On Feb 7, the Politburo of the Communist Party of Vietnam announced that it had assigned its member Vuong Dinh Hue, who is also deputy prime minister, as the secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee. He replaced Hoang Trung Hai.
This Politburo’s move shows that these two characters will go in opposite directions, one is the possibility of further advancement for Mr. Hue and the possibility that Mr. Hai will become a wood-burning furnace because wrongdoing causing huge loss and damage to state assets.
Mr. Hai was removed from his position as the secretary of Hanoi Party Committee to hold the position of deputy head of the Party Committee’s XIII Congress Document Preparation Subcommittee, the powerless position. His career seems to end.
In Jan, Mr. Hoang Trung Hai received a disciplinary warning from the Politburo for serious violations and shortcomings in the process of directing the implementation of the Thai Nguyen Iron and Steel Company Project (TISCO II Project) he was also a Deputy Prime Minister.
On behalf of the Politburo, Standing Committee Secretary Tran Quoc Vuong informed Mr. Hue of his resignation as Deputy Prime Minister to take all the positions left by Mr. Hai such as the head the Hanoi Party Committee and the head of the Hanoi Delegation of National Assemby members.
Currently, observers make two assumptions:
The first one: Hue’s leadership of Hanoi Party Committee is only a temporary measure from now to the 13th Party Congress, scheduled for Jan 2021. He will likely be nominated for one of the four highest positions (general secretary, president, Prime Minister, and president of the National Assembly).
No matter what you predict, it is clear that Mr. Hue’s road of promotion is increasingly favorable.
Second assumption: If he does not take one of the four highest positions at the 13th Party Congress, Mr. Hue will continue to serve as the secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee for another term.
Earlier, in May 2013, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong supported Mr. Nguyen Ba Thanh and Hue, who were heads of the Internal Affairs and Central Economic Commission, respectively, to run for two positions in the Politburo. However, the party’s Central Committee voted for two other candidates, Mr. Nguyen Thien Nhan and Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan.
At the 7th plenum of the Central Committee ended on May 11, 2013, 175 members of the Central Committee were officially entitled to vote for Mr. Nhan, then Prime Minister , and Ms. Ngan, then vice chairwoman of the National Assembly, to the 16-member Politburo.
Meanwhile, Chief of the Internal Affairs Committee Thanh and Head of the Central Economic Committee Hue failed to get to become members of the party’s agency with highest authority.
At that time, commentators called this the failure of General Secretary Trong.
Meeting with voters on May 13, 2013, Mr. Trong commented: “The authority is the Central Committee, the Politburo is also the agency that submit proposals for the Central Committee to decide.
State media at that time quoted Mr. Trong as explaining that “in this democratic atmosphere, the mechanism must have a balance, to respect people’s opinions.”
Mr. Hue, then continued to be a member of the 11th Central Committee and the head of its Central Economic Committee, from Dec 2012 to Jan 2016. At the 12th Party Congress, he was elected in the Politburo.
From April 2016, he was officially Deputy Prime Minister until February 7 this year, when he was appointed as Secretary of Hanoi Party Committee.
Being a professor and PhD of Economics, Mr. Hue is considered by observers to be one of the most prominent technocrats in Vietnamese politics.
In his role as Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Hue has the duty to help Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, monitor and direct economic fields, including the arrangement and renovation of state-owned enterprises.
Mr. Hue is also the person directly leading the negotiation and implementation of bilateral and multilateral economic agreements.
He assisted Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc in directing ministries: the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Ministry of Finance, the State Bank of Vietnam, the National Financial Supervisory Commission, the Vietnam Social Insurance, the Development Bank of Vietnam, the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies, the State Capital Investment Corporation, and Deposit Insurance.
He is also the chairman of National Financial and Monetary Policy Advisory Council; the head of Steering Committee for research and implementation of state salary policy reform; the head of Steering Committee for Enterprise Innovation and Development, etc.
Born in 1957, with economic and financial expertise, Mr. Hue is rumored to be one of the candidates for the Prime Minister position in the future.
Traditionally, the recent Prime Minister of Vietnam, from Mr. Phan Van Khai, Nguyen Tan Dung and Nguyen Xuan Phuc, all came from the position of Deputy Prime Minister.
According to the official biography, from 1979 to 1985, Mr. Vuong Dinh Hue was a lecturer at Hanoi University of Finance and Accounting (now Finance Academy).
From 1986 to 1990, he was a PhD student at the University of Economics in Bratislava, Republic of Slovakia.
After returning home, he worked as a lecturer at Hanoi University of Finance and Accounting, then became head of Accounting Department from 1994 to 1999.
For two years from 1999 to 2001, he was a vice rector in charge of training, Hanoi University of Finance and Accounting. From 2001 to 2006, he was deputy state auditor general.
He became the State Auditor General, member of the Party Central Committee from 2006. In a short time, from Aug 2011 to Dec 2012, he served as Minister of Finance.
At the end of 2012, the Politburo headed by Mr. Trong decided to re-establish the Central Economic Committee. This committee is called the Party’s Strategic General Staff on economy, following the Party’s guidelines and platform.
Mr. Hue was trusted and promoted by General Secretary Trong as the head of the Central Economic Committee from the end of 2012 to 2016.
Holding the position of the secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee is also the first time Hue has held a leadership position at a local level.
The administration of the Capital Party Committee at the present time will be an opportunity for him to prove his ability before the Party Congress 13 scheduled in 2021.
Earlier there were rumors that Deputy Prime Minister Hue would be promoted to a new position. Social networking suddenly stirred up because some people started sharing the story called “The intense childhood of Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue” with details “When the oil lamp ran out, he learned by moonlight and imitated the ancients caught fireflies and put them in an empty eggplant to study.”
Permanent Secretary of the Party Committee Vuong assessed Mr. Hue as a basic-trained cadre, having experienced many important positions.
Mr. Vuong also said removed Hai can use his knowledge, strategic research capacity and work experience into the Party’s general affairs.
Along with that, the Politburo also met, discussed and considered all aspects to ask Mr. Hue to stop being a Deputy Prime Minister to hold the position of Secretary of Hanoi, Head of the Hanoi National Assembly delegation instead of Mr. Hai.
According to the Standing Committee of the Secretariat, Mr. Vuong Dinh Hue is a cadre with strong political qualities, professional knowledge suitable to the requirements of the city’s leadership and political duties, mastering the Party construction work and State management at the Central.
In particular, Mr. Hue is reputable and capable of gathering internal solidarity, has a long working experience and an understanding of the socio-economic situation of the country as well as Hanoi.
Perhaps in preparation for disciplinary action with former Secretary Hai, the Politburo quickly decided, so that in the afternoon of February 7, 2020, the Hanoi Party Committee held a Conference to announce the official decision. Mr. Vuong Dinh Hue will assume the position of Secretary of Hanoi Municipal Party Committee for the term 2015-2020.
Hanoi Party Secretary Hue is an individual, no matter how capable, but he still has to run the country under the socialist-oriented market economy model proposed by the Communist Party of Vietnam. So that will lead to failure because of this false and barbaric theory.
Hai Yen from Ha Noi – Thoibao.de (Translated)
