Vietnam’s Congress ends with focus on growth, graft fight and managing US-China ties
- With his ‘unprecedented’ third term in office, analysts say Communist Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong has effectively neutered his political opponents
- But a question mark hangs over the 76-year-old’s health, as Vietnam faces an uncertain future amid regional rivalries and a fresh Covid-19 outbreak
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Nguyen Phu Trong admits he is ‘not in good health’ after winning Vietnam’s party chief election
Among other things, delegates at the party Congress also approved a five-year economic blueprint that calls for private companies to account for more than half of the economy by 2025, from 42 per cent now, and to almost double per-capita gross domestic product to between US$4,700 and US$5,000 by 2025, from US$2,750 at the end of 2020 and US$1,331 in 2010.
“We have taken back millions of US dollars,” Trong told reporters at a press conference following the event. “We will persevere with the fight against corruption.”
During his second term in office, Trong presided over a crackdown known as the “blazing furnace” campaign that saw multiple high-ranking officials handed lengthy jail terms, and two members of the Politburo expelled from the party for corruption. One is now in prison.
