In better news, Vietnam is going the right way
Vietnam sees a shared future more with China than US
Nguyen Phu Trong’s anti-corruption purge means Vietnam is moving in a more ideological and less pro-Western direction
The CPV is adopting China’s anti-corruption campaigns and reportedly requested that China train its cadres to conduct anti-corruption investigations.
It cannot be a coincidence that the party leaders who have been ousted mainly represented the “Westernist” faction or the so-called “technocratic” wing, which suggests that Trong is concerned about the party’s ideological and moral integrity as well. Trong reportedly has a strong distaste for the political patronage networks within the party.
The Deutsche Welle analysis lamented: “Vietnam’s business and political relations with Western states have massively improved in recent years.…
“But Vietnamese Communist apparatchiks remain skeptical of Western intentions. Many of them fear that Western democracies are aiming for regime change in the one-party state and they rankle at foreign organizations lecturing the government over human rights.…
“The ascendant public security apparatus is arguably most wary of interactions with Western democracies. At the same time, foreign diplomats are quickly losing their most trusted conduits within the party, the sort of officials who informally provide information and support.”
The real apprehension of Westerners is that the power equilibrium within the CPV and the government may now work more to the advantage of China and Russia.