Vietnam President Rejects De-politicization of Army, Police Forces

 Tran Dai Quang, former police general and incumbent president of Vietnam

Tran Dai Quang, former police general and incumbent president of Vietnam

Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang has rejected any attempt to depoliticize the army and police forces, saying the two forces must remain under strict control of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV).

by Vu Quoc Ngu, July 14, 2016

Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang has rejected any attempt to depoliticize the army and police forces, saying the two forces must remain under strict control of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV).

Speaking at a seminar on implementation of the party’s Resolution 12 on security and defense in Hanoi on July 14, President Quang, who was former minister of public security, said the party will never give up its supervision over the two forces as “hostile and reactionary forces demand.”

He requested the police and army forces to remain absolutely loyal to the party and put more efforts to deal with “reactionary forces” to prevent “peaceful revolution” and keep the country under a one-party regime.

He urged the party and state agencies to build theories to scientifically reject “wrong ideas” which may harm the party’s leadership over the army and police forces.

Vietnamese communists have ruled the country for decades and they have no plan to give up for multi-party democracy. The communist government has applied a number of controversial articles in the Penal Code to silence political dissidents, social activists and human rights defenders.

Last year, Quang, as Minister of Public Security, labeled independent civil societies as “reactionary groups.”