President of Vietnam

Truong Tan Sang, President of Vietnam (since July 25, 2011)

Truong Tan Sang, President of Vietnam

Trương Tấn Sang (born on 21 January 1949) is the current president of Vietnam and the senior member of the politburo, the executive committee of the ruling Communist Party. He was ranked as the party’s number one leader following the 11th National Congress held in Hanoi in January 2011. He became state president following a vote of the National Assembly in July. Sang has been a member of the politburo since 1996. He was party secretary for Ho Chi Minh City from 1996 to 2000. He was promoted to the national party’s number two slot in October 2009. To get the top slot, he had to outmaneuver Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.

Sang was born January 21, 1949 in Mỹ Hạnh, Đức Hòa, Long An. His nickname is “Tư Sang”. He joined the Communist Party in 1969. He was taken prisoner by the South Vietnamese government in 1971 and released under the Paris Peace Treaty in 1973. He has a bachelor of law. In 1992, he became party chairman for Ho Chi Minh City, the number two position in the city government. He joined the politburo in 1996 as its 14th ranking member. He was party secretary for Ho Chi Minh City, the top position in the city government, from 1996 to 2000. He was promoted to 10th position in the national party at a congress in April 2001. He was also appointed head of the party’s economic commission at this time. In 2003, he was reprimanded for failing from to act in the Nam Cam corruption scandal when he headed the city government. He was promoted to fifth position in the party at a congress in April 2006. At this congress, he was also appointed head of the party’s Secretariat, which supervises the membership and internal structure of the party.

In an unusual move, Sang was promoted to the party’s number two slot between congresses in October 2009. His authority soon “eclipsed” that of General Secretary Nong Duc Manh, the only person nominally above Sang in the party hierarchy, according to a leaked diplomatic cable by U.S. Ambassador Michael Michalak. Sang “assumed many of Manh’s normal responsibilities,” Michalak wrote. At diplomatic meetings, Sang could, “comment authoritatively, in detail and without notes”, whereas Manh “appeared disengaged” while he read a 30-minute prepared statement “verbatim and in a monotone.” To get the top slot at the 2011 congress, Sang had to outmaneuver Prime Minister Dung. Michalak described both Sang and Dung as “pragmatic” and “market-oriented”. Both are southerners, but traditionally the party’s top slot has gone to a northerner. Nguyen Phu Trong, a northerner, was selected secretary general at the Congress. In the past, the office of general secretary was the party’s top position, but Trong is ranked only No. 8 on the leadership list. The National Assembly elected Sang as state president on 25 July 2011. This position is merely ceremonial compared to that of senior politburo member, which Sang already holds.

Nguyen Minh Triet, Former President of Vietnam

Nguyen Minh Triet, Former President of Vietnam

Nguyen Minh Triet was re-elected State President of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam at the on-going first session of the 12th National Assembly on July 24.

Following is his brief biography:
- Born on October 8, 1942.
- Native land: Phu An Commune, Ben Cat District, Binh Duong province
- Admitted to the Communist Party of Viet Nam on March 30, 1965. Became full Party member on March 30, 1966.
- Education: Bachelor of Science in Mathematics.Summary of his career:
- 1960 to November 1963: Student majoring in Mathematics at university, took part in the Sai Gon Students’ Movement, assumed tasks at the revolutionary base in charge of the Sai Gon-Gia Dinh area.
- December 1963 to 1973: Cadre of the Central Committee of the People’s Revolutionary Youth Union and the Inspection Section of the Party Central Committee’s Department for South Vietnam , and Secretary of the Agency’s Youth Union, and battlefield in My Tho province.

- 1974 to August 1979: Deputy Director of General Affairs Department of the Youth Union , Deputy Chief of the Youth Union Central Committee’s Board for Voluntary Young People.
- September 1979 to July 1981: Trainee at the High-level Nguyen Ai Quoc Party School.
- July 1981 to December 1987: Head of the Youth Union Central Committee’s Board for Voluntary Young People, Secretary of the Party Committee of the Youth Union Central Committee in HCM City, member of the Youth Union Central Committee’s Executive Board, Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union Central Committee, Deputy President and General Secretary of the Viet Nam Youth Union.
- January 1988 to September 1989: Complementarily elected to the Party Committee of southern Song Be province.
- October 1989 to December 1991: Permanent Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Song Be province, elected member of the Party Central Committee at the seventh National Party Congress (June 1991).
- December 1991 to December 1996: Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Party Committee of Song Be province, elected to the Communist Party Central Committee at the eighth National Party Congress, and deputy to the ninth National Assembly.
- January 1997 to December 1997: Member of the Party Central Committee, Deputy Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee.
- December 1997 to January 2000: Elected to the Party’s Politburo at the fourth Conference of the eighth Party Central Committee, Chairman of the Central Party Committee’s Commission for Mass Mobilisation.
- January 2000 to June 2006: Politburo member, Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee.
-May 2002 to June 2006: deputy to the 11th National Assembly.
-June 2006: elected State President of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam at the ninth session of the 11th National Assembly. – (VNA)

Nông Đức Mạnh, Former President of Vietnam

Nông Đức Mạnh, Former President of Vietnam

Nông Đức Mạnh (born on 11 September 1940 (age 66) in Cuong Loi, Na Ri District, Bac Kan province, Vietnam, Asia) is the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV). He has held that position since 22 April 2001 and was reappointed in April 2006.
Mạnh’s official biography says that he was the son of peasants of the Tay ethnic group and that he was born on 11 September 1940 in Cuong Loi, Na Ri District, Bac Kan province. He began his career as a forestry worker and joined the revolution in 1958.

From 1962 to 1963, Mạnh was working as forest supervisory technician in Bac Can Forestry Service. He was admitted to the CPV on 5 July 1963 and became an official member of the CPV on 10 July 1964.

From 1963 to 1965, Mạnh was the deputy chief of the Bach Thong wood exploiting team. He then returned to studies, and was taught Russian language at Hanoi Foreign Languages College 1965-1966. He then travelled to Leningrad, Soviet Union, were he studied at the Forestry Institute until 1971. After returning to Vietnam, he became the deputy head of the Bac Thai provicial forestry inspection board.

From 1973 to 1974, Mạnh served as director of the Phu Loung State Forestry Camp in Bac Thai province.

From 1974 to 1976, Mạnh studied at the Nguyen Ai Qouc High-Level Party School.

From 1976 to 1980, Mạnh served as the deputy director of the provincial forestry service and director of the construction company of the provincial forestry service.

Rising with the party ranks, Mạnh was a member of the Bac Thai Provinicial Party Committee from 1976 to 1983.

In 1984, Mạnh became the deputy secretary of the committee, and in November 1986, the secretary of the committee. At the 6th national party congress he was elected as an alternate member of the Central Committee. At the 6th party plenum in March 1989, he was elevated to full central committee member. Since 1991 he has been sitting in the politburo of the party.

There have been persistent rumors that Mạnh is the son of Hồ Chí Minh. In April 2001, after he was selected to head the Communist Party, a reporter at a news conference asked him to confirm or deny the rumors. He said “All Vietnamese people are the children of Uncle Ho.” When asked again about the rumor in January 2002 by a Time Asia reporter, he denied the rumors but added that all Vietnamese people consider Hồ Chí Minh their spiritual father.

Many view him as a modernizer, and he has announced that he wants Vietnam to become an industrialized country by 2020.