With former Chairman of the National Assembly Vuong Dinh Hue, after the fall from the horse, there were a series of moves by incumbent General Secretary To Lam to completely defeat him, not allowing him to pull the strings behind the scenes. First, Dang Quoc Khanh – former Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, then Nguyen Van The was disciplined, to completely eliminate all the positions he was holding. In general, all connections to Hue were cut off by the party chief, to avoid future problems.
With resourceful and intelligent Hue, who had a powerful ecosystem behind him, Lam was determined to destroy him from the roots. As for former State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Lam slowly put him on the chopping block, over and over again. Each time he was threatened with being put on the chopping block, the former Prime Minister had to cut off a portion of his assets to buy safety. From the Viet A case, the rescue flight, to the Truong My Lan case, etc., Phuc escaped everything. On the contrary, he had to lose a lot of the huge amount of assets that he had corrupted while in power.
With Phuc, Lam was not afraid that he would be pulling the strings behind the scenes. Because the former State President was alone, compared to former top legislator Hue. Phuc did not have a widespread ecosystem of power like Hue. But he had a huge amount of assets – something that former police chief Lam could target.
The case of former State President Vo Van Thuong was different. Thuong was assessed by both analysts and officials as quite gentle and benign. He also had a backyard, and also “did dirty work” like all other officials, but the scale of his backyard was not as large as others. Thuong was knocked off his horse by Lam, because he was the second option for Nguyen Phu Trong’s General Secretary position. Lam wanted to take the seat, so he had to break both options 1 and 2, in order to succeed. Therefore, the advantage that Trong had taken care of has become a disaster for this former State President.
Thuong does not have his own power ecosystem like Hue, nor does he have a huge fortune like Phuc. However, Thuong is unlucky because he dared to play a “cunning” trick, wanting to bypass To Lam to avoid receiving a disciplinary sentence. The reason for “reporting illness” to avoid the summons is an “old as the earth” reason that cannot bypass Lam.
If Lam lets Thuong bypass him easily, it will become a new precedent, damaging his authority. And Lam “counters the scheme,” relying on Mr. Thuong’s report of illness to suppress him outright, by banning Thuong from leaving the country, including going abroad for medical treatment.
It seems that Thuong’s “sick” excuse has brought him more trouble than benefit.
That is how Lam handles each “Four Pillars” who have broken their seats. Previously, when Trong ordered an attack on someone, after success, the opponent had broken his seat, Trong often let them land safely.
However, Lam did it differently. Through the 3 cases mentioned above, it shows that he can be ruthless, “killing” those who have fallen, not sparing anyone. He classifies opponents to use different ways to deal with each person. The purpose is to avoid future consequences.
The political arena is now different from the past, the level of confrontation is stronger, the way of attacking is more insidious and fiercer. With Lam, even though the opponent has been knocked out, he still beat them. In general, the arena no longer has any “rules” but takes place according to the will of the winner.
In terms of fierceness, Lam’s time will only increase, not decrease. Therefore, Lam’s political opponents need to prepare themselves, don’t think that falling off the horse means they are safe. With Lam, even though you have fallen off the horse, he can still punch until you are “immobile.”
Tran Chuong – Thoibao.de
