energy security towards a faster transition to clean energy. Meanwhile, China has been a supplier of coal-fired power plants for decades in Vietnam, with scandalous environmental records.
For China, the Ministry of Public Security’s increased arrest of environmental activists is beneficial to them. In the energy sector, this has pushed Hanoi closer to Beijing.
If the Ministry of Public Security openly sabotaged Vietnam-US relations, it would be easy to criticize, but they chose a more discreet way of arresting human rights and environmental activists, while also being known to protect the regime, is also the best way to prevent Vietnam from getting closer to the US.
At the upcoming 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam in early 2026, the Beijing leadership is expected to favor and give To Lam the position of General Secretary, even if this makes the incumbent General Secretary unhappy.
Thoibao.de (Translated)
