By Truong-Minh Vu
The recent plenum was revealing as to the future direction the party will take.
Leading experts on Vietnam have characterized the Tenth Plenum of the 11th Party Congress held earlier this month as a landmark event, suggesting that it has formed a new team of Vietnamese leaders for the next five years. And indeed it was personnel issues that were the focus of the nearly 197 Central Committee and alternate members in Hanoi. While experts in Vietnam and abroad focused mainly on the results of the vote of confidence among the Party Politburo leaders, the underlying significance has not received adequate attention. In fact, the evaluation of individual officials reflected the stances of political elites about the performance of the Party leadership and signaled the future direction of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV).
Since 2011, the CPV leadership has shown a willingness to be flexible within its rigid principles. The first example of this was shown one year after the Eleventh National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV). In response to economic instability, the CPV changed its development orientation towards “a focus on controlling escalation, stabilizing [the] micro economy, and socio-politics” (Resolution No. 02 KL/TW of the Politburo). Prior to this decision, the government issued Resolution No. 11/NQ-CP on February 24, 2011, which prioritizes strengthening fiscal and monetary policy.
Earlier, the fourth plenum of the 11th Communist Party Central Committee issued a resolution on “urgent issues in Party building.” These measures aimed to create a sort of checks and balances mechanism within the CPV with the goal of resolving the challenges the party faces. In addition to appraisal and self-appraisal policies, changes within the CPV leadership are also shown through a voting mechanism that allows voters to cast their support for positions that are approved by the National Assembly or the People’s Committee.
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