Vietnam Communist Party to let members do private business
HANOI - Vietnam's ruling Communist Party has cast
aside one of its basic articles of faith by deciding after years of
debate that party members should be allowed to engage in private business.
Pham Chi Lan, deputy head of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told
Reuters the decision was reached during a 13-day meeting of the powerful 150-member
party Central Committee that concluded on Saturday.
"While the definition of what is a capitalist economy is still being discussed, the fifth plenum
decided that those party members who already run private companies can still be
members of the Communist Party," she said.
Members of the ruling party have always been officially barred by its regulations from
engaging in private business, but many have retained positions in state firms that have been
partially or fully privatised.
Many others have engaged in property trading and run small businesses for years since
Vietnam relaxed its attitudes to the private sector in the late 1980s.
Lan said conditions would apply to the policy change, including a requirement for party
members to be in high standing in the eyes of the party and the people.
Proposals to recognise reality and allow party members to conduct private business had
been rejected by the last two congresses of the ruling party, including that last April, which
elected Nong Duc Manh as party chief.
The Central Committee meeting -- which coincided with a visit by Jiang Zemin, president
of neighbouring China and the head of its ruling Communist Party -- vowed to further
expand the growing private sector by creating the right conditions and legal environment
for it to flourish.
Carl Thayer, a Vietnam specialist the Australia Defence Force Academy, said Vietnam's
move showed it was following China's reform lead.
Vietnam has said in the past that it was watching closely China's decision to allow
entrepreneurs to join the Communist Party, but added that each ruling party needed to
take into account its own specific conditions.
"What we are seeing is the evolution of ideology for regime-maintenance purposes,"
Thayer said. "The party is following the lead of China by accepting that to stay in power it
needs to evolve."
Thayer said the move clearly established the reformist credentials of party chief Manh.
"It indicates he's pushing constitutional and legal reform. It's an issue that divided the party
and he's gained the upper hand," Thayer said.
By David Brunnstrom - Reuters - March 04, 2002.
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