아세안

Nguyen Phu Trong, longtime general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, died on July 19 at age 80. His passing after more than a decade in power marks the beginning of a struggle for political preeminence that will continue at least until Vietnam’s 14th Party Congress, scheduled for 2026. The inner workings of the party are opaque to outsiders, which will fuel uncertainty and much gossip in the intervening year and a half. But there is no denying that with Trong’s passing Vietnam has entered a new era in which intraparty contestation will increase and potentially affect policy.