To Lam – who was once used by late General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong to consolidate power, and successfully used the same strategy to seize the position of the party’s chief.
Former police general Lam pretended to be absolutely loyal to Trong, to have time to build his own forces, and wait for the opportunity to act.
When Trong was alive, he had no intention of passing the throne to Lam but chose someone else. Vuong Dinh Hue was the number 1 priority, and Vo Van Thuong was the number 2 priority. Perhaps, Trong thought that Lam was a military mandarin, not a civil mandarin – good at socialist theory like Thuong or Hue, or he considered Lam to be someone who could be easily exploited. If Trong thought that Lam was someone who could be easily exploited, then he was very wrong. Because the former police chief himself took advantage of him much more effectively than the former party chief took advantage of Lam.
After many years under Trong’s leadership, Lam has also learned the formula for success. He can even learn from Trong’s shortcomings. Trong stood firmly on the throne, thanks to the formula “Four pillars + Ministry of Public Security.” Now, Lam also uses the same formula. He even has the ambition to firmly control the army, with the intention of supporting Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien to run for Defense Minister in the next term.
Taking over the Defense Ministry is a good idea, but not easy to implement. Because currently, General Phan Van Giang is the strongest force in the ministry, followed by the force of Luong Cuong. Chien’s position is quite obscure, not strong enough to compete with the above two figures.
Near the end of his life, Trong’s formula for power was broken. The Ministry of Public Security rebelled, overthrowing his two subordinates to monopolize his successor position. The Secretariat, which is considered the “home ground” of Trong, is fragile. Lam easily defeated Standing Secretary of the Secretariat Truong Thi Mai, forcing Trong to hastily bring Cuong back to guard it.
Currently, Lam is bringing former police general Nguyen Duy Ngoc into the Secretariat. Internal information shows that Lam’s intention is to promote Ngoc to the position of Standing Secretary of the Secretariat, succeeding Cuong, once Cuong becomes State President. The ultimate goal is to arrange for Ngoc to enter the Politburo, no later than 2026.
In addition, the Nghe An-Ha Tinh group is also making efforts to bring their own people into the position of Standing Secretary of the Secretariat, after Cuong leaves.
Currently, in the Secretariat, there are still Politburo members of the Public Security origin, especially Phan Dinh Trac. This is a very unpredictable character, and is considered “difficult to control” for Lam. It is also possible that Trac of the Nghe An-Ha Tinh group will become the Standing Member of the Secretariat.
Lam has succeeded in bringing Gen. Ngoc into the Secretariat, the next step is to structure the Standing Member of this Secretariat, which is the way Lam wants to politicize the Secretariat. At the highest position – General Secretary, is held by a Police General; lower – the Standing Member of the Secretariat is considered the Deputy General Secretary, held by Ngoc. At that time, in the Secretariat, the Hung Yen group can use 2 police generals to fight former police colonel Trac. This is considered a solution to use the Police to control the Police in the Secretariat.
“Insiders” assess that Gen. Ngoc is very brutal, a fierce general, who does not hesitate before any inhumane and illegal actions, as long as it brings the best results for his master. A typical example is the case of his former boss Nguyen Duc Chung who is serving a lengthy imprisonment.Therefore, if Trac still wants to hold on to the Secretariat in the next term, he should be careful with dangerous Ngoc. And it is even more dangerous when Ngoc is protected by Lam.
The arrest of Nguyen Van Yen to remove Trac seems to be an ineffective solution of Lam. Removing Trac is much harder than that of former legislative chief Hue. Perhaps, Lam is also considering the move of “small tolerance” by accepting that Trac will stay in the Secretariat but with limited power.
Thai Ha – Thoibao.de
