Vietnam endorses new leaders

Manh could heal ethnic discontent and bring in foreign investments

In this story: Ambitious goals Political shakeup RELATED STORIES, SITES

HANOI, Vietnam -- More than a thousand Communist Party faithful gathered in Hanoi on Thursday to endorse a new leadership and set the country's political and economic course.

Unpopular conservative Le Kha Phieu still led delegates in laying wreaths at the Leninesque mausoleum of communist Vietnam's founding father Ho Chi Minh ahead of the congress session.

The mausoleum is opposite the Ba Dinh hall where the formal public session, held every five years, opened at 9 a.m. (0200 GMT).

A senior party source, requesting anonymity, said Thursday that National Assembly chairman Nong Duc Manh will be the new party leader, replacing Phieu.

Party sources also said that a newly elected 150-member central committee had picked Manh during an internal party session Tuesday.

Manh, 61, has served as National Assembly chairman since 1992.

He belongs to an ethnic minority which may help resolve discontent among tribal people who staged anti-government protests in February, the worst in Vietnam for years.

He has not specifically denied rumors that he is a son of revolutionary hero Ho Chi Minh.

Phieu, 70, was dropped from the committee list and has been accused of using the intelligence apparatus to secure his post and of making too many concessions in border talks with China.

Ambitious goals

The formal public session, due to last until Sunday, is expected to approve a political report and a 10-year socio-economic development plan.

Phieu is accused of selling out on border talks with China

The World Bank and International Monetary Fund are backing up the plan that lays out ambitious growth targets dependent on faster economic reform.

The Communist Party, which broke away from old-style central planning during the 1986 congress, describes its economic aims as achieving a socialist-orientated market economy.

Many Western economists consider these objectives incompatible.

Diplomats, however, see Manh as someone who would push more than Phieu to reform the bureaucracy and legal system.

They said that Manh's appointment would send a positive message to the outside world that could help spur sluggish foreign investment.

Retaining Phieu would have had the opposite effect, the diplomats added.

Political shakeup

A member of the existing politburo expected to retire, said a new secretariat would replace the existing five-member politburo standing board.

Pham The Duyet also said that in a break with the past, all 1,168 delegates to the congress would be asked to make written recommendations for the secretary-general's post.

Ideology chief Huu Tho said the central committee would be cut to 150-160 from a previous 170.

As existing party leader, Phieu would chair the session. "He cannot be absent from the congress," Huu added.

Party sources said that in picking Manh on Tuesday, the new central committee also voted in a new 15-member elite politburo, retaining 11 of the previous 18 and adding four new members.

The dramatic leadership shakeup has so far gone unreported in the state press, although news has filtered down to many ordinary people through the party apparatus and via foreign news reports on the internet.

Party sources have given few details on the actual leadership changes, saying the decisions lay with congress.

In the past, about a third of the outgoing central committee and politburo have retired at each congress.

A Western diplomat quoted a party source as saying on Tuesday the internal congress had voted for retention of Tran Duc Luong as state president, while Prime Minister Phan Van Khai would continue in his post until May 2002.

The diplomat's source also said Trade Minister Vu Khoan, who negotiated a historic trade pact with Washington last year, would take the deputy premier's post held by Nguyen Manh Cam.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Reformer wins leadership in Vietnam
18 April 2001

Vietnam Communist Party
Free Vietnam Alliance

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