Vietnam party chief’s death gives anti-graft czar To Lam way to top job

HANOI: The death of Vietnam’s Communist Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong has left an opening for his former anti-corruption enforcer to take the nation’s most powerful job at a time the one-party state seeks to maximise gains from US-China competition.

Trong, 80, died on Friday (July 19) after years of speculation over his poor health and factional infighting over who would succeed him. Stepping into his post as interim general secretary is To Lam, 67, (pic) who for years oversaw a corruption crackdown that has ensnared scores of party officials, including those at the very top.