PARTY CENTRAL COMMITTEE SETS SIGHTS ON CORRUPTION,

C O N F I D E N T I A L HANOI 002143

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/MLS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/23/2016
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR VM
SUBJECT: PARTY CENTRAL COMMITTEE SETS SIGHTS ON CORRUPTION,
SEEKS STRONGER ROLE FOR ITSELF

REF: A. HANOI 771


B. HANOI 943 AND PREVIOUS

Classified By: DCM Jon M. Aloisi per 1.4 (b),(d)


1. (C) Summary and Comment: The Party's Central Committee
met for its third Plenum from July 24 to 27, and, among other
tasks, approved new Party working regulations and pledged to
tackle corruption (job number one for the Party since its
April Congress). According to our contacts, the new working
regulations are aimed at increasing both the Central
Committee's role in the policymaking process and its access
to information. The efforts to strengthen the Central
Committee, at the expense of the powerful Politburo, will
likely be superficial at best. End Summary and Comment.


2. (SBU) The Communist Party of Vietnam's (CPV) Central
Committee met for its third Plenum from July 24 to 27 and
approved new working regulations for the Central Committee,
the Politburo and the Party Secretariat. The Central
Committee also adopted a resolution on enhancing the Party's
leadership in combating and preventing corruption and
wastefulness, issued regulations on Party members' private
business activities and discussed several other matters
concerning personnel and the disciplining of cadres.


3. (SBU) The new working regulations attempt to make clearer
the functions, tasks and rights of the Central Committee, the
Politburo and the Secretariat, with the aim of highlighting
the Party's "collective leadership" while promoting the role
and responsibility of each individual in the Party system,
and granting more power to sub-Party committees and
organizations.


4. (SBU) To implement the 10th Party Congress' resolution on
wiping out corruption and waste, the Central Committee also
discussed and issued a resolution on "intensifying the
Party's leadership" in this area. The (still unpublished)
resolution specifies short- and long-term solutions to
prevent and ward off corruption and wasteful spending.


5. (C) According to Nguyen Chi Dzung, Deputy Director of the
Office of the National Assembly, the discussions on the new
working regulations were driven by the desire of Central
Committee members to have more power delegated to them and to
have greater access to information. This issue came to a
head when members of the previous Central Committee were kept
out of the loop by the Politburo when it came to certain
scandals and incidents involving high-ranking Party
officials. During the final Central Committee meetings prior
to April's Party Congress, Central Committee members were
told only that the cases in question had been reviewed by the
Politburo, and that no further action would be taken, Dzung
noted.


6. (C) Historian Ngo Van Hoa, a close confidante of several
Central Committee members, added that the new working
regulations were designed to respond to Party members' desire
for "more democracy and openness" in the CPV's
decision-making process. Although Party statutes hold that
the Central Committee is the senior Party body between Party
Congresses, in fact the Politburo often bypasses the Central
Committee, particularly when it comes to emerging critical
issues, Hoa said. The Party will not publicize the new
working regulations, the National Assembly's Dzung told us.


7. (C) Comment: Since the PMU-18 scandal broke on the eve of
April's Party Congress (Ref A),both the CPV and the GVN have
gone to great lengths, both substantively and symbolically,
to show the public that they are serious about rolling back
corruption and increasing transparency. However, while a
"more open and democratic Party" was one of the Congress' hot
phrases (Ref B),it is unclear how much success the Central
Committee will have in increasing its influence and
strengthening its role vis-a-vis the powerful Politburo. Any
shift in the balance of power will more likely than not be
superficial, with the Politburo still ultimately calling the
shots. End Comment.
MARINE