Nguyễn Phú Trọng

Nguyễn Phú Trọng
General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam
Incumbent
Assumed office 19 January 2011
President	Trương Tấn Sang Trần Đại Quang
Prime Minister	Nguyễn Tấn Dũng Nguyễn Xuân Phúc
Preceded by	Nông Đức Mạnh
Secretary of the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party
Incumbent
Assumed office 19 January 2011
Deputy	Phùng Quang Thanh
Preceded by	Nông Đức Mạnh
Chairman of the National Assembly
In office 26 June 2006 – 23 July 2011
Preceded by	Nguyễn Văn An
Succeeded by	Nguyễn Sinh Hùng
Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee
In office January 2000 – 26 June 2006
Preceded by	Lê Xuân Tùng
Succeeded by	Phạm Quang Nghị
Personal details
Born	(1944-04-14) 14 April 1944 Hanoi, French Indochina (now Vietnam)
Political party	Communist Party
Alma mater	University of Hanoi National Academy of Public Administration Russian Academy of Sciences

Nguyễn Phú Trọng (Vietnamese: [ŋwɨ̌ənˀ fǔ tʂâwŋmˀ]; Chữ nôm: 阮富仲; born 14 April 1944) is the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, elected at the party's 11th National Congress on 19 January 2011^[1][2][3][4] and re-elected at the 12th National Congress in 2016. Trong heads the party's Secretariat,^[5][6][7] and is the Secretary of the Central Military Commission,^[8][9] in addition to being the de facto head of the Politburo, the highest decision-making body in Vietnam, which currently makes him the most powerful person in Vietnam.^[10]

Biography

Trong arrives at Joint Base Andrews, to meet U.S. President Barack Obama, 6 July 2015

Trọng with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, 7 July 2015

Nguyễn Phú Trọng was born in Đông Hội Commune, Đông Anh District, Hanoi. His official biography gives his family background only as "poor peasant".^[11] He studied philology at Vietnam National University, Hanoi from 1963 to 1967. Trọng officially joined the Communist Party in December 1968. He worked for the Tạp chí Cộng Sản (Communist Review), the theoretical and political agency of the Communist Party of Vietnam (formerly the "Labor Party"), in the periods of 1967–73, 1976–80, and 1983–96. From 1991 to 1996, he served as the editor-in-chief of the Tạp chí Cộng Sản.

Trọng went to the Soviet Union in 1981 to study at the Academy of Social Sciences and received a Candidate of Sciences degree in history in 1983. In 1998, Trọng entered the party section devoted to political work, making him one of the most prominent Vietnamese political theoreticians, heading the CPVCC's Theoretical Council in charge of the Party's theoretical work from 2001 to 2006.

Trọng has been member of the Party's Central Committee since January 1994, member of the Party's Political Bureau since December 1997, and deputy to the National Assembly since May 2002. From January 2000 to June 2006, Trọng was secretary of the Party's Executive Committee of Hanoi, the de facto head of the city authority. On 26 June 2006, Trọng was elected as the Chairman of the National Assembly.^[12] During this period he was elected secretary of the Party organization in the Assembly and member of the Council for Defence and Security.

General Secretary

Trong was elected General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam in 2011. The 5th plenum of the 11th Central Committee decided to take the Central Steering Committee for Anti-Corruption away from the prime minister’s control, and Nguyễn Phú Trọng was elected its head.^[13][14]

Trong has two adopted sons, Ho Xuan Minh, and Ho Xuan Nam living in the California, USA and Melbourne, Australia respectively. Xuan Minh is a shop fitter helping the government investment arm set out businesses abroad while Xuan Nam is a song writer and composer.^[15][16] Xuan Nam is a standing committee, a senior member of resolution 36 drafted in 2004, which main purpose is to bring Vietnamese abroad back to their motherland.^[17] Trọng adopted sons are named after Trong's teacher, and the country's great leader Ho Chi Minh, who liberated and united Vietnam.^[18] Xuan Nam has in the past performed for the Vietnamese community abroad hoping to create linkage between them with their motherland.^[19]

On 27 January 2016, Trong was re-elected as General Secretary of the 12th Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam at the first conference of the committee.^[20] At 72 years old, he is the 12th Committee's oldest member. For this term Trong is ranked number one in the politburo, marking a return to normality.

Trong hopes under a one party rule, to strengthen Vietnam position in the world, turning it into an industrial country rather than a country that produces on primary products.^[21]“A country without discipline would be chaotic and unstable … we need to balance democracy and law and order,” said the Communist party’s general secretary, Nguyen Phu Trong, at the close of a meeting to choose the country’s leadership for the next five years“. I very much hope the new faces in the politburo will push with reforms and bring the country forward, but I don’t know whether they can do that,” said Tran Thi Tram. “They will also have to really tackle the corruption problem, otherwise the people would be the ones to suffer most.”^[22]

Career

• 1957–1963: Student at the Nguyen Gia Thieu junior and senior high schools in Gia Lam district, Hanoi
• 1963–1967: Student at the Linguistics Faculty of Hanoi General University .
• December 1967– July 1968: Officer at the Documentary Desk of the Study Review (now the Communist Review)
• July 1968 – August 1973: Editor of the Party Building Department of the Communist Review. He experienced a period of probation in Thanh Oai district, Ha Tay province (now Hanoi ) in 1971 and was Secretary of the Youth Union of the Communist Review from 1969 to 1973
• August 1973 – April 1976: Underwent a political-economic post-graduate course at the High-level Nguyen Ai Quoc Party School (now the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics and Public Administration), member of the Party cell committee.
• May 1976 – August 1980: Editor of the Party Building Department of the Communist Review, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee
• September 1980 – August 1981: Learnt Russian at the high-level Nguyen Ai Quoc Party School
• September 1981 – July 1983: On-the-job trainee and defended Associate PhD thesis (now PhD thesis) in Party building at the Academy of Social Sciences of the Soviet Union
• August 1983 – February 1989: Deputy head of the Party Building Department, the Communist Review (October 1983); Head of the Party Building Department, the Communist Review (September 1987); Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of the Communist Review (July 1985 – December 1988) and then Secretary (December 1988 – December 1991)
• March 1989 – April 1990: Member of the Editorial Board of the Communist Review
• May 1990 – July 1991: Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Communist Review
• August 1991 – August 1996: Editor-in-Chief of the Communist Review
• January 1994 – now: Member of the CPVCC (7th, 8th, 9th and 10th tenures)
• August 1996 – February 1998: Deputy Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee, Head of the Hanoi Party Committee's department in charge of tertiary education personnel, and head of the Hanoi Party Committee's Popularisation and Education Board
• December 1997 – now: Member of the Political Bureau of the CPVCC (8th, 9th and 10th tenures)
• February 1998 – January 2000: In charge of the Party Central Committee's Ideological-Cultural and Scientific-Educational Affairs
• August 1999 – April 2001: Permanent member of the Party Politburo
• March 1998 – August 2006: Vice Chairman of the CPVCC's Theoretical Council (March 1998 – November 2001); Chairman of the CPVCC's Theoretical Council in charge of the Party's theoretical work (November 2001 – August 2006)
• January 2000 – June 2006: Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee (12th, 13th and 14th tenures).
• May 2002 – now: Deputy to the 11th and 12th National Assembly
  

  Trong meets Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, 29 September 2016
• June 2006 – July 2011: Secretary of the National Assembly's Party Organisation, Chairman of the National Assembly and member of the Council for Defence and Security
• Elected General Secretary of the 11th CPVCC at the 11th National Party Congress in January 2011
• Re-elected General Secretary of the 11th CPVCC at the 12th National Party Congress in January 2016

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nguyễn Phú Trọng.

• Biography of Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong