Pragmatist To Lam to lead Vietnam's Communist Party

Vietnam’s Communist Party had elected To Lam as president of the party, and in doing so it showed that it was opting for a pragmatic and market-oriented model for the economy of the country.

Like China, Vietnam remains a communist party-ruled country. To Lam has promised reforms in the party and in the government, and greater openness to private participation in the economy.

He responded to the criticism that he was whittling away the state-controlled public enterprises. He has told the party central committee of 180 members which had elected him that the state enterprises would be leading the economic growth and they would be in control of the strategic sectors.

He has set the target of 10 per cent annual growth which reflects the determination of the country and the ruling party to become the economic powerhouse in south-east Asia. Vietnam had been doing well for the last two decades and more.

Vietnam’s communist leaders strategically aligned with the United States in strengthening their economy, putting behind the bitter war the two countries had fought from through the 1960s and till 1975. The economic collaboration turned out to be profitable for both Vietnam and the US. Along with the Philippines, Vietnam became an alternative manufacturing base for American businesses shifting out of China.

It was not a smooth transition. There were inner party struggles and there came a time when the party had to go through the usual communist party ritual of purges of people accused of corruption. There was a crackdown on private business players as well.

It turned out to be a brief phase. If the crackdown had lasted longer, it would have affected the image of the country as well as the stability of the economy and polity. The success of the communist party holding the country together has made it an attractive investment destination.

One of the reasons that the US had been supportive of Vietnam is due to the fact that Hanoi was only too willing to assert its stakes against China in the region. Vietnam has been a successful challenger to China’s regional hegemony more than even the Philippines because it has proved to be a strong country, partly due to the unchallenged monopoly on political power of the communist party. The American factor in the Vietnamese rise to economic power is an interesting story of how two former opponents had buried the hatchet as it were, and joined hands for the benefit of the two countries.

Vietnam and China are two examples where their respective communist parties had retained political power and who have enabled the growth of the economy on the market path. Not many communist parties in the world have succeeded in combining free markets and the hold of the communist party on political power. It can be argued that neither the Vietnamese nor the Chinese communist parties pose an ideological challenge to the neighbours or to the dominating Western power like the United States.

It would indeed a delightful irony that Vietnam, a member of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), is a leading market economy in the group. The ASEAN was formed as an economic bulwark against communist emanating from both China and Vietnam. Today, Vietnam occupies pride of place in the free market grouping that ASEAN has always been. Critics are likely to say that the sway of the communist party in Vietnam is only symbolic, and that there is no communism left in the communist party. That would be a generalization that does not hold true. The Vietnam Communist Party is the only political party, and there is no choice for the people but to be with the party.