From: tran@PEORA.SDC.CCUR.COM (Nhan Tran)
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.seasia-l
Subject: NEWS/VN: VN seeks representative image with leaders
Date: 6 Oct 92 14:24:03 GMT
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU

10/05

VIETNAM SEEKS REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE WITH LEADERS

    By Kathleen Callo
    HANOI, Oct 5, Reuter - Communist Vietnam, striving for a more
representative image, has appointed new leaders from varying backgrounds in an
attempt to avoid the factionalism that tore apart the former Soviet Union,
analysts say.
    The Communist Party is hoping the presence of three southerners in top
government positions will help heal scars from the Vietnam War which ended in
1975 with reunification under Hanoi's communists, the analysts say.
    Vo Van Kiet, who was reappointed prime minister on September 24, is a
southerner who has pushed forward market-oriented reforms and helped Vietnam
forge new friendships with non-communist Asia.
    Vice-president Nguyen Thi Binh, the first woman to hold such a senior
government post, is also a southerner, as is first deputy prime minister, Phan
Van Khai.
    "(Binh is) as much a token as anyone else -- but they made a wise choice.
She'll be good," one Western ambassador said.
    The traditionally ceremonial post of president went to the country's top
military man General Le Duc Anh, described by foreign diplomats as an orthodox
communist from a poor central province who is also identified with the north.
    "They're fulfilling the request of (late nationalist leader) Ho Chi Minh --
to have leaders in Hanoi who represent the north, the centre and the south,"
one eastern European ambassador said.
    One Asian diplomat said the party, while intent on maintaining control, had
been trying to portray itself as more representative of the people.
    "Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union and eastern Europe, they realise
there is a need...to close the gap between the party and the people," he said.
    Shaken by the Soviet experience, the Hanoi leadership also decided last
year to try to forestall any possible future unrest by paying more attention to
minorities living in remote mountain regions.
    Nong Duc Manh, who was made chairman of the national assembly, is a member
of the Tay ethnic minority. Last year he was catapulted up through Communist
Party ranks to become number 10 in the 13-man politburo and its first ethnic
minority member.
    Diplomats in Hanoi say Vietnam's ethnic minorities, who comprise 12 per
cent of the population of 69 million, have higher representation in the
government and legislature than in other southeast Asian countries. They note
there is no visible separatist movement in Vietnam.
    "They (the leadership) are worried by what happened to the Soviet
republics.  The party wants to avoid any problems with ethnic minorities.
The ethnic minorities can now look to Manh as their man," one Western diplomat
said, asking not to be identified.
    With three of the four newly appointed leaders -- Anh, Kiet and Manh --
belonging to the politburo, the party has reasserted its influence on
government policy, at least at the top level, diplomats said.
    Anh, the powerful number two in the politburo in charge of foreign policy,
defence and internal security for the party, is expected to be a more active
president than his predecessor, Vo Chi Cong.
    However diplomats said they expected Anh to have to delegate some of his
party responsibilities to other politburo members in order to carry out his
presidential duties.
    The battle-hardened soldier had originally turned down the job of
president, saying he had little experience with diplomacy.
    Vice-president Binh, who speaks French and English, and has travelled more
than Anh, was expected to give the presidential office a more extrovert image,
diplomats said.
    Kiet reaffirmed Vietnam's intention to move forward with economic reforms
in a speech last week to the national assembly that was notably free of Marxist
rhetoric.
    He said the main tasks of his newly appointed cabinet would be to fight
inflation, pursue sound monetary policy, encourage the business sector and
diversify Vietnam's foreign relations.
    Kiet, while a party man, is expected to try to gain more independence for
the government from the politburo in running the economy and day-to-day state
affairs, diplomats said.
    The national assembly, traditionally a rubber-stamp body, flexed its
muscles last week by blocking several of Kiet's requests to rearrange and
streamline ministries, according to Vietnamese who attended the debates.
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