On 3 March 2023, Khmer Times reported: “Vietnam elects Vo Van Thuong as new president.“

“Addressing the swearing-in ceremony, Thưởng swore allegiance to the fatherland, to the people, and to the constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

I will strive to fulfill to the best of my abilities the responsibilities and missions entrusted by the party, state, and the people,” the media outlet quoted the newly-elected president as saying.”

Vietnam’s State President is the country’s highest representative, and he is also commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

With such a brief notice about a new president, one could assume that the beginning of a new president to be at the head of Vietnam happened just as a normal procedure – either the term of his predecessor was over, or the predecessor died, or was incapacitated by a disease.

But the public can know more.

The President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Frank Walter Steinmeier, paid an official state visit to the Kingdom of Cambodia from 13 to 16 February 2023, during a tour of visits in South East Asia. The original plan had been to visit Malaysia and Vietnam in order “to underline Germany’s foreign policy goal of diversifying its political and economic relations.” Cambodia was included instead of Vietnam only after the President of Vietnam, Nguyễn Xuân Phúc, resigned in January, amidst the ouster of two former deputies due to corruption scandals.

Mr. Nguyễn Xuân Phúc had requested to resign as a member of the Politburo and the Central Party Committee, and as Vietnam’s President and Chairperson of the Council for National Defense and Security. But on 18 January 2023, the National Assembly of Vietnam dismissed him from his positions, and appointed Vice President Madame Võ Thị Ánh Xuân as the Interim President.

What had happened?

There were several days of rumors that Vietnam’s President was about to be sacked as part of a major anti-corruption drive, after several ministers had been fired.

Such firing of persons in high positions is very unusual, where political changes are normally the result of careful planning, while maintaining public stability. “State media said the Communist Party had ruled he was responsible for wrongdoing by senior ministers under him during his 2016 to 2021 stint as prime minister, before he became president. Two deputy prime ministers were sacked in an anti-corruption purge that has led to the arrest of dozens of officials, as they had committed violations and shortcomings, causing very serious consequences,” the state news agency VNA said. “At least 100 officials and business people have been arrested, and in addition thirty-seven people – many of them senior diplomats and police – have also been arrested in an investigation over the repatriation of Vietnamese during the corona virus pandemic.

These actions are not reported as rumors from enemies of the Vietnamese state or society, but they were reported by state media. This is surely a sign of the strength of the state, implementing necessary rectifications.