Asia | Banyan

Vietnam’s secretive Communist Party embarks on a leadership transition

The jostling behind the scenes would put ferrets in a sack to shame

IN JANUARY FOUR grey apparatchiks with little name or face recognition inside Vietnam, let alone abroad, will emerge from a five-yearly congress of the Communist Party to take charge of the youthful country of 96m. The line-up will telegraph order and consensus, the obsession of one of the world’s most secretive political organisations. Yet, out of sight, the struggle for the top jobs will put ferrets in a sack to shame.

This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “Sixty-somethings in a sack”

Seize the moment: The chance to flatten the climate curve

From the May 23rd 2020 edition

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Is India’s education system the root of its problems?

A recent comparison with China suggests that may be so

A collage illustration of Nitin Gadkari with his face repeated three times, the Secretariat Building in new Delhi and a road with cars on it leading up to the building. There are green and orange shapes in the background.

Meet the outspoken maverick who could lead India

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The Adani scandal takes the shine off Modi’s electoral success

The tycoon’s indictment clouds the prime minister’s prospects


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Poised to enter parliament, she may have bigger ambitions than that 

The Caspian Sea is shrinking rapidly

This has big implications for Russia, which has come to rely on Central Asian ports

Racial tensions boil over in New Zealand

A controversial bill regarding Maori people punctures its relative harmony