Nguyễn Phú Trọng, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam and perhaps the most powerful and influential leader of Vietnam since Hồ Chí Minh, died at age 80, leaving what is potentially a very hotly contested succession struggle in the wake of his death, with the next Party Congress not until 2026.
Trong had accumulated a level of personal power in Vietnam not seen since Minh’s day. Since Minh’s death, power has traditionally been roughly split between the General Secretary, the President, the Prime Minister and the Speaker of the National Assembly. But as with Xi Jinping in China, Trong had managed to accumulate a large amount of power in his own hands, even holding the Presidency simultaneously with holding the post of General Secretary for periods of time.
It will be interesting to see if any of the potential successors can maintain that level of power.
Of course, the outcome is of the utmost interest to the United States, as Vietnam is now a critical alternative to China as a civilian market as well as part of a counterbalance against China. The United States should play it cool during the succession battle, but should strive to maintain good relations with the eventual leader.
It’s never too late to change. We ain’t gotta make the same sins guys like Ike and Kennedy made in Southeast Asia.
We could try just treating them as equal partners and trading fairly with them for both goods and cultural exchange. Like what Washington tried to teach us in his closing address.
What we should do is tell viet nam, and every other country in the world that the U.S. supports freedoms for everyone no matter where they live.
We’ve had enough of broken countries based on failed ideologies, and we’ll work with and support any peaceful nation that stands up for the rights of all of its’ citizens.
Vietnam does pretty well for itself, after it threw off the hardline communists in 1986. Still a dictatorship, still officially socialist, but they have managed to allow a fairly decent market to develop, even if they still have a ways to go. Most importantly, the country is STABLE, unlike so many places in the world.
I was thinking along the lines of too late for the 58,281 men we lost and the countless wounded, as well as our national treasure wasted, money that can never be got back. Not to mention the many millions of Vietnamese dead and the devastation of their country.
All for nothing.
If we had minded our own business, Vietnam would have the exact same form of government it has today.
All we accomplished was to bleed men and treasure.
Wouldn’t it be best way to honor their memory by developing a positive relationship with the nation our government decided to force them to fight for no real reason?
We don’t even have to go that strict with it. So long as you are peaceful to us we will be peaceful to you and be friendly. That’s what Washington was talking about.
Should have let the Germans and French keep beating each other for another year. Had the war ended in 1919 it’s likely a more fair peace would have emerged out of that nightmare and WWII could have most likely been avoided.
