Vietnam politics

Is the phrase, increasingly prominent in government communications, anything more than an update to a discredited policy of neutrality?

Bui Tuan Lam made a video that went viral last year, making fun of a minister who was caught on camera eating a gold-encrusted steak.

The country's ruling Communist Party is committed to environmental action – but only under its own leadership.

The pair were linked to a $172 million scandal in which officials were bribed to supply hospitals with vastly overpriced test kits.

The fundraising event touched on a number of issues of great sensitivity to Hanoi.

Proponents of an EU trade pact said it would nudge one-party Vietnam towards greater respect for human rights. The evidence so far points in the other direction.

The May 23 election is designed to affix a rubber stamp to the Vietnamese Communist Party's monopoly on political power.

The selection of a career security official suggests a continuation of the Party's hard line on corruption and dissent.

The party is highly secretive and citizens are not even allowed to publicly discuss candidates.

Reported appointments suggest that informal but long-held norms have been sacrificed in order to preserve party unity.

This month's Communist Party conclave is set to determine more than just who occupies the top positions.

Amid a pandemic and shifting geopolitical winds, Vietnam’s next leaders will be of crucial importance for the country’s future.