The State and Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) are in the process of preparing to strengthen the entire party – main and senior personnel apparatus after the 13th National Congress of the ruling party, including the preparation for a new government for the next five years.
On March 4, 2021, observers of Vietnamese politics from inside and outside the country raised their views to BBC News Vietnamese about what might be a challenge to this next government.
From the Ministry of Planning and Investment, public policy analyst, Associate Professor, Ph.D. Pham Quy Tho told a BBC panel he hopes the new term government will pay more attention to democracy:
“For me personally, the challenge for the next term is still very big, because in the international and regional context, as the situation in Myanmar is still very complicated, so the challenge is very big.”
“The Covid-19 pandemic in 2021 is not over yet, so besides politics, there are pressures like pandemics and other social problems.”
“Second, this change of government, as a citizen, I hope this change will still be towards a better democracy, not towards a worse, or towards tyranny, or dictatorship.”
“And I still hope that, in addition to efforts, economic efforts, opening up a business with other countries, and developing the private economy, Vietnam must also pay attention to democracy.”
“It means that Vietnam must ensure that rights and policies should be served for the people, that is my wish for the new leadership of this 13th term.”
From Nha Trang city, Khanh Hoa province in Vietnam, journalist Vo Van Tao is concerned about security and sovereignty issues and wants a new government besides attaching importance to economic growth:
“Through the information after the 13th Party Congress in terms of personnel to the Secretariat, the Politburo, etc. and through the leaked information on the personnel structure of the Government of Vietnam in the coming time, I don’t have much hope for any positive development.”
“As many people have agreed that Vietnam is a fully party-governed institution, so the personnel that the party appoints to work in one agency or another such as the National Assembly or the government, then also subject to the collective leadership of the party which is often shown in three-party bodies: the Politburo, the Secretariat and the Central Committee.
“These three structures all have resolutions, so the individual role will be very difficult, but the qualities of one by one, or the Prime Minister, has an important decisive role, not depends entirely on the party.”
Talking about the candidate expected to assume the position of Prime Minister for the next term, Mr. Vo Van Tao continued:
“I think that Mr. Pham Minh Chinh is originally a police general, but he had done some good things when he was assigned to work as the secretary of the Party Committee of Quang Ninh province, he also organized to allow domestic and foreign economic and investment in the locality and helped it develop strongly.”
“I think that is his strong side, but besides that strong side, there is a weakness like this, Quang Ninh is a province bordering China, Mr. Chinh wanted to build that place into a special zone and sent officers to China to study and invited Chinese experts to come to train local cadres, letting Quang Ninh follow the Chinese model.”
“That makes those who are skeptical about China regarding Vietnam’s sovereignty very anxious, I fear that if I keep focusing on the personal achievement in a certain locality, without thinking about the greater the national security, the more dangerous it is.”
“I hope that Mr. Pham Minh Chinh will learn some lessons when he leads the government and hopes that he can promote his strengths, stimulate rapid economic growth, but go hand in hand with protection of the country’s sovereignty and security.”
“There are still consequences to be resolved from the previous term.”
From Houston, Texas, USA, blogger Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh said that the current government term may leave some issues that the next government needs to deal with, both internal and external:
“With the anti-pandemic record, no matter how it affected the people, back to the previous time with the government’s commitment to the VND62 trillion supporting package, today independent observers follow up and asked how much support is there for the people.”
“The performance of a government cannot be measured only by the indicators found in conference reports, but it must be tied to social realities.”
“So when saying the anti-pandemic is successful, but looking at the unemployment, unstable life, people are in long lines to withdraw unemployment insurance.”
“Then the situation of many people in key industries, such as tourism, hotels, restaurants, but waiting for government support, but have yet received it, it is Government achievement only in paper.”
“The incumbent Prime Minister has said that he would not allow economic development at the expense of the environment, but at the end of the term there is an answer for his government by landslides, then also during this term, when the Special Economic Zones bill was not passed, but in reality, Van Don finally became a special economic zone separately, and then Phu Quoc too and in North Van Phong, the thermal power plant is launched.”
“And another problem is that when Vietnam is put on the list of currency manipulation by the US, it must be said that this is an immeasurable damage to the Vietnamese side, even though the US has not applied punishments.”
“So the next task of the new government is also how to deal with the accusation of currency manipulation that the US brought Vietnam into and against the influence from China in economic influence.”
“From worrying about institutional reform to paying attention to special zones”
Recently, an economic expert, Dr. Le Dang Doanh, former director of the Central Institute for Economic Management, also shared with the BBC his expectations and notes with the head of the cabinet of the Vietnamese government in the new term, he said:
“I think the next prime minister will continue the policies of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and will step up the directions set by the 13th Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam.”
“It’s about institutional reform, shifting to a digital economy and promoting the role of the private economy while improving the efficiency of state-owned enterprises.”
“I think those are the directions that the next prime minister will promote and hope to do well the good measures and policies that the predecessor left.”
“However, on this occasion, I would like to further discuss that in recent years, Vietnam’s promotion of international integration, diversification, and multilateralization, economic relations have been the right measures for Vietnam to ensure a balance and avoid dependence on a single economy, in particular China.”
“In addition, another very important issue, in my opinion, is the issue of special economic zones, including the three special zones of Van Don, Van Phong, and Phu Quoc, in this regard, I think Vietnam had to suspend the bill for the three special zones.”
“I think it is a profound experience that in the near future, the National Assembly, as well as the new Government of Vietnam, will continue to pay attention and apply to avoid having someone take advantage of them that special zone to become 99-year investment land for Chinese investors.”
“And it is one thing that the Vietnamese community and people will be extremely sensitive to any such action or policy.”
No big words but keep promises
Returning to the BBC’s discussion on March 4, Associate Professor Pham Quy Tho at the end of the program also further commented and raised the fate of the head of government in Vietnam next time:
“Comparing one person to another in different contexts can be limp, but I hope that if Mr. Pham Minh Chinh continues the policies of the current government, it would be better than breakthroughs that can lead to economic crises.”
“The second is the breakthroughs that, without scientific calculation, can make a disturbance in such a complicated international and regional situation.”
“And I hope that if we continue the policies without big words, keep going in those directions and even accelerate the institutional reform towards the cleanliness of the apparatus, then towards the people and more respect for the rights of the people.”
“But as discussed in the example of doing what has promised, I hope that there will be a cabinet term no worse than the current one,” a public policy analyst says.
Thoibao.de (Translated)
Source: https://www.bbc.com/vietnamese/vietnam-56285612
