Vietnam President Tran Dai Quang dies at 61

NewsBharati    21-Sep-2018
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Hanoi, September 21: Vietnam President Tran Dai Quang died today after an illness, state television and radio announced. Quang, 61, died in a military hospital in Hanoi from a serious illness despite efforts by domestic and international doctors and professors.

 

Vietnam has no paramount ruler and is officially led by the president, prime minister and Communist Party chief. Experts say the presidency is largely ceremonial.

Quang was appointed to the role in April 2016. Before that, he had served as Minister of Public Security, an organization with broad powers, including intelligence gathering and thwarting domestic and foreign threats to the party.

Originally from a small farming community 115 km (70 miles) south of Hanoi, Quang rose through party ranks to become a police general and member of Vietnam’s powerful decision-making Politburo.

“We are saddened to hear the news that the president has died,” said Bui Duc Phi, chairman of the village in which Quang was born.

In an interview in 2016 ahead of a visit by the former French leader Francois Hollande, Quang read from a prepared statement and was quickly escorted from the room by staff when a question went off-script.

Vietnam has no paramount ruler and is officially led by the president, prime minister and Communist Party chief.