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”
Asia May 23rd 2020
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