Vietnam’s National Assembly will hold an extraordinary meeting this week to elect Vo Van Thuong as president, international media cited officials and diplomats as saying on February 27.
Many officials and diplomats say Mr. Vo Van Thuong, 52, currently the youngest member of the Politburo, will be the new state president, a position largely ceremonial.
Thuong’s appointment comes as the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam is determined to carry out an anti-corruption campaign dubbed the “burning furnace” under which hundreds of officials are investigated and many key figures are dismissed, including two Deputy Prime Ministers Pham Binh Minh and Vu Duc Dam.
Thuong is considered close to Vietnam’s most powerful figure, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, who leads the anti-corruption campaign.
A Vietnamese official told international media the extraordinary session of the National Assembly would follow the Party’s decision, expected in the first half of this week, to elect a new president.
Another source told foreign media the extraordinary session would begin on Wednesday (March 1). Another source told VOA that the Party Central Committee will also hold a conference on the morning of March 1.
Vietnam’s National Assembly and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which is responsible for communications on behalf of the government, did not immediately respond to foreign media’ requests for comment.
Observers say that Mr. Thuong is the most suitable person to hold the position of the state president at this time.
Mr. Quang Huu Minh in Ho Chi Minh City, an observer of Vietnam’s political situation, shared his comments with VOA:
“Mr. Vo Van Thuong has experienced many local leadership positions such as Standing Deputy Secretary of the Saigon City Party Committee, Secretary of the Quang Ngai Provincial Party Committee.”
“Mr. Thuong is currently deputy head of the Central Committee for anti-corruption, in the past time has had a lot of merit with Mr. Nguyen Phu Trong in the ‘burning furnace’ case, and not to mention Mr. Thuong was able to unite the factions in the Party.”
“Mr. Thuong is from the south, this is also reasonable to balance the regionality in the Party, which has recently been forgotten.”
Professor Carl Thayer, an expert on Vietnamese diplomacy at the Australian Defense Force Academy in Canberra, acknowledged on February 25 in a news release that Mr. Thuong was relatively new to foreign affairs, and did not expect that he would have initiatives to promote any innovation in Vietnam’s foreign policy. Professor Thayer noted that last year Thuong accompanied Trong on a trip to Beijing to meet President Xi Jinping.
Last month, President Nguyen Xuan Phuc unexpectedly resigned after the ruling Communist Party blamed him for the “violations and wrongdoings” of officials under him. Ms. Vo Thi Anh Xuan, vice president of the country, is holding the position of acting president.
Observers say that Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang, who has just taken over from Pham Binh Minh, will be appointed a member of the Politburo, holding the position of Permanent Deputy Prime Minister. This information was written on Twitter by Mr. Alexander Vuving, professor at the Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies in Honolulu, Hawai.
Vietnamese media on February 27 reported that Tran Luu Quang was on his way to attend and deliver a speech at the high-level session of the 52nd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UN) in Geneva, Switzerland. It is known that this is the first foreign trip of Mr. Quang in his new position.
When Mr. Thuong assumes the position of State President, Mr. Phan Dinh Trac, head of the Central Committee of Internal Affairs and Deputy Head of the Central Committee for Anti-Corruption, will replace Mr. Thuong as the Permanent Secretary of the Secretariat, according Mr. Vuving.
Thoibao.de (Translated)
