Vietnam’s ruling communist party elected army Gen. Luong Cuong as its new president on Oct. 21.
Luong, 67, replaced To Lam, who was appointed president in May and took over the more powerful post of ruling communist party secretary-general after the death in July of longtime party chief Nguyen Phu Trong, who ruled the Southeast Asian communist regime for 13 years.
Although the president of Vietnam is the head of state and often represents the country at high-level meetings with foreign dignitaries, the position has limited power. The head of the Vietnamese Communist Party is the most powerful position ruling over the country.
As a regular five-year political leadership reshuffle will take place in 2026, the Vietnamese communist regime’s top positions are set to change again.
Luong served in the Vietnamese military for more than 40 years before becoming the president.
Sun Kuo-hsiang, professor of international affairs and business at Nanhua University in Taiwan, told The Epoch Times that judging from Luong’s military background, he may hold a relatively tough stance on national security and military policies, “but there is currently insufficient evidence to show that he is a representative of the ‘left’ or hard-line communism.”
Sun pointed out that Vietnam has gradually introduced more market economic reforms in economic policies in recent years and has maintained open cooperation with the international community.
“Therefore, Luong’s role may be more in maintaining Vietnam’s political stability and national security rather than being a communist ideological adherent,” he said.
Yeh Yao-Yuan, assistant professor of political science at the University of St. Thomas, told The Epoch Times that communism in Vietnam is just a shell and that the country’s system is one-party rule.
“No matter who comes to power today, such as Luong, I don’t think Vietnam at this stage will go back to the communist system in the past,“ he said. ”It’s actually getting further and further away from the Chinese communist regime or Russia. At this stage, it is more of an ally in the U.S. Indo-Pacific strategic region, so its foreign relations have also undergone a big change.”
Sun said that the election of Luong as president indicates that Vietnam will continue its balanced diplomacy.
“While maintaining cooperation with China, it will also actively develop ties with Western countries and avoid overreliance on a single country to protect its national sovereignty and independence,” he said.
Although both are communist states, China and Vietnam had a border war in 1979. In recent years, the two countries have had disputes over the sovereignty of waters in the South China Sea.
Yeh pointed out that the Vietnamese military has strong resentment toward the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
“Therefore, when the Vietnamese communist system is now governed by the military, its relationship with the CCP is unlikely to be good and will only get worse,” he said.
In terms of international relations, Yeh said that because of the conflict in the South China Sea and the territorial dispute with China, “Vietnam will largely stand with the United States and its allies in the Indo-Pacific strategic area and confront China.”
