Le Duc Anh

Lê Đức Anh (born 1 December 1920) is Vietnamese general and politician. He was president from 1992 until 1997 after leading the Vietnamese forces in Cambodia throughout the 1980s. He was regarded as a conservative^[1] who advocated maintaining tight party control over domestic policies. He was born in Phú Lộc District, Thừa Thiên-Huế Province.

Military career

Anh led Vietcong combat units during the Vietnam War.

As a general Anh was the commander of the Vietnamese forces in the People's Republic of Kampuchea in the 1980s.^[2] He formulated five key points for the defence of Cambodia against Khmer Rouge re-infiltration and was the architect of the unpopular K5 Plan.^[3]

Political career

Later he entered politics and he held a succession of government posts. During his time as Defence Minister General he was already a major conservative voice in Vietnam's political system. In 1989, after the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, he warned about the threat of the West undermining Vietnam's Communist Party, arguing for more army involvement in politics "at a time when Vietnamese socialism was under attack".^[4]

From 1991 (to 1993) Anh controlled Vietnamese policy towards Cambodia and China at the expense of foreign minister Nguyễn Cơ Thạch and therefore was involved in the normalisation of Vietnam's relations with China in November 1991.^[5] He was the first Vietnamese president to visit Beijing in 38 years since an official visit in November 1993 to discuss economic relations and territorial disputes in the South China Sea; however, consensus was achieved only on the former issue.^[6]

In September 1992 he was elected to the new post of state president, replacing a collective presidency. Although a mostly symbolic position, the presidency became much more important during his tenure.^[1]

Anh is considered by many to have been (ideologically) the most conservative among the three political leaders during his tenure. ^[1] Prime Minister Võ Văn Kiệt was associated with the reform camp^[7] and therefore often disagreed with Anh. Secretary-General of the Communist Party of Vietnam Đỗ Mười was ideologically more flexible and effectively came to be seen as representing the middle ground between Anh and Kiệt, but seems to have tended towards conservative positions.^[8]

His opposition to Kiệt's reform ambitions are part of a long-lasting rivalry. In 1991, Anh joined Đỗ Mười to support him in his candidacy for party leadership against Võ Văn Kiệt.^[9] The Kiệt camp later spread rumours about wrongdoings Anh was said to be involved in in Cambodia.^[9]

In mid-November 1996, he was hospitalized after a major stroke.^[10] This was at a time when the reform camp that he opposed was in decline and for some time his illness seemed to change the dynamics within the political leadership, weakening the conservative camp and reinvigorating the reform camp.^[9] However, Party leader Đỗ Mười led a counter-attack against the reform camp, warning of the dangers of the 'current market economy'. The conservative camp gained further momentum when Anh surprisingly recovered in April 1997. ^[9] He stepped down as president in September 1997 after the Communist Party Congress and was replaced by Trần Đức Lương. He was an Advisor of the Party's Central Committee from December 1997-2001.

See also

• K5 Plan

References

Sources

• Bolton, Kent (1999): “Domestic Sources of Vietnam’s Foreign Policy: Normalizing Relations with the United States”. in Thayer, Carlyle A., Amer, Ramses (ed.): “Vietnamese Foreign Policy in Transition”. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore
• Thayer, Carlyle A. (1999): “Vietnamese Foreign Policy: Multilateralism and the Threat of Peaceful Evolution". in Thayer, Carlyle A., Amer, Ramses (1999): “Vietnamese Foreign Policy in Transition”. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore
• Wurfel, David (1999): “Between China and ASEAN: The Dialectics of Recent Vietnamese Foreign Policy". in Thayer, Carlyle A., Amer, Ramses (ed.): “Vietnamese Foreign Policy in Transition”. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore