Vietnamese anti-corruption drive that claimed president’s scalp prompted by similar concerns as China’s, observers say
- Communist Party of Vietnam chief Nguyen Phu Trong said to be focused on securing ruling party’s legitimacy
- Promoting a healthy environment for businesses also key, with economy growing at fastest pace in 25 years
Dozens of officials, including two deputy prime ministers, were earlier removed from their positions for being involved in major scandals involving price fixing and kickbacks for Covid-19 test kits, as well as bribes for seats on charter flights returning Vietnamese citizens to the country during the pandemic.
Zhao Weihua, director of Fudan University’s Centre for China’s Relations with Neighbouring Countries, said the impetus behind Vietnam’s anti-corruption drive was to secure the ruling party’s legitimacy, which largely depended on social stability.
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The party’s priorities had shifted, he said. After the Vietnam war ended in 1975, it had focused on protecting the country’s freedom and independence from foreign interference. But after decades of progress, it now wanted to embody a modern and developed socialist power – a goal made clear at the most recent party congress in 2021.
“In the next 20 to 30 years, whether it can continue to undertake this important task depends on the party’s health and the Vietnamese people’s trust in it,” Zhao said. “The most fundamental political motivations for fighting corruption are to ensure that the party continues to have the people’s support and to consolidate its centrality in the country’s politics.”
Despite the pandemic, Vietnam’s economy grew by 8.02 per cent last year, the fastest pace in 25 years and three times faster than in 2021. As the country is largely reliant on foreign trade and investment, Zhao said Hanoi’s war on corruption was also aimed at promoting a healthy environment for businesses.
“Allowing corruption to develop will not only corrode the country’s economy and slow down economic growth, but will also affect the enthusiasm of foreign investors to invest in Vietnam, and problems in economic development will in turn lead to dissatisfaction among the people,” he said.
Vietnam’s moves have been well-received by investors, especially during China’s Covid-19 lockdowns and its trade war with the US, when global manufacturers sought to diversify their supply chains away from China.
In a joint statement issued at the end of Trong’s visit to Beijing in November, “prevention and control of corruption and negative phenomena” was listed among areas of cooperation between the two countries.
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In a letter extending new year greetings this month, Trong reiterated his readiness to work with Xi on areas including “strategic communication on theories and practices of both countries’ respective socialist development”.
Nguyen Khac Giang, a research fellow at the Vietnam Centre for Economic and Strategic Studies, said Vietnam had looked to its “big brother” and comrade Beijing, with whom it shared a complex historical relationship, for direction on its own anti-corruption campaign.
“There have been indications that the Vietnamese Communist Party is adopting tactics from China’s anti-corruption campaigns, and it has requested China to train its cadres to conduct anti-corruption investigations,” Giang said, while adding that such collaboration had so far been limited.
“The Vietnamese version of the anti-corruption campaign is similar to China’s, from its initial motivation, to the political manipulation by interested groups in later stages, to the consolidation of power by the supreme leader,” Giang said. “It also strengthens the party apparatus and the repressive branch, particularly the security police.”
Giang said Vietnamese-style socialism had “no parallel” except for China, and that despite tensions over territorial disputes in the South China Sea, Hanoi was, like Beijing, wary of being overthrown in a “colour revolution” instigated by foreign powers.
He said that as Hanoi strengthened ties with Beijing, it was expected to adopt more Chinese-style governance practices.
“In addition to the anti-corruption campaign, the government in Hanoi is also working to increase control over the internet and civil society, strengthen the party’s power, and maintain a strong state presence in the economy, or at least preserve the state’s economic monopoly against the growing influence of the business sector,” Giang said.
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Both countries improved their rankings in the 2021 Corruption Perceptions Index – a gauge of perceived levels of public sector corruption published by Transparency International, a think tank based in Berlin – with China ranked 66th among 180 countries and Vietnam 87th. But their scores – 45 points out of 100 for China and 39 for Vietnam – indicated they still had serious corruption problems.
Chi Zhang, an international relations scholar at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, said that while China’s anti-corruption drive was also aimed at safeguarding long-term social stability, Beijing was unlikely to lend Hanoi a firm helping hand.
“China’s collaboration with Cambodia on policing has already raised concerns about China’s extraterritorial reach in terms of its law enforcement,” Zhang said. “It is unlikely in the near future China will actively seek to do the same in Vietnam.”
She said China and Vietnam signed 13 documents on bilateral cooperation in various fields in October, but fighting corruption was not among the priority areas for collaboration “given that it requires deeper engagement in the judicial and police systems”.
Kalvin Fung Ka-shing, who conducts research on Southeast Asian politics at Waseda University in Tokyo, said anti-corruption prosecutions rose in Vietnam during the pandemic, with multiple scandals linked to the abuse of pandemic-related policies by high-ranking officials, senior party members and prominent business leaders.
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Health minister Nguyen Thanh Long and Hanoi mayor Chu Ngoc Anh were arrested and expelled from the party in June, while deputy prime ministers Pham Binh Minh and Vu Duc Dam were forced to resign from their party positions and dismissed from office early this month.
“Officials and diplomats from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have borne the brunt in the latest wave of anti-corruption moves,” he said. “It is worth observing whether this is going to lead to other ministries, especially the Ministry of Public Security, playing a more prominent role in politics.”
Trong also heads Vietnam’s central anti-corruption committee, and Fung said his efforts would benefit potential successors such as Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh or Politburo member Vo Van Thuong.
“Trong is expected to step down by or before the 14th party congress in 2026, and he definitely needs to find someone to inherit his legacy,” Fung said, adding that Trong was focused on solidifying the party’s image, integrity and ideological commitment.
He said the party leaders who had been ousted mainly represented its “Western-favour” faction or technocratic wing, while Trong seemed more concerned about the party’s ideological and moral integrity.
“Trong has a strong distaste for the political patronage networks pervading the party that condoned rampant corruption across the country,” Fung said.
