Vietnam’s New Helmsman: What to Expect from To Lam?
Nguyen Khac Giang
Vietnam has a younger, more energetic leader who appears to be covering all bases, domestic and international. What might the future hold for him and his country?

Nguyen Khac Giang
Vietnam has a younger, more energetic leader who appears to be covering all bases, domestic and international. What might the future hold for him and his country?
Dien Nguyen An Luong
Raising the spectre of foreign influence against young Vietnamese students out of fear that they might be inspired by recent street protests in other countries to topple the regime might do more harm than good.
Le Hong Hiep
Vietnam’s new general secretary To Lam is likely to consolidate power, as per Xi Jinping in China. But his economic and foreign policy approach may be different.
Nguyen Thanh Giang
Vietnam’s government must let go to hold on to the people’s attention spans, in this new digital age, where media is concerned.
Phan Xuan Dung
Nguyen Phu Trong’s strategic nous in shaping Hanoi’s relations with the great powers is his foremost foreign policy legacy.
Nguyen Khac Giang
With the potential for a second Trump administration, Vietnam will need to prepare for different scenarios.
Nguyen Khac Giang
Since 2021, half of the members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam who were removed for corruption were provincial leaders, resulting in a decrease in provincial representation in the Committee from 40 per cent to 28 per cent. Moving forward, Vietnam must strike a balance between its anti-corruption efforts and the need to preserve provincial autonomy, to sustain economic growth at the local level.
Le Hong Hiep|Nguyen Khac Giang
The steadfast leadership of Vietnam’s General Secretary has ironically created a potential leadership vacuum, as succession planning has not been one of his strong suits, unlike anti-corruption and other stellar achievements.
Jayant Menon
Vietnam has progressed in embracing market-based reforms, but its reform agenda remains unfinished. Recent free trade agreements have maintained reform momentum, but Vietnam’s earlier accession to ASEAN and the WTO continues to influence the economy.
Nguyen Khac Giang
While attention has focused on recent changes at the highest echelon of Vietnam’s collective leadership, it is also important to track the new faces in the Politburo and Secretariat.