Vietnam is increasingly edging closer to China’s model of governance, tightening state control while embracing Chinese technology and regulation as its most powerful leader in decades heads to Beijing this week, according to internal documents, public policy plans and sources.
The two communist neighbors have swung between conflict and cooperation over centuries. Now, Vietnam is leaning more openly toward Beijing, as China-friendly security figures rise in Hanoi under party chief To Lam, a former public security boss.
Lam will meet China’s leader Xi Jinping on Wednesday on his first overseas trip since becoming state president on April 7, a move that formally unites two of Vietnam’s most powerful roles, echoing Xi’s own concentration of authority and breaking from Vietnam’s traditional emphasis on collective leadership.
