Vietnam’s Communist Party is in a weaker position than it seems

Thousands of soldiers marched down the streets of Hanoi on January 10th in honour of the Vietnamese Communist Party’s 13th national congress. The show of muscle was in keeping with the party’s mood. Every five years apparatchiks convene to rubber stamp policies and a fresh slate of leaders. As they assemble for this year’s congress, which begins on January 25th, some may feel exultant. With just 1,544 covid-19 cases and 35 deaths to date, Vietnam has handled the pandemic well. It was one of few countries whose economy grew last year, by nearly 3%. The public approve. In a survey conducted in May, which assessed how people from 23 countries rated their governments’ response to the pandemic, Vietnam scored second best.

But once the backslapping concludes, the new leaders are likely to knit their brows in concern. Although the party does not allow any formal opposition, informal criticism has been growing. Improved education and internet access have exposed Vietnamese to “universal values like democracy and human rights”, says Nguyen Khac Giang, an analyst who lives in New Zealand. Moreover, there were 65m social-media users in Vietnam in 2020, according to We Are Social, a British firm, out of a population of almost 100m. In contrast to the “authoritarian public sphere” offline, notes Mr Nguyen, “you have relatively liberal and free social-media platforms where you can speak out your views.” Vietnamese have been doing so, about everything from corruption to pollution.