President Nguyen Phu Trong has warned that free thinking poses a fundamental threat to the Communist party and must be resisted. In comments to constituents in Hanoi, Mr Trong outlined the rationale behind the recent purge of a prominent intellectual,…
Some twenty people are reported to have left the Communist party in protest at the denunciation of a leading intellectual who advocated a less repressive political system. Chu Hao, a publisher and former deputy science minister, was accused by the…
The swearing in of Nguyen Phu Trong as president marks the culmination of a remarkable political revival for the 74-year-old Communist party leader. Trong is the first Vietnamese leader since Ho Chi Minh to lead both the party and the…
The nomination of the Communist party leader, Nguyen Phu Trong, to serve concurrently as state president drives a coach and horses through Vietnam’s long nurtured system of collective leadership. Not since the authoritarian rule of Le Duan at the height…
Speculation is growing that Vietnam’s most powerful leader, Nguyen Phu Trong, is planning to assume the role of president in addition to his current job as general-secretary of the Communist party. Reports say that the politburo has backed the idea…
A Communist party purge directed at senior public security and intelligence officials appears to be reaching its climax, with a secret trial of former agents in Hanoi and the dismissal and demotion of their alleged collaborators. The police threw a…
The Vietnamese government is censoring its own media and putting an American citizen on trial as it struggles to respond to the aftermath of last month’s nationwide demonstrations. The decision on Tuesday to suspend the online edition of the state…
Large scale protests over the weekend have forced the government into retreat, obliging it to postpone plans for the establishment of new economic zones. Government leaders appealed for calm, appearing shocked by the extent of public anger and the scale…
Pressure is growing on Vietnam’s top leader to declare his own assets as he claims credit for cleaning up the Communist party and rooting out corrupt officials. An open letter, signed by some senior former officials and other citizens, called…
As a committed ideologue set on reviving the Communist party, Nguyen Phu Trong, appears to be reaching the apotheosis of his ambitions. Presiding over this week’s plenum of the party’s Central Committee, he looks set to consolidate his ever tightening…