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Importing the Surveillance State: Tô Lâm, China, and the Pivot Away from the U.S.

By Aerolyne Reed5 min read
Photo: Morson.com, Reuters. Graphic: ĐVH/The Vietnamese Magazine.

Tô Lâm was packing for Beijing almost immediately after taking his presidential oath, aiming to start the first steps in his self-proclaimed New Era.

Unanimously elected as state president on April 7, 2026, while retaining his role as general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), Lâm has cemented an unprecedented consolidation of power. This makes him Việt Nam’s most formidable leader in decades. 

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Aerolyne Reed

Aerolyne Reed is a writer and she does not consider herself as anyone special. She thinks she is just another sound, lost in a multitude of voices, just another soul adrift in the aetherial sea.

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