Rumors about the life of incumbent General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong spread rapidly everywhere since yesterday afternoon. The public also speculates about Mr. Trong’s replacement as General Secretary.
Due to lack of information, some people base their guesses on astrology, while the rest mostly rely on the list of Politburo members who have participated in the body in a full term or more.
The Communist Party of Vietnam also has regulations on “special cases” decided by the Central Committee from 2020, that is, when Trong was General Secretary, to which he was applied first.
The catchphrase of many people every time the country changes leadership is: “What’s the big deal? It’s the same for everyone who comes up!”
Nguyen Phu Trong, Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam.
What do potential candidates say?
Whoever replaces Trong, the Communist Party of Vietnam will still comprehensively and absolutely lead the state and society, still using Marxism, Leninism and Ho Chi Minh’s ideology as the ideological foundation.
Taking the oath of office as State President, Vo Van Thuong stated: “Consistently, apply and creatively develop Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh’s ideology; steadfast in the goal of national independence and socialism, steadfast in the Party’s reform policy…”
Vuong Dinh Hue’s oath of office read: “Under the leadership of the Party, the National Assembly of Vietnam always affirms to be the place where intelligence, bravery, and strength of great national unity are gathered, expressing the will and aspirations of voters, at every stage of the revolution, always accompany the nation, always fulfilling their mission and responsibilities.”
Pham Minh Chinh’s oath of office emphasized: “The Government and the Prime Minister always comply with the leadership and direction of the Central Committee, and often and directly the Politburo and the Secretariat and of Comrade General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.”
Recently, on January 10, during a reception given to a Chinese deputy minister of public security, Minister of Public Security To Lam proposed that the two sides be consistent in thoroughly grasping and seriously implementing high-level common awareness; strengthen exchanges on theoretical and practical issues related to socialism, the ruling Party, the mechanism of Party leadership and State management; anti-corruption; experience in resolving social conflicts, thereby absolutely protecting the ruling position of the Communist Party and the socialist regime.
Also mentioning lofty goals such as rich people, strong country, building a rule of law, national independence… but readers can easily see that the Communist Party holds the most important and consistent position in the statements.
Emotions of the people
Returning to rumors about Mr. Trong’s health, this content is still being published, commented on and shared endlessly.
Blogger Bui Thanh Hieu summarized on his page this morning: “After two hours, more than 5 thousand people expressed their emotions. Among them, about 3,500 people liked, about 1,500 people dropped smiley faces, more than 120 people were angry, and only 8 people dropped tears.”
Thuy Nguyen commented: “It’s true that he is a person who dares to do it, but if he dares to announce the end of a regime, then that is worthy of respect.”
Do Thuc Quyen wrote: “As for the one-party totalitarian party, everyone who comes up wants to gather power under one umbrella. Absolute power produces many consequences and absolute corruption. What needs to change is this institution. Chong is famous for saying to prioritize protecting the party..”
Blogger Hai Le wrote: “After the battle of Portrait of Power and Quan Lam Bao (Officials making reporters) many years ago, the public has not seen such a spectacular fight for a long time. There is nothing interesting in the domestic political scene other than clips of Mr. Lam eating gold-plated beef, or clips of Mr. Chinh swearing, or news of old officials being arrested.”
If there is no official information confirming or denying, this rumor will probably get even hotter in the coming days.Regardless of the truth about Mr. Trong’s life, the question of who will replace him will still be raised. And the answer could still be: “It doesn’t matter!”
