Vietnam’s Communist Party appoints To Lin as top leader

Vietnamese President To Lin waits for the arrival of former Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi on July 25, 2024. Suga came to Vietnam to attend the state funeral of Nguyen Phu Trong, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam. (Photo credit: LUONG THAI LINH / POOL / AFP)

HANOI — Vietnam’s Communist Party named To Lin as the country’s top leader on Saturday, two weeks after the former president’s death.

“This morning, August 3, 2024, the Party Central Committee … elected To Lin as General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam,” the party said in a news release.

The party’s general secretary is the most powerful figure in Vietnam’s leadership, while the president has a largely ceremonial role, including meeting with foreign counterparts.

read: Vietnam Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong dies at 80

It is unclear whether Lam will continue to serve as president or give up the presidency at the same time.

In her first speech as general secretary, Lam said her promotion was due to the “urgent need to ensure the party’s leadership.”

He added: “This is a great honor and a glorious responsibility for the party and the people.”

It is unclear whether Lam will also perform presidential duties or whether she will step down.

General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Nguyen Phu Trong visits the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam in Hanoi, December 12, 2023. Chinese President Xi Jinping began his first visit to Vietnam in six years on December 12, calling for a “new stage” in relations with Vietnam and seeking to counter growing US influence in the communist country. (Photo by MINH HOANG / POOL / AFP)

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The nomination comes two weeks after the death of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, Vietnam’s most powerful leader in decades.

He died of “old age and serious illness” in the capital, Hanoi, and Lam was informally handed over power.

Before officially taking over the top leadership post, Lam worked for years in the secretive Ministry of Public Security, which is responsible for monitoring dissidents and activists in Vietnam’s one-party state.