Held in Hanoi from 19 to 23 January 2026, the 14^th National Party Congress concluded as a resounding success in every aspect. This achievement serves as a clear testament that effectively nullifies the sabotage schemes and slanderous rhetoric of hostile forces. Furthermore, it creates a powerful source of encouragement for the whole Party, the entire population, and the Military. It empowers the nation to overcome all obstacles, seize fresh opportunities, and strive towards the successful realisation of the goals set by the Congress in the new era, for a Vietnam that is prosperous and powerful, with a well-off and happy population.

Recognising sabotage tactics and distortions

Just as with previous Party Congresses, as we proceed with Party congresses at all levels for the 2025 - 2030 tenure, leading up to the 14^th National Party Congress for the 2026 - 2031 tenure, hostile forces and political opportunists both at home and abroad, including individuals such as Nguyen Van Dai and Le Trung Khoa, are once again aggressively attacking and distorting the preparation and organisation of the Congress. They employ various tactics and disseminate numerous falsehoods across social media platforms, particularly on the Vietnamese-language channels of BBC and RFI, the terrorist organisation Viet Tan, and reactionary accounts such as Tieng Dan News, Chan Troi Moi Media (New Horizon Media), and Nhat Ky Yeu Nuoc (Patriot’s Diary), etc. Through so-called “discussions” and “seminars”, and under the guise of “petitions”, “contributing opinions to documents”, “strategic proposals for the Fatherland”, or “heartfelt opinions for the country”, they focus their distortions on two main areas: the documents and personnel work of the 14^th Congress.

The 14th Party Central Committee is formally introduced at the Congress (photo: baochinhphu.vn)

Regarding the Congress documents, they exploit the process of public consultation on the Draft documents to actively distort and reject both the form and substance of the Drafts submitted by the 13^th Party Central Committee to the 14^th National Congress. Their aim is to diminish the significance and stature of the Congress, as well as the role and position of the Party. Firstly, they allege that the documents of the 14^th Congress are “merely a rehash of old scripts”, “contain nothing new”, and represent “hollow, dogmatic, and conservative issues, obstinately clinging to Marxism - Leninism to maintain the Party’s power”(!). Regarding the socio-economic development goals identified by our Party in the Draft documents, they claim these are “unfeasible” and “lack a basis for implementation”(!), etc. Thereby, they sow seeds of scepticism about the success of the 14^th Congress. Furthermore, they misrepresent the achievements and significance of the country’s Doi Moi process as presented in the “Report summarising theoretical and practical issues regarding the socialist-oriented renewal process over the past 40 years in Vietnam”. They focus on downplaying the value of these achievements while exploiting and blowing out of proportion the limitations and weaknesses in the country’s economic, cultural, and social developments. They clamour that after 40 years of renewal, the Vietnamese people “still have to live in destitution” and that “culture and society are degrading, and morality is in decline”(!). Their deep-seated and malicious objective is to paint a dark picture of reality and exaggerate limitations to incite the people against the Party and the State, deny the Party’s leadership role, and ultimately demand the abolition of the Party’s leadership over the State and society. From commenting on the content of the Draft documents, they shift to attacking the Party’s ideological foundation, arguing that Marxism - Leninism and Ho Chi Minh Thought “are obsolete” and constitute “the cause holding back the country’s development”(!). Consequently, they call for the removal of Article 4 of the 2013 Constitution, which stipulates the leadership role of the Communist Party of Vietnam over society, and incite the implementation of “pluralism and a multi-party system”, “separation of powers”, and the establishment of “civil society”(!).

Regarding personnel work of the Congress, hostile forces and political opportunists view this as a focal point for sabotage, distortion, and fabrication. They allege that personnel work at the Congress is nothing more than “factional infighting” and that “the Party Congress is merely a charade - an occasion to restructure cadres based on factional group interests and to consolidate cliques”; or that it is “purely for show” because the results are "pre-imposed" and “the election at the Congress is merely nominal democracy”(!). Simultaneously, they continuously disseminate fabricated news, concoct stories about private lives, and smear the honour and personal prestige of high-ranking leaders. Even more insidiously, they utilise artificial intelligence (AI) to manipulate images in order to tarnish the reputation of personnel and speak ill of or fabricate details regarding the backgrounds of cadres slated for the new-term Party Central Committee, Politburo, and Secretariat. They then post and share these on social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok, causing information chaos and public anxiety. Not stopping there, they also “create their own personnel plans” and list their own rosters for the Politburo and Secretariat for the 2026 -2031 tenure, using these to pass “judgement” through deceitful and fabricated arguments. Their overarching objective is to erode the people’s trust and sow scepticism, portraying personnel work of the 14^th Party Congress as “hasty and imprudent”, “undemocratic”, and “rife with factionalism”(!).

The success of the Congress serves as practical refutation of all sabotage efforts

Despite distorted allegations and sabotage tactics, the 14^th National Party Congress proceeded exactly according to plan, within a context of social stability and assured security and order. The entire country vibrantly implemented emulation movements to welcome the Congress; notably, 234 infrastructure projects were commenced, inaugurated, or opened to traffic on 19 December 2025. Furthermore, the “Quang Trung Campaign” - dedicated to rebuilding and repairing homes for households damaged by natural disasters, storms, and floods in the Central region - was completed on schedule, prior to 15 January 2026. After five days of urgent and serious work (shortened by 1.5 days compared to the original plan) under the motto: “Solidarity - Democracy - Discipline - Breakthrough - Development”, and with a high sense of responsibility towards the Party, the people, and the country, the Congress completed its entire agenda and programme with resounding success. This stands as vivid proof refuting all sabotage by hostile forces and political opportunists.

First, with reference to the documents, the Congress engaged in vibrant, frank, democratic discussions and reached a high consensus in adopting key documents, namely: the Political Report, the Report summarising theoretical and practical issues regarding the socialist-oriented renewal process over the past 40 years in Vietnam, the Report summarising 15 years of implementing the Party Charter (2011 - 2025), and the Report reviewing the leadership and direction of the 13^th Party Central Committee. The documents adopted at this Congress were constructed in an elaborate, serious, thorough, methodical, scientific manner, imbued with the spirit of the revolutionary offensive and the spirit of renewal. They were based on a profound summarisation of the theory and practice of 40 years of renewal and the five-year term of the 13^th Congress, crystallising the wisdom, will, and aspirations of the entire Party, the entire population, and the entire Military.

The draft documents submitted to the Congress were adjusted, supplemented, and perfected multiple times based on the serious and selective adoption of opinions from Party congresses at all levels, as well as contributions from organisations, experts, scientists, and people from all walks of life. From 15 October 2025 to 15 November 2025, the Draft documents submitted to the 14^th Party Congress were publicly released on mass media to solicit contributions from National Assembly deputies, the Fatherland Front, political - social organisations, cadres, party members, and the people. This included specific meetings to seek opinions from groups of veteran cadres, notables, intellectuals, scientists, entrepreneurs, etc. The result was nearly 5 million instances of participation yielding over 13 million opinions. This reality serves as vivid proof refuting the distortions of hostile forces claiming that “the Party is not transparent in publicising document content” or that “the Draft documents of the 14^th Congress are merely formalistic, lack practicality, and do not accurately reflect the aspirations of the people”(!).

The Congress also acknowledged that the Draft documents submitted to the 14^th Congress featured many innovations in form, structure, and content. Primarily, regarding form and structure, there was an integration of the content of three draft documents - the Political Report, the Report evaluating the 5-year implementation of the 10-year Socio-Economic Development Strategy (2021 - 2030) with directions and tasks for 2026 - 2030, and the Report on Party building, into a single Political Report following a consistent, unified, and uniformed axis. This was also the first time the Party Central Committee submitted a “Draft Action Programme of the Party Central Committee to implement the Resolution of the 14^th National Congress” for the Congress to discuss and resolve. Furthermore, regarding expression, the Draft documents this time were all articulated in a spirit of being concise, succinct, easy to understand, and easy to implement, with a reduction in academic abstraction to ensure high feasibility, thereby serving as a basis for the entire Party’s immediate implementation after the Congress.

Regarding content, the Political Report submitted to this Congress features numerous innovations, demonstrated immediately in the Congress’s theme, which addresses the requirement for “strategic autonomy, self-reliance, self-confidence, and vigorous advancement in the era of the nation’s ascent”. The Political Report has also incorporated seven strategic resolutions issued by the Politburo from late 2024 to the present, creating momentum for rapid, sustainable development and realising the aspiration of a powerful Vietnam by 2045.

In the specific details of the Political Report, one can observe many new points reflecting the Party’s capacity for practical summarisation, the development of thinking, and the mettle for self-renewal. Notably, this includes considering the “theory of renewal strategy” as an important component which, together with Marxism - Leninism and Ho Chi Minh Thought, constitutes the Party’s ideological foundation, incorporating “environmental protection” into the group of “central tasks” alongside economic and social development, and determining that “stepping up foreign affairs and international integration” together with “defence and security consolidation” is a “vital and regular” task. It affirms that “political institutions are key, economic institutions are central, and other institutions are very important”, clearly demonstrating the order of priority in institutional reform - the “bottleneck of all bottlenecks”.

In the economic sphere, the Political Report mentions establishing a new growth model “with the goal of raising productivity, quality, efficiency, added value, and the competitiveness of the economy, taking science and technology, innovation, and digital transformation as the main drivers”, and seeing the “private sector as the most important engine” of the national economy.

Comrade To Lam is elected as General Secretary of the 14th Party Central Committee (photo: baochinhphu.vn)

In the sphere of Vietnamese culture and people, for the first time, the “national value system”, “cultural value system”, and “Vietnamese family value system” are specifically outlined in the Documents. Human development alongside cultural development is viewed as “the foundation, endogenous strength, and an immense driver for the rapid and sustainable development of the country”. The Report affirms the “comprehensive development of Vietnamese people regarding morality, intellect, national consciousness, civic responsibility, creative capacity, aesthetics, physical fitness, life skills, and vocational skills”, “taking the happiness and satisfaction of the people as the measure and goal of striving”.

In the field of education and training, the Political Report identifies the goal of building an education system that is “modern, on par with the region and the world”, “making English the second language in schools, integrating digital competency into the general education curriculum”, viewing the development of knowledge and high-quality human resources as a prerequisite for national self-reliance. Along with education and training, the Political Report sets out “breakthroughs in the development of science, technology, innovation, and national digital transformation” as the central driver in the new growth model and the key to realising the aspiration for rapid and sustainable development. The emphasis on innovation and digital transformation proves that our Party clearly perceives global development trends and the necessity of utilising these factors to create breakthroughs in development.

In the fields of defence and security, for the first time, the Political Report affirms the need to “promote breakthrough development” in defence and security industries. This demonstrates a very high level of political determination to create a leap forward in capacity for autonomy, self-reliance, and self-strengthening, affirming the construction of a “modern” People’s Army and People’s Public Security commencing immediately in this term, five years ahead of the orientation set by the 13^th Congress.

In foreign affairs and international integration, the Political Report identifies the “pioneering role” of foreign affairs in coordinating closely with defence, security, various sectors, levels, and localities to proactively prevent risks of war and conflict early and from afar, creating and maintaining a peaceful and stable environment, and firmly defending the Fatherland.

In Party building work, a new and prominent point in the Document is the addition of the requirement for “building, rectifying, and self-renewing so that our Party is truly ethical and civilised”, as President Ho Chi Minh once affirmed.

By reviewing a number of new and prominent points in the Political Report submitted to the 14^th Party Congress, we can affirm that: it is the rhetoric of hostile forces and political opportunists regarding the content of the Congress documents that is truly “a rehash of old scripts”, not the content of the documents of the 14^th Congress.

Second, with regard to personnel work of the 14^th Congress, our Party identifies this as the “key of all keys”, the “most critical of critical matters”, and the essential issue guaranteeing the success of the Congress. Therefore, as early as 14 April 2025, the Politburo issued Directive 45-CT/TW on all-level Party congresses towards the 14^th National Party Congress. It determined that: “Personnel work must ensure the direct and comprehensive leadership of the Party and Party committees at all levels... Guarantee succession, renewal, and continuous development of the contingent of cadres, uphold and value quality and reasonable quantity and structure, strengthen important and key positions, areas, and sectors...; There must be effective screening mechanisms and criteria so as not to overlook those who truly possess virtue and talent, resolutely prevent the admission into the new committees of those with unsteady political mettle, who are vacillating, not steadfast in the Party’s lines and viewpoints; whose moral qualities, capabilities, and prestige have diminished; who lack a sense of discipline and cause disunity; who evade responsibility or do not dare to act; who show signs of political opportunism, ambition for power, ‘term-thinking’, sycophancy, soliciting favours, corruption, wastefulness, negativity, bureaucracy, parochialism, and group interests; or who show signs of degradation in political ideology, morality, and lifestyle, ‘self-evolution’, or 'self-transformation'..."

At its 12^th Conference (from 18 to 19 July 2025), the Party Central Committee adopted the orientation for personnel work of the 14^th Congress, agreeing on the assessment: “The preparation of personnel for the 14^th Party Congress needs to be conducted in a synchronous, scientific, methodical, strict, democratic, objective, transparent manner, ensure strict adherence to Party regulations, the principle of democratic centralism, and legal regulations, place national interests above all else, and resolutely prevent the ‘slipping through’ of those who do not meet standards and conditions, or who are unworthy of participating in the 14^th Party Central Committee”.

On the morning of 31 July 2025, during a meeting with veteran revolutionary cadres, pre-uprising cadres, Vietnamese Heroic Mothers, generals, and Heroes of the People’s Armed Forces in Hanoi, General Secretary To Lam continued to affirm: “The selected Party Central Committee members must be truly exemplary, pure, dare to think, dare to do, dare to take responsibility, and dare to sacrifice personal interests for the common good, placing the interests of the collective, the people, and the nation above all else. They must possess great prestige within the Party and be trusted by the people”.

At its 15^th Conference (from 22 to 23 December 2025), the Party Central Committee unanimously adopted the report on the Party’s personnel work to be presented to the 14^th Congress. They voted with high consensus to introduce personnel for the 14^th Party Central Committee, the Politburo, the Secretariat, and key leaders of the Party and the State for the 2026 - 2031 tenure, to be submitted to the 14^th National Party Congress for consideration, decision, and election in accordance with the Party Charter and regulations.

Thanks to personnel preparations for the Congress being conducted thoughtfully, thoroughly, solidly, methodically, carefully, accurately, and in accordance with regulations, the personnel orientation for the 14^th Party Central Committee, and the established processes, the 14^th National Party Congress was conducted seriously, in accordance with the Party Charter and the Election Regulations. It wisely selected and democratically elected 200 comrades who met the standards and were worthy of joining the 14^th Party Central Committee (comprising 180 official members and 20 alternate members). The 14^th Party Central Committee elected a Politburo consisting of 19 members. The 14^th Party Central Committee reached absolute consensus in electing Comrade To Lam, General Secretary of the 13^th Party Central Committee, to continue holding the position of General Secretary of the 14^th Party Central Committee for the 2026 - 2031 tenure. This demonstrates that one cannot claim personnel work of the 14^th Congress was “hasty”, “imposed”, “undemocratic”, or rife with “factional infighting” as distorted by hostile forces and political opportunists.

The 14^th National Party Congress holds significant importance as a turning point and a special golden milestone on our country’s development path, opening a new era - an era of the nation’s ascent towards wealth and prosperity. The resounding success of the Congress serves as vivid practical proof refuting all sabotage tactics and distortions by hostile forces and political opportunists. Simultaneously, it creates an immense motivation for the entire Party, the entire population, and the entire armed forces to overcome all difficulties and challenges, seize new opportunities, and strive to successfully realise the goal of making our country a developing nation with modern industry and high-middle income by 2030, practically celebrating the 100^th founding anniversary of the Party and striving to realise the vision for 2045 - the 100^th founding anniversary of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam - becoming a developed, high-income nation with  socialist orientation.

To welcome the success of the 14^th National Party Congress, the immediate task following the Congress is for Party committees and organisations at all levels, and all cadres and Party members, to organise the thorough study and profound internalisation of the Congress Resolution and documents, along with the Action Programme of the Party Central Committee to implement the Resolution of the 14^th National Congress. News agencies and the press must promote widespread dissemination throughout the Party and the people regarding the results of the Congress. Party committees and organisations at all levels must urgently formulate and execute action programmes for their respective levels to bring the Resolution of the 14^th Congress into life, rousing a widespread Patriotic Emulation movement and a spirit of innovation throughout the entire Party, the entire population, and the entire Military to turn the Congress’s decisions into vivid reality.

NGUYEN NGOC HOI