HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam’s President Tran Dai Quang, a former chief of internal security who became one of the most high-profile leaders in the communist-ruled country, died on Friday after an illness, state media said. FILE PHOTO: Vietnam's President Tran Dai Quang attends a news conference in Hanoi, Vietnam September 6, 2017. REUTERS/Kham/File Photo Quang’s rise, at a time of growing dissent on social media and challenges to the party’s authority, signaled limits to Vietnam’s liberal agenda, despite a growing openness to social change and sweeping economic reform, experts say. Quang, 61, died in a military hospital in Hanoi of a “serious illness despite efforts by domestic and international doctors and professors,” Vietnam Television said. He had hosted a reception for China’s Supreme Court chief on Wednesday, state-owned newspaper Vietnam News said. Quang had been ill for months, said former health minister Nguyen Quoc Trieu, who now oversees healthcare for high-ranking officials. “He began showing symptoms of illness in June last year and has been treated in Japan six times since,” Trieu told Reuters. “He suffered from a kind of highly virulent virus, for which there has not been any efficient treatment.” Vietnam has no paramount ruler and is officially led by four “pillars”: its president, prime minister, the chief of its Communist Party and the national assembly chair. The president has a more ceremonial role, although he sits on the powerful decision-making politburo. Slideshow ( 12 images ) Before his April 2016 appointment as president, Quang had been minister of public security, heading an organization with broad powers responsible for intelligence gathering and thwarting domestic and foreign threats to the party. ILLNESS RUMORS Posts about the death of Quang, once tipped by some analysts as a potential general secretary, spread quickly on Facebook before state media took the rare step of announcing it within two hours of the event. Rumors of his illness had circulated on social media for months, and there was no significant reaction in Vietnam’s benchmark index. At one of Quang’s last appearances, during a visit to Hanoi by Indonesian President Joko Widodo on September 11, the president appeared visibly unwell and stumbled as he stepped on to a platform to inspect a guard of honor. Quang hailed from a small farming community 115 km (70 miles) south of Hanoi, rising through party ranks to become a police general and Politburo member. “We are saddened to hear the news that the president has died,” said Bui Duc Phi, council chairman of the village where he was born. Vietnam’s constitution provides for the vice president to perform the president’s duties should he be unable to work. “Vice president Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh will handle his duties until the National Assembly elects a new president,” said prominent lawyer Tran Vu Hai. The national assembly is set to meet in late October, but the date could be brought forward, he added.<doc-sep>President Tran Dai Quang of Vietnam, a former police general who presided over a crackdown on free speech in that one-party state, died on Friday. He was 61. The state-controlled Vietnam News Agency said the death resulted from an unspecified “serious illness.” Nguyen Quoc Trieu, a government doctor, was quoted by the state news media as saying that Mr. Quang had died of “a rare and serious viral disease” at a military hospital in Hanoi, the capital. Mr. Quang had fallen ill last July and traveled to Japan six times for treatment, Dr. Trieu said. Vietnam, like China, is governed by an authoritarian Communist Party but promotes a version of state capitalism. Unlike China, where Xi Jinping is both president and Communist Party chief, Vietnam has a power structure in which responsibilities at the top are split among a party chief; a president, who serves as head of state; and a prime minister, who runs the government.<doc-sep>Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang greets journalists at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi on March 23, 2018. (CNN) — Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang died on Friday aged 61 at a military hospital in the capital Hanoi following a period of illness, state media said. Quang was appointed president, a largely ceremonial role, in April 2016, and served alongside Vietnam’s de facto leader Communist Party Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc. Before that he served as minister of public security. As president, Quang was reputed to be tough on dissent, with his government overseeing a crackdown on rights groups. “President Quang’s legacy is a multi-year crackdown on human rights and putting more political prisoners behind bars in Vietnam than any time in recent memory,” said Phil Robertson, Deputy Asia Director, Human Rights Watch. “More than anyone else, he’s responsible for the ministry of public security’s expansion into all aspects of daily Vietnamese life, bringing all the rights abuses, corruption and extortion that come with increased police presence,” he added. Quang was promoted through the Communist party’s ranks, rising to become a police general and member of the politburo. STR/AFP/Getty Images Tran Dai Quang makes a toast with US President Donald Trump (R) at the start of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit leaders gala dinner in the central Vietnamese city of Danang on November 10, 2017. At an APEC meeting in Danang in November last year, he hosted a group of world leaders, including US President Donald Trump and China’s Xi Jinping.<doc-sep>Hanoi (AFP) - Vietnam's President Tran Dai Quang, a former police chief known as a tough politician and committed communist with little tolerance for dissent, died Friday aged 61 after a serious illness, state media reported. His death is not likely to dramatically alter politics in a country where the powerful communist government oversees almost every facet of society -- although the death of a sitting leader is rare. Coverage on state media was sombre Friday, with a Vietnam Television anchor in dark clothing announcing the news of the leader's death, first reported by the official Vietnam News Agency. A member of Quang's staff confirmed his death to AFP. The president had sought treatment in Japan for over a year before he was checked into hospital on Thursday afternoon after contracting a "rare virus", Nguyen Quoc Trieu, in charge of the healthcare committee for top leaders, said in state media. In office as president since April 2016 after more than four decades at the powerful Ministry of Public Security (MPS), Quang had a reputation as a hardliner. Though he held one of the country's top four positions and was officially the head of state, his role was seen as largely ceremonial, greeting visiting leaders and hosting diplomatic events in a bid to boost Vietnam's profile on the world stage. Quang, also a politburo member, had appeared thin and pale in public in recent months and was unstable on his feet last week when he hosted a welcoming ceremony for Indonesian President Joko Widodo in Hanoi. His last public appearance was just two days ago at a meeting with visiting Chinese politicians and foreign dignitaries. - Public profile - His death is not likely to shake up politics in the one-party state, which prides itself on stable, consensus-based leadership and where the dramas that are rumoured to play out in the corridors of power are rarely aired publicly. "It will not lead to any ruffles in leadership or any tensions," Vietnam expert Carl Thayer told AFP Friday. Story continues Born October 12, 1956 in northern Ninh Binh province, Quang joined the police academy as a young man and went on to study at the College of Foreign Language in Hanoi. He has been a communist party member since 1980. He joined the security ministry in 1975 and steadily climbed the ranks of the shadowy yet powerful institution, which heads up the country's secret police and intelligence. Despite his reputation as an influential politician, Quang often appeared uncomfortable in the public eye and lacked the charisma of his peers in the party's upper echelons. In an interview with AFP in 2016, Quang read from a prepared statement and was quickly escorted out by staff when questions went off-script. - Dissident crackdown - His time in office was underpinned by a simmering conflict with Beijing over the South China Sea, a long-running dispute between the communist neighbours that escalated on several occasions during his presidency. But Beijing paid tribute to Quang Friday, with foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang calling him "an outstanding leader... (who) made important contributions to the national development of reform and opening up in Vietnam". UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres praised "an important promoter of Vietnam's development", saying in a statement he was "saddened to learn of the death" of Quang who "will be long remembered in his country and beyond". Quang threw his weight behind an anti-corruption campaign that critics said was designed to eliminate political foes. But his primary role was as the administration's public face at high-profile events, notably at an APEC meeting in Danang in November last year where he hosted a bevy of world leaders -- including US President Donald Trump and Russia's Vladimir Putin. Some paid respects to Quang online Friday, but emotional outpourings were largely absent. "People don't care that much because they're more focused on making ends meet... and they've lost trust in this regime," the head of Vietnam's independent journalist association Pham Chi Dung told AFP. As president, Quang also oversaw a crackdown on dissidents, with more than 40 jailed this year alone. It earned him a bruised reputation that is likely to resonate among critics outside Vietnam. "He was basically at the top of the apparatus of repression that silences voices," Andrea Giorgetta of the International Federation for Human Rights told AFP. Quang is survived by his wife and two sons.<doc-sep>
VIETNAM’S President Tran Dai Quang died Friday at age 61 after a prolonged and serious illness, state media reported. He passed away from a “serious illness despite devoted treatment by professors and doctors” both in Vietnam and abroad, the official Vietnam News Agency said. In office as president since April 2016 after more than four decades at the powerful Ministry of Public Security, Quang had a reputation as a tough leader with little tolerance for dissent. Though he held one of the country’s top four positions and was officially the head of state, his role as president was seen as largely ceremonial, greeting visiting leaders and hosting diplomatic events in a bid to boost Vietnam’s profile on the world stage. Quang had appeared thin and pale in public, and was unstable on his feet last week when he hosted a welcoming ceremony for Indonesian President Joko Widodo in Hanoi last week. His last public appearance was just two days ago, at a meeting with visiting Chinese politicians and foreign dignitaries in Hanoi. Quang, a member of the Politburo, had a reputation as tough and influential in the inner circles of the communist party, though often appeared uncomfortable in the public eye and lacked the charisma of some of his peers in the upper echelons of the party. In an interview with AFP 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. State media made a sombre announcement of his death Friday and celebrated his long commitment to public service. His time in office was dominated by a simmering conflict with Beijing over the South China Sea, a long-running dispute between the communist neighbours that escalated on several occasions. Vietnam cancelled at least one oil drilling project in the resource-rich region during Quang’s tenure in an apparent bid to quell tensions. He was the administration’s most public face at a series of high-profile events, most notably at an APEC meeting in Danang in November last year where he hosted a bevy of world leaders — including US President Donald Trump and China’s Xi Jinping. As president, he oversaw a crackdown on dissidents that rights groups have decried as a chokehold on free expression. More than 40 people were jailed this year and some 100 have been behind bars as of April 2018, according to Amnesty International.