The race to fill one of Vietnam’s top four political positions has begun after Nguyen Xuan Phuc became the biggest name yet to fall in an anti-corruption campaign led by conservative ideologues in the Communist Party.
Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong is purging key officials — including some well known to foreign investors — as he touts the need to clean up the party’s image inside Vietnam. Trong has served as the party’s general secretary since 2011, consolidating power along the way in a nation that had traditionally sought to balance various factions.
