The Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP) for the first time chose a US-educated government official to join its highest decisionmaking body, tapping a face familiar to Western investors as it seeks to revive the economy.
Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan, 59, who received a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Oregon, was picked at a party meeting to join the politburo, the official Vietnam News Agency reported yesterday. Nhan was vice-chairman of Ho Chi Minh City’s main governing body when Intel Corp decided to locate a US$1 billion plant in the city.
“I’ve gone on road trips with him to the US where he would run his own PowerPoint presentations for potential investors, and his whole approach was just world-class,” said Fred Burke, Ho Chi Minh City-based managing director of the law firm Baker & McKenzie (Vietnam) Ltd, who has known Nhan for more than a decade. “He is from a new generation that has had significant international exposure.”
The VCP is attempting to boost an economy hampered by slow credit growth due to concern over the health of the banking system and state-owned companies. The party began a shift to a freer-market economy in 1986, and the country opened a stock exchange in 2000 and joined the WTO in 2007.
“For a younger generation of leaders, making choices such as cutting down the state sector is not going to be as difficult as it was for their predecessors,” said Zachary Abuza, a professor of political science at Simmons College in Boston, who specializes in Southeast Asia. “The leadership in Vietnam is really stuck between the state and market.”
Vietnam is one of 12 Asia-Pacific countries negotiating to enter the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade accord. The IMF last month cut its growth forecasts for Vietnam to 5.2 percent for this year and next.
Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, 59, a National Assembly deputy chairwoman, was also promoted to the politburo to become the second female member, along with Tong Thi Phong, who joined in 2011. The politburo had 14 members before yesterday’s additions, according to the VCP’s news Web site.
Many of Vietnam’s leaders came of age during the war years and were educated within the country or in former Soviet-bloc nations.
In a statement received on May 10, the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that “up to now, there have been no politburo members who graduated from US schools.”
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel
RSS