His official visit to the United Kingdom in late October made that distinction unmistakable. Amid Vietnam’s urgent need for external funding to sustain its ambitious 8.5% GDP growth target, To Lam is acting less like an ideological guardian and more like a pragmatic dealmaker, sent overseas to restore confidence, attract investment, and rebrand the regime’s global image.
Once known as a hardline security chief, he is now recasting himself as the ultimate power broker: the one who controls both the Party’s internal machinery and its external diplomacy.
