To Lam seeks to strengthen power at Party Congress on the back of strong economic results

From 19 January, the 14th Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam will decide the country's leadership until 2031. General Secretary To Lam arrives at the event on the back of strong economic results achieved in 2025, so further centralisation of power is expected after the anti-corruption campaign that eliminated several political opponents. But the Party has several options available to make the country's administration more efficient.

Hanoi (AsiaNews) - The 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam will open on Monday 19 January in Hanoi. Around 1,600 delegates are expected to attend, representing over 5 million party members.

They will be responsible for appointing the approximately 200 officials of the Central Committee, which will then choose the 17-19 members of the Politburo, from among whom the general secretary will be chosen, a role currently held by To Lam.

But in addition to determining who will lead Vietnamese politics until 2031, the upcoming Congress will reveal whether the one-party system that has guided the country thus far will be able to adapt to changing times or whether it will become fossilised, increasingly centralising power, following the model already in place in China and Laos.

According to several commentators, To Lam will seek to achieve a permanent merger of the roles of president and general secretary, after years of political power being divided among several figures known in Vietnam as the “four pillars”: party general secretary (who decides political direction), president (representative and supervisory role), prime minister (head of administration and economic reform) and chairman of the National Assembly (institutional guarantor who oversees the legislative process).

This structure was designed to prevent the concentration of power in the hands of a single person and to allow the various political currents, often linked to Vietnam's geography, to be represented in some way.

Although the Secretary General has had to assume the role of President for certain periods in the past, this is the first time that Vietnam has openly discussed reducing the government structure to a single leader. The party could, however, adopt various solutions to maintain, at least formally, the “four-pillar” structure, albeit with a stronger leader.

To Lam is presenting himself to Congress after coordinating an anti-corruption campaign that swept away his political opponents and also brought some confusion within Vietnamese institutions, which are designed to function according to predictable mechanisms that prevent periods of political uncertainty.

Since the end of 2022, eight members of the Politburo have been removed. To Lam, a long-time public security minister, took over as secretary in August 2024 after the death of his predecessor, Nguyen Phu Trong.

Since then, he has promoted a series of administrative and economic reforms (dubbed the “simplification revolution”) to reduce bureaucracy and encourage foreign investment. This is the most ambitious proposal to have been implemented since the late 1980s, when Vietnam adopted the so-called Doi Moi, a package of reforms aimed at opening up markets while maintaining a socialist orientation, a necessary change after decades of planned economy that were leading the country to collapse.

Over the past year, thanks to the “simplification revolution”, the number of provinces has been reduced from 63 to 34, ministries have been streamlined and civil servants have been asked to serve outside their home areas.

At the same time, Hanoi, unable to depend entirely on Beijing (which threatens Vietnam's maritime borders) or Washington, has sought new alliances in the rest of the world. As The Diplomat points out, To Lam has made 20 trips abroad in the last year. As a result, Vietnam now boasts 14 strategic partnerships with other countries, compared to six at the end of 2024.

The latest economic data available confirms that To Lam's strategy has been a winning one so far: in 2025, Vietnam recorded one of the strongest growth rates in Southeast Asia despite global pressures such as US tariffs on exports.

GDP grew by around 8.0% year-on-year, one of the highest rates since 2011. Economic expansion in 2025 was driven by a strong contribution from the industrial and manufacturing sectors, along with a significant recovery in services and domestic consumption.

The total value of foreign trade exceeded £930 billion, with exports reaching £475 billion, an increase of almost 17% compared to 2024. Overall, the trade balance recorded a surplus of approximately billion.

Average inflation in 2025 stood at around 3.3%, helping to preserve household purchasing power and price stability. Foreign investment exceeded billion in 2025, fuelling technology-intensive and export-oriented sectors.