Tô Lâm era (Vietnam)

Doctrine — stated goals and content

Elevation of the former Minister of Public Security to General Secretary on 3 August 2024 following Trọng's death (19 July 2024) produced a government that continues the Blazing Furnace anti- corruption line with distinctly heavier security-apparatus weight, while simultaneously pushing a self-styled "New Era of National Rise" modernisation agenda centred on (a) radical streamlining of the Party-state machine — the most ambitious administrative restructuring since Đổi Mới, with multiple ministries and Party organs merged and provincial-unit consolidation announced 2024-25; (b) Resolution 68-NQ/TW (May 2025) naming the private sector as "the most important driver of the national economy" with targets for two million enterprises by 2030; (c) a high-priority chip-and- semiconductor strategy leveraging the September 2023 US-Vietnam comprehensive strategic partnership upgrade, anchored by Intel's Ho Chi Minh City assembly-and-test site, NVIDIA's 2024 R&D commitment and Apple's supply-chain diversification out of China; and (d) continued CPTPP/EVFTA implementation alongside preparation for the XIV Party Congress (January 2026). The Politburo expanded from 14 (post-resignations low) to around 15 seats during 2024-25 as replacements were seated. On a left-right reading, Tô Lâm is best coded statist-right with a simultaneous reformist component on state-capacity and private-sector legal status — more pro- business in rhetoric than the Trọng era, but markedly more security-state-centric in implementation.