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Tuesday, Jul 04, 2006

Opinion

Opinion - News Analysis

Vietnam showcases political stability

P.S. Suryanarayana

The smooth change in leadership reflects the country's recent track record.

THE SOCIALIST Republic of Vietnam has, in recent years, emerged as a key East Asian country to watch. Its growing self-confidence is reflected by the manner in which Hanoi has recently begun to shape the political landscape of the region in this post-Cold War era. Hanoi has already come to terms with the traumatic history of the United States-inflicted Vietnam War.

Equally important is the ongoing process of Vietnam's integration with the international economic system. Hanoi's prospective admission to the World Trade Organisation is being seen as the poster-legend of the times across East Asia.

In another domain of East Asian politics, the U.S., whose diplomacy in this region is almost invariably driven by security calculations, has now begun to engage Vietnam on defence-related confidence-building measures.

In such a panoramic setting, but without any reference to the politics and preferences of the U.S., Vietnam's National Assembly (N.A.), at its meetings in Hanoi in the final week of June, chose a new and younger team of leaders at the highest echelons of state power. The choices prompted even the Vietnam-sceptics among East Asian diplomats to remark that the changes had fully showcased the country's recent track record of political stability.

One provincial delegation of N.A. members, out of those from a total of 64 provinces, did suggest, for the post of state president, a candidate different from the person recommended by the governing Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV). There was, however, no whiff of dissent, and even this apparently alternative suggestion was related to proposal of principle and not any politics of personality.

A Vietnamese official has confirmed, in response to a question from this correspondent, that the latest leadership changes do not mark any shift from the present political system. The CPV, currently headed by secretary general Nong Duc Manh, retains primacy as the driving force in the country's politics.

As a political nicety, it was Mr. Manh's name that was proposed for state President by a solitary provincial delegation of N.A. members. However, from the beginning of the latest political exercise in Hanoi, Mr. Manh was not agreeable to any such move.

Nonetheless, the argument advanced on his behalf was that the CPV chief should also hold the President's post for the harmonisation of policies at all key levels. Although it is not clear whether the live example of China was cited by these N.A. deputies in Hanoi in this regard, some Vietnamese parliamentarians are understood to have proposed that the same person should hold the dual posts of CPV secretary general and state President in the future.

Soon after being elected on June 27, the new President, Nguyen Minh Triet, until recently secretary of the CPV's Ho Chi Minh City Committee, identified the nation's priorities as follows: efficiently resolving socio-economic issues, strengthening national defence and security, expanding foreign relations, and actively participating in international integration. Administrative reform would be essential to attaining these objectives, he said.

The presidential poll was preceded, on June 26, by the election of Nguyen Phu Trong, secretary of the CPV's Hanoi Committee, as the new N.A. Chairman.

Dramatic change

The election of Nguyen Tan Dung as the new Prime Minister marks the most dramatic transfer of mantle to a younger leader. Mr. Dung, born in 1949, has taken over the reins from the 73-year-old Phan Van Khai, who stepped down more than a year before the end of his second term as Prime Minister. Mr. Khai can proudly look back on his tenure. After having piloted Vietnam through the recent Asian financial crisis, he also charted the course of talks with global players on Hanoi's entry into the WTO, expected later this year.

Mr. Dung is no novice, though. Having held top political positions in the military establishment and also overseen defence-related personnel matters at some stage, he brings to his new post rich experience of managing not only security issues but also economic affairs.

As the CPV's choice, Mr. Dung received over 92 per cent of the N.A. vote on June 27. With this, he became Vietnam's youngest Prime Minister in two decades.

The challenges before the new leaders include the fight against corruption, widely rated by the party and government as a top priority, and the task of integrating Vietnam with a politically fractured and economically volatile international system.

External experts such as Michael Leifer and Michael Montesano have, at different times, identified Vietnam's positives as the programme of `Doi Moi' (economic renovation), updated in recent years, and the National Assembly's "rising profile" as a questioning player.

The new team at the helm in Hanoi may have to look beyond these positive factors and display leadership qualities in political harmony with the CPV, which retains primacy.

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