Birth, old age, sickness and death are the rules of every human life, which everyone must go through. The fact that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong is old and weak is also very normal.
On October 14, state-controlled media reported that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, when talking about the mechanism and role of the Communist Party of Vietnam and the government in relations with the people, affirmed that “I think Vietnam’s mechanism is the most superior in the current era.”
During President Xi Jinping’s recent state visit to Hanoi, at the reception for “national guests” on the afternoon of December 12, perhaps due to heavy work, insufficient rest, old age and weak health, General Secretary Trong accidentally “choked” while giving his speech.
General Secretary Trong confided to his Chinese counterpart: “Comrade Xi Jinping is much younger than me. But I’m already old, and I really want to entrust and hand over to the younger generation…”
This is an internal issue within the Communist Party of Vietnam, and for Trong to bring it up in public, is very, very undesirable. If you still use the reason “old age, weak health” as an excuse, then it sounds okay.
After Mr. Xi Jinping ended his very important visit, social networks in China went viral, commenting on this issue to the point that Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi had to loudly warn against chaos.
Mr. Do Huu Thanh recently wrote on his personal Facebook page, saying that “Chinese netizens are spreading 4 incidents that Xi encountered during his visit to Vietnam, causing Wang Yi to rebuke them,” in particular “Regarding the situation when Xi toasted General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, what made Xi awkward was that, when he finished clinking the glass, General Secretary Trong immediately turned to the other side without proper response.”
Accompanying the clips shared by the online community in China are images showing that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong has the forgetful symptoms of the elderly. Even Mr. Trong did not remember that he was the host of the banquet to welcome national guests, his great friend.
Try to imagine, suppose you were in the position of General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, because of sympathy for the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam’s poor health, he “downgraded” to bring a glass of wine to the chair where Mr. Trong sat to toast together. Yet, Mr. Trong sat on a chair, held out his hand holding a glass of wine, clinked glasses with Mr. Xi, in a wordless manner, then immediately looked away.
So, who wouldn’t be angry, let alone a national guest? The reaction of Chinese netizens is also understandable.
Mr. Do Huu Thanh also said that the next issue, perhaps part of what makes the Chinese people even more angry, is that accepting to join the ‘Community of Shared Future’ means committing to ‘ Sharing a common destiny with China, “Vietnam resolutely adheres to the obligation to comply with the United Nations Charter, international law, and basic norms of international relations; persist in mutual respect, equality, mutual benefit, win-win cooperation, respect for each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity; persistently resolve disagreements through peaceful means.”
And yet, in the fourth “incident,” Mr. Do Huu Thanh said:
“The goal of signing cooperation documents on metals and rare earths, as well as cooperation on semiconductors, was also removed from the list of signed documents. China accepts that the US will help, or exploit rare earths in Vietnam but still trying to convince Vietnam to ship to China for refining. This also has not received promises from Vietnam.”
According to author Do Huu Thanh, “In short: Mr. Xi’s trip to Vietnam was judged by Chinese observers and netizens to be a serious failure.”
According to observers, the “incidents” regarding the General Secretary’s mental health as just mentioned, recently, are a very alarming problem.
What is more worrying is that, despite announcing that he will retire after the 13th term ends, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong still enthusiastically “volunteered” to take on the role of Head of the Congress Personnel Subcommittee.
Public opinion sees that, in the past, in the role of Head of the Human Resources Subcommittee at the 12th and 13th term, the results have shown that the leadership personnel selected by General Secretary Trong are “scientific.” It’s a “5-step, 7-step process“… but it’s more crumbly than sauce.
Now, Mr. Trong is in a situation where he speaks first and forgets later. For sure, the leadership of the party selected by him will be chaotic like a food pot for pigs.
Thoibao.de (Translated)
