UPDATED at 10:15 a.m. ET on July 25, 2024.
Top Vietnamese and foreign officials gathered in Hanoi on Thursday for the funeral of Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong who died last Friday at the age of 80.
Trong, who state media said died of “of old age and serious illness,” served for 13 years as the most powerful leader in the Southeast Asian country’s one-party political system, and spearheaded a sweeping anti-corruption campaign that some critics say has been used to settle factional scores.
President To Lam, who took over Trong’s duties the day before his death was announced, led mourners at the National Funeral Hall in the Vietnamese capital, alongside Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.
Trong’s coffin was bedecked with his medals and a portrait as his family greeted mourners, who were asked not to bring flowers or envelopes of cash, media reported.
Flags flew at half mast across Vietnam, with somber services also held in Ho Chi Minh City and Trong’s home village of Lai Da in Hanoi’s Dong Anh district.
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The state funeral will last for two days, ending with Trong’s burial at the Mai Dich cemetery, where he will be laid to rest alongside many of the country’s old leaders, on Friday afternoon.
Cambodia’s Senate president and former prime minister Hun Sen and South Korean Prime Minister Han Duk-soo were among the foreign officials attending but many countries sent lower-ranking representatives rather than their top leaders.
“The general secretary had strengthened the enduring brotherly friendship with Cambodia and persistently strived over the years to enhance close cooperation not only between the Cambodian People’s Party and the Communist Party of Vietnam but also between our two governments and peoples,” Hun Sen said in a statement.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken planned to attend the second day of the funeral on Friday to kickoff his whirlwind tour of Asia but postponed his arrival in Hanoi by a day to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington on Thursday.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said at a press briefing that U.S. President Joe Biden’s bout of COVID had forced a planned meeting with Israel’s leader to be pushed back by a day, making it impossible for Blinken to arrive in Hanoi in time for the funeral.
“We will still be there attending the meetings that we intended to, and still traveling to Vietnam to pay our respects, not on the day of the funeral but the day after,” Miller said. “I think our allies and partners … certainly understand the importance we’ve placed on the region.”
Trong was the main architect of Vietnam’s “blazing furnace” anti-corruption drive. The campaign has netted scores of suspects including several senior Communist Party officials and business leaders.
But it has also raised concern about political stability, unnerving some foreign investors, while also fueling complaints that some leaders have used accusations of corruption to settle scores and improve their standing.
“People remember Nguyen Phu Trong through his ‘blazing furnace’ campaigns, but it was this fight against corruption that helped expose the nature of a one-party dictatorship,” said Viet Tan, a pro-democracy group with members inside Vietnam and abroad, which says it aims to aid a transition to democracy.
“Too many communist officials sought to exploit public resources and plunder the people’s property. Not surprisingly, the burning furnace campaigns failed. After many years of rule, the Communist Party of Vietnam has made corruption endemic.”
Edited by Mike Firn and Taejun Kang. Updated to include details about Antony Blinken's planned trip to Vietnam.