Vietnam President To Lam gets top job as Communist Party chief
Al Jazeera
Lam pledges to maintain predecessor’s anti-corruption campaign as he takes nation’s top job – but it is unclear whether he will also remain president.
Vietnamese President To Lam has been formally named as the new chief of the Communist Party, the country’s top position, two weeks after the death of the previous general secretary.
Nguyen Phu Trong died on July 19 after having dominated Vietnamese politics since becoming party chief in 2011.
In his first speech as chief on Saturday, Lam promised to inherit and promote Trong’s legacy, make no changes to foreign policy, focus on achieving Vietnam’s socioeconomic development goals and continue a campaign against corruption.
“In the coming time, the work on anticorruption will be continued fiercely,” Lam told a news conference. “Personally, I feel fortunate that I have much experience in handling antigraft campaign during the time I worked at the police ministry.”
Lam was elected president in May after leading the sweeping campaign of high-profile investigations against corruption as police minister. He replaced Vo Van Thuong, who had been in the job for about a year when he quit amid accusations of unspecified wrongdoing.
