Nguyen Phu Trong, Vietnam’s most powerful contemporary leader and architect of the country’s largest anti-corruption campaign, died Friday at the age of 80, state media said.
During Trong’s 13 years as general secretary of the Communist Party, thousands of people were arrested on corruption charges and a crackdown on dissidents and activists intensified in the one-party state.
Trong was president from 2018-21 and served three consecutive terms as general secretary, the first to do so since the “doi moi” era of economic reform began in 1986.
The unprecedented feat made him the most powerful leader in decades.
Trong’s high-profile anti-corruption drive, which analysts say was also linked to political in-fighting, swept through the party, police, armed forces and business.
More than 3,500 people have been indicted since 2021, official figures show, while those sent to prison include a former health minister and two previous mayors of Hanoi.
Following a scandal related to the Covid-19 pandemic last year, President Nguyen Xuan Phuc resigned and two deputy prime ministers were removed from their positions.
Many other prominent officials working across a wide range of sectors, from environment and energy to healthcare and banking, are under investigation.
Trong would like to be remembered “as a populist, someone very close to the people, who listens to the people”, said Linh Nguyen, lead analyst for Control Risks on Vietnam.
But the campaign has had unintended consequences. With many fearful of being caught in its crosshairs, everyday transactions within business and the state apparatus have slowed.
According to Linh, “the campaign is enervating the economy, something that we can clearly see in economic growth over the past two to three years”.
Vietnam’s economy grew by around five percent in 2023, falling short of a government target of 6.50 percent.
Under Trong, rights groups say a crackdown on dissent has also been escalating since 2016, with the government largely succeeding in crushing opposition.
Vietnam currently holds more than 160 people in prison for peacefully exercising their basic civil and political rights, according to Human Rights Watch.
The courts convicted at least 28 rights campaigners and sentenced them to long prison terms during the first 10 months of 2023, the group said.
Born in April 1944 into a farming family in the Hanoi suburbs, Trong studied literature and socialist theory before travelling to the Soviet Union to complete a doctorate degree in Communist Party building.
He began his career with a low-paid editing job at a magazine specialising in communist theory in Hanoi, before working his way up to editor-in-chief.
In 1994, he became a member of the party central committee — his first nationally prominent political role — and he was also head of the rubber-stamp national assembly before beginning his first term as party general secretary in 2011.
He stood out among Vietnam’s top-ranking officials as a highly educated man.
Trong oversaw the strengthening of the country’s relationship with several international powers during his terms in office.
In 2023, US President Joe Biden paid a brief visit to Vietnam where the two former enemies announced upgrading bilateral ties to the highest level.
Trong visited the United States in 2015 and made three trips to China. Most recently, in December 2023, Chinese President Xi Jinping came to Hanoi, where the two pledged to deepen ties.
Vietnam has also become a crucial part of the supply chain for some of the world’s most important companies over the past decade.
But many of them will be hoping a change in leadership means a halt to the anti-corruption campaign, said Linh, who told AFP that some complain of being badly affected by the disruption to business.
He said they will be thinking “maybe after all the new figures and the top leadership settles down, we can go back and do business and keep investing in the country”.
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