Vietnam leader To Lam consolidates power with reelection as country
targets 10% growth
[January 24, 2026] By
ANIRUDDHA GHOSAL
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — To Lam was reelected Friday as general secretary
of Vietnam’s ruling Communist Party and appears poised to become the
country’s most powerful figure in decades, with analysts expecting him
to assume the presidency in a break from Vietnam’s tradition of
collective leadership.
Lam, 68, pledged to accelerate economic growth and was reappointed
unanimously by the 180-member Central Committee at the conclusion of the
National Party Congress that ran from Monday through Friday.
No formal announcement was made about the presidency. But the
composition of the newly elected 19-member Politburo, the party’s top
decision-making body, “strongly suggests” Lam will further concentrate
his power with the presidency, said Le Hong Hiep, a fellow at
Singapore’s ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute.
Such consolidation could speed decisions and push through reforms, he
said, but risks weakening intra-party checks and complicating
succession. The model mirrors power structures in China under Xi Jinping
and neighboring Laos.
The Congress was shaped by the central question of whether Vietnam can
transform itself into a high-income economy by 2045, setting a target of
10% or higher annual growth from 2026 to 2030.
Party leaders say this will require moving beyond cheap labor and
export-led growth toward productivity, technology and a stronger private
sector.
“We must achieve double-digit growth to reach the set goals,” Lam said.
How To Lam rose to the top
Lam’s reappointment caps the rise of a career policeman who climbed from
the security services to the apex of Vietnam’s political system.
His ascent was propelled by a sweeping anti-corruption campaign launched
under his predecessor, Nguyen Phu Trong, which Lam oversaw as head of
the powerful Ministry of Public Security. That sidelined or removed
dozens of senior officials including two former presidents and Vietnam’s
parliamentary head, dramatically reshaping the party's balance of power.
Lam oversaw Vietnam’s most ambitious bureaucratic overhaul since the
late 1980s, cutting tens of thousands of public-sector jobs, merging
ministries, redrawing provincial boundaries and pushing through major
infrastructure projects.
Unlike his predecessor Nguyen Phu Trong, an ideologue who prioritized
party discipline, Lam has focused on economic performance and repeatedly
emphasized the need to empower the private sector and move Vietnam
beyond a growth model built on cheap labor, exports and foreign
investment. The model saw Vietnam becoming a manufacturing hub, lifted
millions out of poverty and fueled a growing middle class.
But challenges loom including the need for deeper reforms, an aging
population, climate risks, weak institutions and U.S. pressure over its
trade surplus. Hanoi also is balancing ties with major powers including
China, its largest trading partner and rival claimant in the South China
Sea.
“He is a pragmatic reformer,” said Nguyen Khac Giang of Singapore’s
ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute.
He noted Lam's near-immediate acceptance of U.S. president Donald
Trump’s offer to join the Board of Peace, an unusually fast decision for
Vietnam, where foreign policy moves are typically calibrated with an eye
on Beijing's possible interpretation.
“We are ready to contribute even more as mediators and bridges to build
peace,” Lam said at a post-Congress news conference.
That pragmatism has unsettled the party’s conservative faction, led by
the military, which is wary of his reform agenda and intent on
preserving socialist discipline.
Lam’s expansion of the state security apparatus with broader police
authority over legislation and businesses also has sharpened a
long-running rivalry with the military, which controls extensive
commercial interests, analysts said.
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Vietnam's Central Committee of the Communist Party holds a meeting
to elect top leaders in Hanoi, Vietnam, Friday, Jan. 23, 2026.
(Hoang Thong Nhat/VNA via AP)
 His expected power consolidation
also heightens human rights concerns in a nation that has
intensified crackdowns on activists, journalists and environmental
advocates.
Vietnam makes high stakes push for growth
Vietnam has set an ambitious target of 10% or higher annual economic
growth over the next five years, placing the private sector at the
center of its development strategy in a notable shift for the
communist state.
The country fell short of its earlier aim of 6.5% to 7% growth in
the first half of the decade, despite posting a robust 8% expansion
in 2025. Policymakers are recalibrating the growth model to give a
leading role to private enterprise and emphasize higher-value
industries, modernized production and greater use of science,
technology and digital tools.
“What stands out this cycle is not just the direction, which is
broadly consistent, but the sense of urgency,” said Richard
McClellan, founder of consultancy RMAC Advisory. “Vietnam’s window
of strategic opportunity won’t stay open forever.”
Policy documents adopted at the Congress describe the private sector
as one of the economy's “most important driving forces” and elevate
foreign affairs and international integration alongside national
defense and security, highlighting dependence on global trade,
investment and geopolitics.
The shift could give major private conglomerates a bigger role in
infrastructure, energy and industrial projects long dominated by the
state. Critics warn it risks further entrenching powerful business
groups.
Those firms seek to diversify away from the U.S. market amid tariff
uncertainty, with companlies including Vingroup, Hoa Phat and Masan
increasingly looking to Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Europe.
The party's updated platform also raised environmental protection to
a “central” task alongside economic and social development, a
notable shift in Vietnam where rapid growth has fueled worsening air
pollution and other environmental pressures.
“The environmental shift is significant in intent, but uneven in
impact so far,” said McClellan, who noted Vietnam has stepped up its
rhetoric on green growth but faces a challenge in translating that
intent into concrete policy trade-offs.
To Lam's reliance on state security creates other tensions. Efforts
to formalize the economy, expand the tax base and curb informal
payments collide with entrenched practices at the local level, where
corruption has long lubricated everyday commerce.
Hoa, a Hanoi cafe owner who used one name for fear of government
reprisal, said her business relies on allowing customers to park
motorbikes on the pavement outside, which is technically illegal but
permitted through bribes. Stricter tax enforcement without
addressing those practices, she warned, would be damaging.
“I support the party’s reforms," she said. "But businesses don’t
just run on paperwork.”
Hiep, the analyst, said Lam’s continued leadership would preserve
Vietnam’s political stability and signal economic and foreign policy
continuity.
But he cautioned the 10% growth target for the next five years will
be “tremendously challenging” given Vietnam’s limited new growth
engines and continued reliance on exports, foreign investment and
infrastructure spending in a hostile global environment.
“If Vietnam isn’t careful, the country may face significant economic
problems within the next few years,” he said.
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