"We should expect him to operate within the consensus of the ruling
politburo. He will have seen the impact on Dung of his more flamboyant,
independent style."
Vietnam gets new PM with tough task and big shoes to fill(DNA India)
Vietnam's parliament approved a new prime minister on Thursday, handing former bureaucrat and legislator Nguyen Xuan Phuc the challenge of maintaining the momentum of one of Asia's fastest-growing economies.
Phuc
rises from deputy prime minister to lead a government committed to
overhauling its troubled state sector and broad reforms under a U.S.-led
Trans-Pacific Partnership, a major trade pact covering four-tenths of
the global economy.
The 61-year-old completes the
trio of core leaders of a youthful country hooked on social media, and
growing in its awareness of politics and Vietnam's complex ties with China and the United States.
Phuc
has some big shoes to fill, taking over from Nguyen Tan Dung, a
tough-talking reformist whose decisiveness won him broad support but,
say experts, saw him sidelined by conservatives concerned he would
become too powerful.
Vietnam is officially ruled by consensus with key decisions made by the Communist Party's elite politburo.
Dung
had served a maximum two terms and is no longer a politburo member,
although key policy makers from his government are among the new
19-member body.
"Phuc certainly will be lower key than the hard-charging Dung," said Murray Hiebert, a Southeast Asia specialist at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies.
"We
should expect him to operate within the consensus of the ruling
politburo. He will have seen the impact on Dung of his more flamboyant,
independent style."
Phuc was the only
candidate chosen at the party's January congress. His appointment for a
five-year term was approved by 475 of 480 lawmakers present.
He
is from the central province of Quang Nam and his expertise is
management and economics. He held key posts in local politics and on
legislative committees and was once head of planning and investment in
Danang, Vietnam's third-biggest city.
Phuc becomes
part of a new triumvirate with party chief Nguyen Phu Trong and
President Tran Dai Quang, who was endorsed last week.
Addressing
the assembly, Phuc pledged to achieve targets for the economy, which
grew 6.7 percent in 2015, tackle graft, improve the investment climate
and fight to protect Vietnam's sovereignty.
Hiebert
said Phuc would initially have a lower international profile than Dung,
who stood up to China's assertiveness in the South China Sea and sought
tighter U.S. ties.
"Phuc will recognise that
there's broad consensus in Vietnam not to let Beijing push Hanoi around
and hedge ties with China through closer relations with Washington," he said.
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