Skip to content

Vietnam Succession Battle Heats Up After President’s Ouster

  • Party chief gets another chance to elevate preferred candidate
  • Observers expect little impact on Vietnam’s economic policy
Nguyen Phu Trong
Nguyen Phu TrongPhotographer: Nhac Nguyen/AFP/Getty Images

Over the past few years, Vietnamese Communist Party Chief Nguyen Phu Trong has won praise from investors for removing corrupt officials. Now as some big names fall, it’s becoming clear his campaign serves another purpose: strengthening his hand in choosing a successor. 

This week Nguyen Xuan Phuc was ousted as president after assuming “political responsibility” for the “violations and shortcomings” involving two graft cases related to a manufacturer of Covid-19 test kits and repatriation flights.