(HANOI, Vietnam) — Vietnam's ruling communists opened their party congress on Wednesday to pick new leaders and set the country's direction for the next five years as human rights groups criticized recent crackdowns on political dissidents.
The country's top four leaders are expected to be decided during the secretive meetings amid tight security over the next eight days. Regardless of the outcome, no major changes to the country's policies are expected.
During his opening statement, outgoing Communist Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh praised Vietnam's economic development over the past five years, but warned that its high growth rate of an average 7.2 percent during the last decade remains unsustainable.
"The quality, efficiency and competitiveness remains low," he said. "Bureaucracy, corruption, wastefulness, social vices, moral and lifestyle degradation have not been prevented."
Prior to the event, Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, who is widely expected to retain his position, issued a directive ordering tightened security in "hot spots" nationwide to ensure no disruptions occur during the Congress.
Security was tight outside the meeting hall, with riot police strapped with guns standing guard in front.
U.S.-based Human Rights Watch says an intense period of crackdowns on political dissidents has occurred in the weeks leading up to the event, which is held every five years.
Vietnam does not tolerate any challenge to its one-party rule, and the government is regularly criticized by the U.S. and other Western countries for silencing expression.
Manh said the country has faced "acts of sabotage" and "violent instigation" that have threatened the regime.
"Hostile forces continue to implement plots ... using democracy and human rights as a pretext for attempting to change the political regime in our country," he said.
The criticism comes as Vietnam tightens controls on Internet websites, including the blockage of Facebook. Last week, Washington filed a strong protest to the Vietnamese government after a U.S. Embassy political officer was roughed up by police in the central city of Hue while trying to visit one of Vietnam's most prominent pro-democracy dissidents, Catholic Priest Thadeus Nguyen Van Ly.
Vietnam has said the incident is being investigated.
By: Associated Press (time magazine)
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