WorthyNews: Vietnam Elects To Lam President; Christian Doubts Remain

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By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

HANOI (Worthy News) – Vietnam’s National Assembly elected Public Security Minister To Lam as the country’s new president on Wednesday, but it wasn’t clear whether it would improve the lives of reportedly persecuted Christians in the Communist-run Asian nation.

In a secret ballot, 472 out of 473 deputies voted in favor of Lam’s nomination, state media said.

Vietnam’s presidency is largely ceremonial, but his new role as head of state puts the 66-year-old in a “very strong position” to become the next Communist Party general secretary, analysts say.

Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong was elected to a third term in 2021, but at age 80, he is not likely to seek another term after 2026.

Following his election, Lam said he would try his best “to fulfill all the tasks assigned,” promising his loyalty to the nation, the state, and the people. Lam has been the public security minister since 2016 and joined the Politburo in 2021.

While Lam is known as an anti-graft warrior, it wasn’t clear whether he would extend his announced “loyalty” to minority Christians who have reported persecution in the country.

Though most Vietnamese are “culturally Buddhist,” religion as well as faith in Christ has been discouraged by the ruling Communist Party.

MILLIONS OF CHRISTIANS

There are 9.6 million Christians in Vietnam, from a population of almost 100 million according to estimates by advocacy group Open Doors, while the CIA has given slightly lower figures.

“For many Christians in Vietnam, following Jesus can bring intense hostility and even violence. While historical Christian communities, like Roman Catholic churches, enjoy some freedom, both non-traditional Protestants and those who convert from Buddhist or indigenous religions face intense pressure and violence for their faith, especially in the remote areas of central and northern Vietnam,” Open Doors said.

Most believers belong to ethnic minority groups, like the Hmong, and “face social exclusion, discrimination and attacks,” added Open Doors.

Christian homes and churches have been attacked, and Christian villagers have been sometimes forced to leave their villages, Worthy News learned. Several church meetings face constant surveillance and frequent raids.

Yet, with tourism and investments needed to improve the economy, Vietnam’s ruling Communists faced pressure to improve its human rights record, including its treatment of Christians and other minorities.

As Vietnam’s top security official, Lam has so far introduced reforms that focused mainly on Trong’s sweeping anti-graft campaign but not on rights issues.

Lam’s rise to the presidency came after Vietnam’s politburo, the ruling Communist Party’s highest political organ, lost six of its 18 members amid the expanding anti-graft campaign, including two former presidents and Vietnam’s parliamentary head.

MANY INVESTIGATIONS

Lam was behind a series of investigations into high-profile politicians. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh is seen as the other major contender for possibly succeeding Trong.

Yet the unprecedented instability in Vietnam’s political system worried at least some investors as Vietnam had tried to position itself as an alternative for companies looking to shift their supply chains away from China.

A flood of foreign investment, especially in manufacturing high-tech products like smartphones and computers, raised expectations it could join the “Four Asian Tigers” — Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan, whose economies underwent rapid industrialization and posted high growth rates.

But the scandals and uncertainty, including the death sentence for a real estate tycoon accused of embezzling nearly 3 percent of the country’s 2022 Gross Domestic Product, brought “uncertainty and bureaucratic reluctance to make decisions,“ critics say.

Data showed that economic growth slipped to 5.1 percent last year from 8 percent in 2022 as exports slowed.

During Lam’s years heading the Public Security Ministry, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and other watchdog organizations strongly criticized Vietnam for its harassment and intimidation of critics.

In 2021, courts convicted at least 32 people for posting critical opinions about the government and sentenced them to multiple years in prison, while police arrested at least 26 others on fabricated charges, according to Human Rights Watch.

FURTHER CURBS

Under Tam’s watch as Vietnam’s top security boss, civil society faced further curbs, foreign aid restrictions introduced in 2021 were tightened in 2023, the country jailed climate activists, and laws were introduced to censor social media, say sources familiar right the situation.

While Vietnam was under a COVID-19 lockdown in 2021, a video surfaced showing Turkish chef Nusret Gokce, popularly known as Salt Bae, feeding Tam a gold-encrusted steak in London.

Despite efforts to censor it, the video went viral, stoking widespread anger from people enduring virus lockdowns that exacerbated economic deprivations.

Additionally, a Vietnamese noodle vendor named Bui Tuan Lam, who followed the video with a parody of Salt Bae, was detained on charges of spreading anti-state propaganda and sentenced to five years in prison.

It was also under Lam’s tenure as public security minister, in 2017, when German authorities said Vietnamese businessperson and former politician Trinh Xuan Thanh and a companion were abducted and dragged into a van in downtown Berlin, Germany’s capital, in what officials called “an unprecedented and flagrant violation of German and international law.”

Vietnam has maintained that Thanh surrendered to Vietnamese authorities after evading an international arrest warrant for nearly a year.

Germany said he and his companion were kidnapped and responded by summoning Vietnam’s ambassador for talks and expelling its intelligence attaché. Thanh was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2018 after being put on trial in Vietnam.

SPY CHARGES

Announcing espionage-related charges in 2022 against a man accused of being part of Thanh’s abduction, the German Federal Prosecutor’s Office said the kidnapping was an “operation of the Vietnamese secret service.”

The abduction also involved Vietnamese agents and members of its embassy in Berlin as well as several Vietnamese nationals living in Europe, officials said.

The suspect, identified only as Ahn T.L. in line with German privacy laws, was convicted in 2023 of “aiding and abetting an abduction as a foreign agent” and sentenced to five years in prison.

“The relationship between Germany and Vietnam continues to be shaken by this crime to this day,” the German court stressed at the time.

Another suspect, identified as Long N.H., was convicted in 2018 in a Berlin court of espionage-related charges and sentenced to nearly four years in prison.

Western leaders and minority Christians in Vietnam suggest there is reason to doubt that the latest changes at the top will lead to more freedom.

The Communist Party maintains tight “political and social control of the country, and Vietnam faces considerable challenges including rising income inequality, corruption, inadequate social welfare, and a poor human rights record,” said the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in a recent assessment.

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