BEIJING (Reuters): Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the Vietnamese embassy on Saturday to mourn the death of Vietnam's Communist Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong, the official Xinhua news agency said on Saturday.
Trong died on Friday after holding Vietnam's most powerful position for 13 years, overseeing fast economic growth, a years-long anti-graft crackdown and a pragmatic foreign policy.
Trong hosted both Xi and US President Joe Biden in Hanoi last year, boosting relations with both countries despite increasing tensions between the US and China.
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Nguyen Phu Trong, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee, died on Friday at the age of 80, according to the board of health protection and care for central officials.
The board said that after a period of illness, despite "wholehearted treatment and care," the party leader passed away due to old age and severe illness at 1:38 p.m. local time (0638 GMT) at the 108 Central Military Hospital in Hanoi, Vietnam News Agency reported.
A state funeral will be held for Trong, with details to be announced later, the report said.
Vietnamese websites have been switched to black and white as the country mourns Trong's death. Vietnamese people posted comments online to express their condolences.
On Thursday, the Political Bureau of the CPV Central Committee held a ceremony at the 108 Central Military Hospital and awarded the Gold Star Order to Trong, saying it was "a recognition of the party, state and people for his great and exceptionally outstanding contributions to the revolutionary cause of the party and the nation."
The ceremony was attended by all members of the Political Bureau of the CPV Central Committee, the Secretariat of the CPV Central Committee and Trong's families.
Also on Thursday, Vietnam News Agency reported that due to Trong's need to focus on receiving health treatment, To Lam, member of the Political Bureau of the CPV Central Committee and Vietnamese president, took charge of supervising the work of the CPV Central Committee, the Political Bureau of the CPV Central Committee, and the Secretariat of the CPV Central Committee.
Trong, born in 1944 in Dong Anh District, Hanoi, was a professor and held a PhD in politics.
He was a member of the 7th to 13th CPV Central Committee, a member of the 8th to 13th CPV Central Committee Political Bureau, general secretary of the 11th to 13th CPV Central Committee, and a deputy to the 11th to 15th National Assembly of Vietnam.
From 1983 to 1996, Trong served as vice director and director of the Party building department of the "Communist Review" magazine and as a member, deputy editor-in-chief and editor-in-chief of the magazine's editing board.
From February 1998 to January 2000, Trong was in charge of the ideological, cultural, scientific and educational work of the CPV.
Between March 1998 and August 2006, as deputy chairman and chairman of the Central Theoretical Council, Trong was in charge of the CPV's theoretical work.
He served as chairman of the National Assembly from June 2006 to July 2011.
Since January 2011, Trong served as general secretary of the CPV Central Committee and secretary of the Central Military Commission. He also served as Vietnam's president from October 2018 to April 2021.
