Trương Tấn Sang (Vietnamese:[t͡ɕɨəŋ˧˧tən˧˦saːŋ˧˧]; born 21 January 1949) is a Vietnamese politician, who served as the eighthPresident of Vietnam from 2011 to 2016. He was one of Vietnam's top leaders, alongside prime ministerNguyễn Tấn Dũng and Party general secretaryNguyễn Phú Trọng.[1] In July 2011, Trương Tấn Sang was elected state president of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam by theNational Assembly of Vietnam and nominated by his predecessorNguyễn Minh Triết who retired from office.
Trương Tấn Sang was also ranked second after General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Nguyễn Phú Trọng on the party'sCentral Secretariat, a body which directs policy making. Sang has been a member of theCentral Politburo, the executive committee of the Communist Party, since 1996. He was Communist Party secretary forHo Chi Minh City from 1996 to 2000. He was promoted to the national party's number two slot in October 2009.[2] There were reports of rivalry between Trương Tấn Sang and Prime Minister Nguyễn Tấn Dũng, and each was backed by a faction within the party.[3]
At the11th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam in January 2011, Trương Tấn Sang was nominated President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and confirmed on 25 July 2011 by the National Assembly. On that day, he succeeded Nguyễn Minh Triết. On the same day he proposedNguyễn Tấn Dũng as the new head of government.
Trương Tấn Sang was born 21 January 1949, inĐức Hòa District in Long An Province.[4]
In 1966 Trương Tấn Sang joined the revolution. From 1966 to 1969 he was leader of the Youth-student movement PK 2. From 1969 to 1971, Trương Tấn Sang was Party Committee member, secretary of Youth Union, in charge of the secret guerrilla group in Đức Hòa District in Long An Province. Trương Tấn Sang joined theCommunist Party of Vietnam on 20 December 1969.[5] He was jailed by theSouth Vietnamese government in 1971 and held in prison atPhú Quốc. He was released under the Paris Peace Treaty in 1973. He received his bachelor of law degree in 1990 from theNational Academy of Public Administration.[4]
From 1983 to 1986, Trương Tấn Sang headed Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC)'s Forestry Department, as well as the city's New Economic Zone Development Department. In 1986, he was promoted to the Standing Board of the city's Party Committee.[5] He became a member of the national party's Central Committee in 1991.[6] In 1992, he became chairman for HCMC, the number two position in the city government.[4] He joined the Politburo in 1997 as its 14th ranking member.[7] He was party secretary for HCMC, the top position in the city government, from 1997 to 2000.[4][8] 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.[citation needed]
In 2003, he was reprimanded for failing to act in theNăm Cam corruption scandal when he headed the city government.[9] Sang was promoted to fifth position in the party at a congress in April 2006.[10] At this congress, he was also appointedPermanent Member of the Party Central Committee's Secretariat, a position which supervises the membership and the internal structure of the party.[5]
Trương Tấn Sang was promoted to the party's number two slot between congresses in October 2009.[2] His authority soon eclipsed that of General SecretaryNông Đức Mạnh, the only person nominally above Sang in the party hierarchy, according to a leaked diplomatic cable by U.S. Ambassador Michael Michalak.[11]
Sang "assumed many of Manh's normal responsibilities," Michalak wrote. At diplomatic meetings, Sang could "comment authoritatively, in detail and without notes," whereas Mạnh "appeared disengaged" while he read a 30-minute prepared statement "verbatim and in a monotone."[11] A BBC story described rivalry between Sang and Prime Minister Dũng and described their relationship as "stormy."[12] Michalak described both Sang and Dũng as "pragmatic" and "market-oriented."[11] Both are southerners, but traditionally the party's top slot has gone to a northerner.[11]Nguyễn Phú Trọng, a northerner, was appointedGeneral Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam at11th National Congress held inHanoi in January 2011.[13] The congress selected a list ofPolitburo members, and Sang is ranked first on this list. Following the congress, Trong was named the top ranking member of the party's Secretariat, Vietnam's most powerful decision-making body, while Sang is ranked second.[14]
Trương Tấn Sang and Argentine PresidentCristina Fernández de Kirchner.Trương Tấn Sang presenting a portrait of Ho Chi Minh to the leader of veterans of the Soviet specialist mission in Vietnam.
TheNational Assembly of Vietnam elected Trương Tấn Sang as state president on 25 July 2011 with 97.4 percent of the vote.[5] The term of office is five years. Sang told the Assembly that he would defend Vietnam's independence and territorial integrity, and would resolve theSpratly Islands dispute with China peacefully.[15] As the new president, he will work to set a foundation that will allow Vietnam to become an industrialized and modernized country by 2020, Sang told the Assembly.[15]
Under party regulations, the president is under the authority of Secretariat, so the position is ceremonial.[16] Sang's authority derives from his position as the senior member of the Politburo and as the second ranking member of the Secretariat.[14]
On 25 July 2013, Trương Tấn Sang met with US PresidentBarack Obama to discuss bilateral trade between the U.S. and Vietnam.[17]
^(in Vietnamese) Nghĩa Nhân, "Bộ Chính trị kiểm điểm thế nào?",Báo Pháp luật, 16 August 2012. The other "key leaders" are given as General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng, Prime Minister Nguyễn Tấn Dũng, and National Assembly Chairman Nguyễn Sinh Hùng.
^ab(in Vietnamese) "Ban Chấp hành trung ương, Bộ Chính trị, Ban Bí thư",Báo điện tử Đảng Cộng sản Việt Nam (Communist Party of Vietnam Online Newspaper). (in Vietnamese) "Danh sách Bộ Chính trị Khoá X",Nhan Dan, 7 January 2011. This gives the Poliburo ranking immediately before the 2011 congress, with Sang second and Dũng fifth. "Vietnam profile", BBC, 15 January 2011. This describes Sang as No. 2 prior to the 2011 congress.
^Nghia M. VoSaigon: A History 2011, p. 242:"In May 1995, the president of the People's Committee of Saigon-HCMC, Trương Tấn Sang, noted that corruption by city officials amounted to one million dollars.."
^(in Vietnamese) "Văn kiện đảngArchived 29 October 2013 at theWayback Machine" (Party Documents),Báo điện tử Đảng Cộng sản Việt Nam (Newspaper of the Communist Party of Vietnam), 11 January 2011.Ban Bí thư giới thiệu các chức danh thuộc diện Ban Bí thư quản lý để Chủ tịch nước, Thủ tướng Chính phủ bổ nhiệm; Quốc hội, Mặt trận Tổ quốc và các đoàn thể chính trị – xã hội bầu. (The Secretariat nominates and directs the president, prime minister, National Assembly, and Fatherland Front, as well as the political elections). TheWall Street Journal describes the presidency as "ceremonial"here.
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