Vietnam prez to be new Communist Party chief, country's most powerful role

Vietnamese President To Lam was confirmed Saturday as the new chief of the Communist Party after his predecessor died July 19.

Lam will be the general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the country's most powerful political role, state media said. It was unclear if Lam will stay in his role as president.

The previous general secretary, Nguyen Phu Trong, dominated Vietnamese politics since he became party chief in 2011. He was elected to a third term as general secretary in 2021. He was an ideologue who viewed corruption as the gravest threat facing the party.

In his first speech as the Communist Party chief, Lam said that him taking the reigns was because of an urgent need to ensure the leadership of the party.

Lam said he would maintain the legacies of his predecessor, notably the anti-corruption campaign that has rocked the country's political and business elites and a pragmatic approach to foreign policy known as bamboo diplomacy a phrase coined by Trong referring to