Vietnam succession battle heats up after President’s ouster

Vietnamese Communist Party Chief Nguyen Phu Trong, 78, kept his job for an unprecedented third term but failed to position his preferred conservative candidate as successor, all but assuring a leader from a rival faction seen as more reformist would one day take power. - Xinhua

HANOI, Jan 21 (Bloomberg): Over the past few years, Vietnamese Communist Party Chief Nguyen Phu Trong has won praise from investors for removing corrupt officials. Now as some big names fall, it’s becoming clear his campaign serves another purpose: strengthening his hand in choosing a successor.

This week Nguyen Xuan Phuc was ousted as president after assuming "political responsibility” for the "violations and shortcomings” involving two graft cases related to a manufacturer of Covid-19 test kits and repatriation flights.