Hanoi tightens grip on private, foreign firms

Hanoi tightens grip on private, foreign firms

HANOI (Reuter): Vietnam's elite politburo has issued instructions for the establishing and strengthening of a nationwide network of Communist Party "cells" and organizations in foreign and private firms, state media said on Saturday.

The official Vietnam News agency (VNA) and the Nhan Dan daily carried details of the politburo order which calls for party cells and organizations to be set up in all private businesses and enterprises involving foreign capital.

The reports said the measure was aimed at ensuring the correct development of the economy.

"Their operation has contributed to the industrialization and modernization process of the country," VNA said. "...but it also revealed many weak points and negative phenomena."

The instruction said party members should increase their awareness of state economic policy and accelerate efforts to form party cells, unions and other organizations inside businesses.

The process will start in large- and medium-scale firms and then be applied to small businesses, while local Party committees will be tasked with ensuring the cells operate in accordance with politburo regulations.

Vietnam introduced market-oriented reforms in the late 1980s, unleashing economic takeoff and dramatic social changes.

Hanoi says it is committed to maintaining the reform policy, but conservatives argue that economic and social liberalization could loosen the party's grip on power.

Over the past year Hanoi has moved to bolster the leading role of the party in Vietnamese society through a series of campaigns and decrees.

A prime government target of these have been concerns over "peaceful evolution" -- a term used by Hanoi to mean backdoor subversion by groups seeking to gradually foment discontent through cultural and economic means.

Senior Vietnamese officials say the party cell system will serve to enhance communication between government and business

Only 80 of the total of 1,500 joint ventures in the country have party cells at present.

However, more than 90 percent of foreign joint ventures, which account for the bulk of the roughly US$23 billion of approved investment in Vietnam, involve partnerships with state-owned enterprises.