Vietnam ‘following Xi’s playbook’ as president resigns

VIETNAM’S president has resigned amid a reshuffle of the ruling Communist Party as its leader consolidates power through an anti-corruption purge.

The party’s central committee yesterday approved a request from Nguyen Xuan Phuc to step down as president – a largely ceremonial position – after he was blamed for “violations and wrongdoing” by officials previously under his control. He has also been ousted from the party’s central committee and politburo. It makes the 68-year-old, who was Vietnam’s prime minister between 2016 and 2021, the highest-ranking official to be targeted in an anti-corruption drive led by Nguyen Phu Trong, the prime minister.

Analysts have said the “shocking” move represents the “Xi-isation of Vietnam”. Bill Hayton, an associate fellow on the Asia-pacific Programme at Chatham House, said on Twitter: “This is not an ‘anti-corruption campaign’. I don’t doubt that the people who were fired were corrupt. But so is everyone at the top… the question is which people get fired for corruption and which don’t.”

Over the last few weeks, there had been speculation that Mr Phuc would be pushed out, after the two deputy prime ministers who served under him were ousted amid bribery investigations linked to scandals around repatriation flights and a manufacturer of

Covid test kits. Analysts say Mr Trong – who is also the party’s longest serving general secretary– is using these cases to consolidate his own power base.

Mr Hayton suggested he is acting now because his “health is failing and he wants to secure his legacy while he can”.

Phil Robertson, deputy director of the Asia Division at Human Rights Watch, added: “This rapidly growing earthquake in Vietnam’s politics is truly shocking.”