Vietnam leader Tran Dai Quang dies at 61

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Vietnam leader Tran Dai Quang dies at 61

5:45 CAT | 21 Sep 2018

Former Vietnamese president Tran Dai Quang. Picture: AP

Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang died yesterday at the age 61 after a prolonged and serious illness.

He died from a “serious illness despite devoted treatment by professors and doctors” both in Vietnam and abroad, the official Vietnam News Agency said.

In office since April 2016 after more than four decades at the Ministry of Public Security, Mr Quang had a reputation as a tough leader with little tolerance for dissent.

Though he held one of the country’s top four positions and was the head of state, his role as President was seen as largely ceremonial, greeting visiting leaders and hosting diplomatic events in a bid to boost Vietnam’s profile on the world stage.

Mr Quang had appeared thin and pale in public, and was unstable on his feet last week when he hosted a welcoming ceremony for Indonesian President Joko Widodo in Hanoi. His last public appearance was just two days ago, at a meeting with visiting Chinese politicians and foreign dignitaries in Hanoi.

Mr Quang, a member of the politburo, had a reputation as tough and influential in the inner circles of the Communist Party, though he often appeared uncomfortable in the public eye and lacked the charisma of some of his peers in the upper echelons of the party.

In an interview in 2016 ahead of a visit by former French leader Francois Hollande, Mr Quang read from a prepared statement and was quickly escorted from the room by staff when a question went off-script.

State media made a sombre announcement of his death yesterday and celebrated his long commitment to public service.

His time in office was dominated by a simmering conflict with Beijing over the South China Sea, a long-running dispute between the communist neighbours that escalated on several occasions. Vietnam cancelled at least one oil-drilling project in the region during Mr Quang’s tenure in an apparent bid to quell tensions.

He was the administration’s most public face at a series of events, most notably at an APEC meeting in Da Nang in November last year where he hosted a bevy of world leaders.

He oversaw a crackdown on dissidents that rights groups have decried as a chokehold on free expression. More than 40 people were jailed this year and some 100 have been behind bars as of April 2018, according to Amnesty International.

Source: AFP