Unprecedentedly frank political debate is under way in Vietnam ahead of this week's Communist Party congress, as online forums buzz with forthright assessments of the party's performance.
Vietnam's communist rulers usually tolerate little public criticism, but the build-up to the congress has seen even tightly controlled state-run newspapers publishing numerous readers' letters and guest editorials in the same critical, although carefully worded, vein.
A series of articles in the Tuoi Tre newspaper by Nguyen Trung, an economic adviser to Prime Minister Phan Van Khai, have gone so far as to say the congress, which opens on Tuesday, is the time for Vietnam to embark on its 'second renewal'.
Mr Trung said the party's 20-year-old doi moi reform process, which was centred on the shift to a market economy, now needed to incorporate more political reforms, such as by giving people a greater say in the nation's affairs.
'The party hasn't yet made the people fully understand their ownership of the country,' he wrote.
The Communist Party says it accepts the new level of openness in public political discussion.
'People just want the party to speed up our renewal and economic development,' party official Le Huu Nghia said. 'The party wishes to have a thorough democracy and has welcomed their opinions.'