Thayer Consultancy Background Briefing:

ABN # 65 648 097 123

Vietnam’s Anti-Corruption
Campaign in 2018
Carlyle A. Thayer
December 31, 2018

Q1. What has Nguyen Phu Trong achieved in his fight against the backward slide of
the Vietnam Communist Party, especially the anti-corruption campaign after
President Tran Dai Quang’s death?
ANSWER: President Tran Dai Quang passed away three months ago on September
21, 2018. The anti-corruption campaign, initiated by party Secretary General Nguyen
Phu Trong was already in full swing.
Secretary General Trong used his position as party leader to carry forward his
signature anti-corruption campaign at the eighth and ninth plenums of the Central
Committee held in October and December, respectively.
At the eighth plenum three developments were notable.
First, Secretary General Trong was unanimously appointed to the concurrent post of
state president.
Second, the Politburo was given responsibility for drawing up regulations on the
responsibility of senior party members and officials to set a good example.
Third, the eighth plenum decided to take disciplinary measures against Trần Văn
Minh by expelling him from the Central Committee, as deputy head of the Central
Committee’s Organization Commission, and the party. In addition it was decided to
and remove him from his post as deputy secretary of the Đà Nẵng City Party
Committee and Chairman of the Đà Nẵng City People’s Committee.
In early December, prior to the ninth plenum, Secretary General Trong played a
leading role on the Personnel Sub-committee and the Document Sub-committee in
shaping the criteria for the selection of candidates for election to the Central
Committee at the thirteenth national party congress in 2021.
Two developments at the ninth plenum were notable.
First, Secretary General Trong received the most votes of confidence for twenty-one
high-level party officials (members of the Politburo and Secretariat).
Second, the Central Committee decided to take disciplinary action against of its
members, Tất Thành Cang, by dismissing him from the Central Committee, deputy
secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City party committee and as a member of the Standing
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Board of the Ho Chi Minh city Party Committee for “very serious shortcomings and
wrongdoings.”
In summary, Secretary General Trong has used his authority to continue his signature
anti-corruption campaign by targeting corrupt high-level party officials and their
networks in order to enhance the legitimacy of the party in the eyes of the public.
Trong has also demonstrated a high-level of support from members of the Central
Committee for his leadership.
Q2. What will Secretary General Trong do before 2021 when he is due to step down?
ANSWER: The anti-corruption campaign in 2019 will be directed at the networks of
corruption and officials who are guilty of engaging in corrupt practices or who failied
to exercise responsibility to expose and end corruption. .
Members of the Politburo and Central Committee are now preparing for the
selection of the next generation of leaders at the thirteenth national party congress
to be held in 2021. Because the party is seeking to identify six hundred strategic
cadres as future leaders, the anti-corruption campaign will lead to leadership
changes at provincial and national level
The current anti-corruption campaign is the signature initiative of Secretary General
Nguyen Phu Trong. He will not let up on his efforts to clean the party of corrupt and
degenerate party members and weed out corrupt members in government
ministries, departments and state-owned enterprises. It is clear from developments
in 2018 that corrupt high level and lower level officials and state cadres will continue
to be targeted. In short, 2019 will witness a continuation and possible intensification
of the current anti-corruption campaign.

Suggested citation: Carlyle A. Thayer, “Vietnam’s Anti-Corruption Campaign in 2018,”

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