HANOI: Seen as a sharp operator who has modernized Vietnam’s communist party, Nguyen Tan Dung has emerged as the country’s most powerful politician.
Dung, 61, a former central bank governor, has embraced the nation’s business elite, steering Vietnam further towards economic openness without loosening the authoritarian government’s grip on rights and freedoms.
“Nguyen Tan Dung is Vietnam’s first modern politician, in the Asian sense of the term,” said Benoit de Treglode, a Vietnam specialist at Bangkok’s Irasec (Research Institute on Contemporary Southeast Asia).
He sees Dung in the mould of Lee Kuan Yew, who modernized Singapore.
Dung was elected for a second term as prime minister in a symbolic vote by the one-party National Assembly on Tuesday, but his position had already been determined at the ruling communists’ secretive Congress in January.
De Treglode said Dung has succeeded in drawing the country’s new economic elite towards him and has been more able than his predecessors to communicate with the international community.
During his first term, which began in 2006, Vietnam joined the World Trade Organization and intensified economic and trade links with former enemy the United States—in part due to a spike in tensions between Beijing and Vietnam.
But Dung has also presided over a worsening rights record and activists predict the one-party state will try to further tighten its grip on freedoms in the face of worries about Arab Spring-style unrest and economic discontent.
A source in the Communist Party has described Dung as “a very intriguing politician” and the most ambitious leader he has ever known.
Born on November 17, 1949, in the southernmost province of Ca Mau, Dung spent 20 years in the army, mostly during the Vietnam War, according to his official biography.
After leaving the military in 1981 he studied law and political science at the regime’s elite Nguyen Ai Quoc ideological school in Hanoi, and then moved through various party positions in the south.
Dung progressed under the influence of Vo Van Kiet, who is considered the chief architect of Vietnam’s “doi moi” economic liberalization that began in the late 1980s. As prime minister, Kiet had Dung move to Hanoi where he became deputy minister of public security in 1995.
A year later Dung was elected the youngest-ever member of the Politburo.
“He aroused great hope because of his (southern) origin, his relative youth and his relationship with the respected Vo Van Kiet,” recalled Philippe Papin, a historian of Vietnam at l’Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes in Paris.
“Today he is clearly less popular.”
Last year he faced party criticism over his connections to a Chinese-backed bauxite mining project and debt-laden state-run shipping group Vinashin, as well as claims of ineffectiveness in combating widespread corruption.
Dung grappled with an aggressive leadership challenge from longtime rival Truong Tan Sang before the Congress, analysts said, but they believe his political survival shows his skill in negotiating the party system and cements his authority.
He was re-elected to the elite Politburo, backed by support from the influential security and defense force that has ultimately strengthened his position, an Asian diplomat said.
“If you had asked me this in December my answer would have been more tentative,” the diplomat said, asking not to be named.
Dung was further boosted on Saturday when his ally, Nguyen Sinh Hung, was elected chairman of the Assembly that confirmed his appointment.
On Monday the National Assembly elected Dung’s rival Sang to the largely symbolic post of president.
Congress earlier named the third member of the ruling triumvirate as Nguyen Phu Trong, the Party’s General Secretary. Analysts said Trong will not pose a political challenge to Dung.
“The new triumvirate of Sang-Dung-Trong is a political victory for Nguyen Tan Dung”, de Treglode said. “Nguyen Tan Dung doesn’t need anybody.”—AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Dung, 61, a former central bank governor, has embraced the nation’s business elite, steering Vietnam further towards economic openness without loosening the authoritarian government’s grip on rights and freedoms.
“Nguyen Tan Dung is Vietnam’s first modern politician, in the Asian sense of the term,” said Benoit de Treglode, a Vietnam specialist at Bangkok’s Irasec (Research Institute on Contemporary Southeast Asia).
He sees Dung in the mould of Lee Kuan Yew, who modernized Singapore.
Dung was elected for a second term as prime minister in a symbolic vote by the one-party National Assembly on Tuesday, but his position had already been determined at the ruling communists’ secretive Congress in January.
De Treglode said Dung has succeeded in drawing the country’s new economic elite towards him and has been more able than his predecessors to communicate with the international community.
During his first term, which began in 2006, Vietnam joined the World Trade Organization and intensified economic and trade links with former enemy the United States—in part due to a spike in tensions between Beijing and Vietnam.
But Dung has also presided over a worsening rights record and activists predict the one-party state will try to further tighten its grip on freedoms in the face of worries about Arab Spring-style unrest and economic discontent.
A source in the Communist Party has described Dung as “a very intriguing politician” and the most ambitious leader he has ever known.
Born on November 17, 1949, in the southernmost province of Ca Mau, Dung spent 20 years in the army, mostly during the Vietnam War, according to his official biography.
After leaving the military in 1981 he studied law and political science at the regime’s elite Nguyen Ai Quoc ideological school in Hanoi, and then moved through various party positions in the south.
Dung progressed under the influence of Vo Van Kiet, who is considered the chief architect of Vietnam’s “doi moi” economic liberalization that began in the late 1980s. As prime minister, Kiet had Dung move to Hanoi where he became deputy minister of public security in 1995.
A year later Dung was elected the youngest-ever member of the Politburo.
“He aroused great hope because of his (southern) origin, his relative youth and his relationship with the respected Vo Van Kiet,” recalled Philippe Papin, a historian of Vietnam at l’Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes in Paris.
“Today he is clearly less popular.”
Last year he faced party criticism over his connections to a Chinese-backed bauxite mining project and debt-laden state-run shipping group Vinashin, as well as claims of ineffectiveness in combating widespread corruption.
Dung grappled with an aggressive leadership challenge from longtime rival Truong Tan Sang before the Congress, analysts said, but they believe his political survival shows his skill in negotiating the party system and cements his authority.
He was re-elected to the elite Politburo, backed by support from the influential security and defense force that has ultimately strengthened his position, an Asian diplomat said.
“If you had asked me this in December my answer would have been more tentative,” the diplomat said, asking not to be named.
Dung was further boosted on Saturday when his ally, Nguyen Sinh Hung, was elected chairman of the Assembly that confirmed his appointment.
On Monday the National Assembly elected Dung’s rival Sang to the largely symbolic post of president.
Congress earlier named the third member of the ruling triumvirate as Nguyen Phu Trong, the Party’s General Secretary. Analysts said Trong will not pose a political challenge to Dung.
“The new triumvirate of Sang-Dung-Trong is a political victory for Nguyen Tan Dung”, de Treglode said. “Nguyen Tan Dung doesn’t need anybody.”—AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
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