Key Events
- Police Seek Wider Powers to Shield the Party;
- Arrests of Dissidents Rise Under Tô Lâm Era;
- Việt Nam Holds First Beatification Rite;
- EFTA Seals Trade Deal with Việt Nam;
- World Bank Raises Việt Nam’s Income Status.
Việt Nam’s Police Seek More Power — and More Protection for the Communist Party
The Ministry of Public Security (MPS) is using the draft amended Penal Code to push two major changes that would expand police power while giving the Communist Party stronger criminal-law protection.
The proposals move in two directions at once: shielding police officers from criminal liability for certain “operational measures” while creating a clearer legal basis to punish speech or materials deemed hostile to the Communist Party. Together, they would make the police less vulnerable to prosecution—and citizens more vulnerable when criticizing the Party.
The MPS is collecting public feedback on the draft amended Penal Code from June 26 to July 16. In the draft, the ministry retained a proposal first introduced in April 2026 to add “propaganda against the Communist Party” to Article 117, which currently targets propaganda against the state.
The proposed revision would criminalize “making, storing, distributing, or propagating information, documents, or items” aimed at opposing the Communist Party of Việt Nam or the Socialist Republic of Việt Nam. The offense would carry a prison sentence of five to 12 years.
The MPS argues that the Communist Party is “a particularly important entity that must be protected” and that existing law does not adequately reflect the party’s role and position in Việt Nam’s political system.
In a separate provision, the MPS is again proposing to exclude police officers and other members of the armed forces from criminal liability when they carry out national defense, security, or crime-prevention duties and comply with legal procedures but still cause damage. The police say the exemption is needed because police work may involve “secret” operational measures.
The two proposals would deepen the legal asymmetry between the state’s coercive apparatus and the public. Police officers could receive broader protection when their operations cause harm, while citizens could face heavier risks for criticism, documentation, or commentary that authorities frame as “opposing” the party.
This proposal is not just a technical revision of criminal law. It would further merge the protection of the Communist Party with the protection of the state, even though the party is already the sole political force leading both the government and the armed forces. In practice, criticism of party leaders, party institutions, or party ideology would become easier to prosecute as a national-security offense.
Critics warned in the public feedback process that criminalizing “propaganda against the Communist Party” could place the party in a special legal position above other entities and undermine equality before the law. Others said that the concept of “opposition to the party” is vague and can be easily abused.
The amended Penal Code would not only expand what the police can punish. It would also shield security forces from criminal liability during operations. The result is a criminal-law framework that protects the party more explicitly, protects police operations more broadly, and narrows the space for public scrutiny.
New Report Says Dissident Arrests Doubled Under Tô Lâm
Việt Nam has doubled the number of politically related arrests since 2022, as authorities increasingly use broadly written criminal laws to target activists, dissidents, legal petitioners, and ordinary citizens who are considered threats to the Communist Party rule, according to a new report by Project 88.
The rights group documented 56 politically motivated arrests in 2025, the third consecutive year of increases and twice the number recorded in 2022. The figure includes only cases in which defendants could be identified by name and tracked, meaning the real number is likely higher, Project 88’s co-director Ben Swanton said.
The report says Việt Nam under Tô Lâm “routinely weaponizes criminal law” to suppress dissent. Tô Lâm, the country’s former top security official, has served as Communist Party general secretary since 2024 and was also elected state president earlier this year.
Authorities are relying more heavily on Article 331 of the Penal Code, which criminalizes “abusing democratic freedoms” to infringe upon state interests and carries a prison sentence of up to seven years.
Human Rights Watch previously said the law’s use has expanded beyond democracy activists to ordinary people who raise grievances on social media about land rights, religious freedom, Indigenous rights, and corruption involving state or party officials.
Project 88 cited several 2025 cases, including those of three men behind the YouTube channel “Người Đưa Tin” (“The Messenger”) who were arrested under Article 331 for allegedly posting “distorted content.”
Other cases included a Montagnard activist arrested in Thailand and extradited to Việt Nam, a dissident writer accused of spreading “propaganda against the state,” and a man who helped Hà Tĩnh residents file complaints seeking fair compensation for land confiscated for a new highway.
The crackdown appears driven partly by the Communist Party’s fear of a “color revolution,” a term used by authoritarian governments to describe peaceful mass uprisings that could threaten one-party rule.
The report noted that Việt Nam and China agreed earlier this year to “prioritize political security” and strengthen efforts to resist such movements, according to China’s Xinhua News Agency.
Swanton said Tô Lâm’s rise has turned Việt Nam into a “literal police state that tolerates no dissent,” calling it a regression from the more open political space of the 2010s. Việt Nam’s Foreign Ministry did not respond to requests for comment on the report’s findings, the South China Morning Post reports.
The Project 88 report portrays Việt Nam’s repression as both broader and more routine: long-standing targets such as journalists and activists remain vulnerable, while legal petitioners, social media users, and exiles are increasingly drawn into the state’s criminal net.
Papal Envoy Presides Over Vietnam’s First Beatification Rite
Tens of thousands of Catholics gathered in Việt Nam’s Mekong Delta on Thursday, July 2, 2026, for the first beatification ceremony ever held on Vietnamese soil, marking both a historic moment for the country’s Catholic community and a visible sign of improving ties between Hà Nội and the Vatican, AFP reports.
Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, attending as papal envoy of Pope Leo XIV, presided over a special Mass at Tắc Sậy Church in Cà Mau for Father Francis Xavier Trương Bửu Diệp, a priest remembered for protecting parishioners during wartime before he was killed in 1946.
The ceremony declared Father Diệp “blessed,” the second of three steps toward sainthood in the Catholic Church. According to the Catholic Church in Việt Nam, around 70,000 people were expected to attend, with many arriving days early and watching the ceremony on large screens outside the church.
“We slept on a mat outside the church last night,” said Trần Lê Tập, a 65-year-old saleswoman who had traveled from An Giang Province, to AFP. “It was a great honor for us to be here on this special occasion. We cannot miss it.”
Another pilgrim, 33-year-old Lê Mai, traveled from Hà Nội with her mother, making a day-long journey by plane and car, also described her pilgrimage to AFP. “It was a long way to go, all the way from the north here, but it’s a privilege for me and my mother to be able to attend this ceremony,” she said.
Father Diệp was assigned to the Tắc Sậy Parish in 1930. The Cần Thơ Diocese has described him as devoted to the poor, the sick, and those suffering during war. Cardinal Tagle called the ceremony a “moment of great joy for Vietnamese Catholics” and a “truly historic day in the life of the Church.”
The public presence of a papal envoy also underscored warming relations between Communist-ruled Việt Nam and the Vatican, which have not had formal diplomatic relations since 1975. In 2023, the two sides reached a breakthrough agreement allowing a resident papal representative in Việt Nam.
Việt Nam has more than 7.5 million Catholics, accounting for about 7.4% of the population, according to the Vatican’s official news outlet. The country’s constitution guarantees religious freedom, but the state tightly regulates religious organizations through registration requirements, surveillance, and oversight.
The Catholic Church said 117 people from Việt Nam had previously been beatified and later canonized as saints, but those ceremonies took place at the Vatican. Father Diệp’s beatification was the first held inside Việt Nam.
EFTA Concludes Free Trade Talks With Việt Nam
The European Free Trade Association has successfully concluded negotiations with Việt Nam on a free trade agreement, marking a new step in the bloc’s effort to diversify commercial ties amid rising global tariff tensions.
The EFTA—made up of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland—said the agreement covers a broad range of trade and regulatory areas, including rules of origin, investment, intellectual property rights, competition, trade remedies, and government procurement.
The deal comes as small and mid-sized economies are trying to reduce exposure to mounting trade friction. Reuters noted that Switzerland, the EFTA’s largest economy, was hit last August with the highest U.S. tariffs in Europe after President Donald Trump imposed a series of import duties globally.
Trade between the EFTA and Việt Nam has grown steadily over the past decade. By 2025, bilateral trade reached 4.8 billion euros, or about $5.5 billion. The figures exclude Swiss trade in gold and show Việt Nam running a 2.5 billion euro trade surplus with the bloc.
The path to the agreement was lengthy. The EFTA and Việt Nam launched free trade talks in 2012, but negotiations stalled in 2018 after 16 rounds due to a lack of progress. The talks were revived in September 2025 and concluded after five additional rounds.
For Việt Nam, the agreement adds another trade framework with a high-income European bloc, strengthening its strategy of deepening market access beyond larger partners such as the European Union, China, and the United States. For EFTA members, Việt Nam offers a fast-growing manufacturing and consumer market in Southeast Asia.
The announcement came as Swiss President Guy Parmelin was visiting North America, where he aimed to make progress on updating Switzerland’s free trade agreement with Mexico. The timing underscores Switzerland’s broader effort to expand and refresh trade ties as tariff uncertainty reshapes global commerce.
The EFTA-Việt Nam agreement signals that both sides are betting on trade diversification. For Việt Nam, it is another step toward embedding itself more deeply in global supply chains. For the EFTA, it opens another channel into Southeast Asia at a time when tariff risks are pushing countries to widen their economic options.
World Bank Lifts Việt Nam to Upper-Middle-Income Status
The World Bank has reclassified Việt Nam and the Philippines as upper-middle-income economies, a milestone that reflects years of growth but also places both countries in a harder stage of development where cheap labor and export-led expansion may no longer be enough, Fortune reports.
The new classification, announced in the World Bank’s July 1 update, is based on gross national income, or GNI, per capita in 2025. Countries with GNI per capita between $4,636 and $14,375 are now classified as upper-middle-income economies. Việt Nam reported GNI per capita of $4,970, while the Philippines reached $4,850, according to Fortune.
The World Bank said five countries moved from lower-middle-income to upper-middle-income status this year: Jordan, Micronesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Việt Nam.
The bank described Việt Nam’s rise as “a story of growth,” driven by an export-led model, exports that rose more than 15% in both 2024 and 2025, and GDP growth of 7% and 8% in those two years.
The Philippines’ upgrade came through broader economic expansion, with GDP growing an average of 5.8% per year over five years and gains recorded across major industries rather than from one sector alone, the World Bank said.
For Việt Nam, the new status places it alongside Southeast Asian peers such as Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia.
Fortune cited Khuong Minh Vu, a professor at Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, as calling the upgrade a “highly encouraging milestone” and international recognition of the development progress achieved by both countries.
But the upgrade also brings new pressure. Khuong warned that entering the upper-middle-income group marks the start of “a far more demanding phase of development.”
Many countries that reach this level later struggle with the middle-income trap: wages rise, the cheap-labor advantage fades, and economies must shift toward productivity, innovation, and higher-value industries to keep growing.
Fortune noted that Malaysia has remained an upper-middle-income country for 37 years, Thailand for 15 years, and Indonesia for six, with long-term growth generally below 5% after entering the category.
Hà Nội has set an ambitious target of reaching high-income status by 2045 and is aiming for average GDP growth of 10% through the end of the decade. The next test is whether Việt Nam can turn its export success and institutional reforms into productivity gains strong enough to avoid the same trap.
Quick Takes:
Lê Dũng Vova Released From Prison
Vietnamese activist Lê Văn Dũng, also known as Lê Dũng Vova, was released from prison on June 30, 2026, according to a family source. According to social media, before leaving the prison, he was asked to sign for 60,000 đồng ($2.28) in “community reintegration” money but had to pay 30,000 đồng for a citizen ID card prepared by police, leaving him with just 30,000 đồng. Prison authorities drove him to Hà Đông Ward at 8:30 a.m., but Dũng demanded a copy of his verdict, which he said was needed to clarify his five-year probation. The authorities have yet to provide it.
Vietnamese Users Block State News Pages Over Fines
Many Vietnamese Facebook users have begun blocking state-run news pages as Decree 174/2026 took effect on July 1, fearing fines for accidentally sharing copyrighted journalistic content without permission. The decree allows penalties of 20 million to 30 million đồng for “providing” or “sharing” press works on social media without consent from rights holders. Some users said the rule could cost them months of income because the average monthly salary for Vietnamese in Hà Nội and Sài Gòn is about 13 million đồng according to the crowd-sourced cost-of-living database Numbeo. The Ministry of Public Security’s cybersecurity department criticized the trend, arguing that blocking official outlets could push readers toward “fake news” and accusing hostile forces of exploiting public confusion.
UN Experts Urge Việt Nam To Reconsider Decree 109
United Nations legal experts have urged Việt Nam to reconsider Decree 109, warning that the regulation threatens the independence of lawyers. In a June 17 communication, two UN Special Rapporteurs said the decree, which took effect May 18, gives commune-level People’s Committee chairpersons power to revoke lawyers’ licenses. They said the decree’s vague provisions, including harming the profession’s “image” or “prestige,” could lead to arbitrary use. The experts also warned that confiscating evidence in administrative cases could expose lawyer-client information, endangering defendants and human rights defenders. Decree 109 has drawn opposition from Vietnamese lawyers.
HCMC Press Outlets Publish Final Editions
Several long-running press outlets in Hồ Chí Minh City published their final editions on June 30, marking the end of decades of local journalism. Under Decision No. 863 of the HCMC Party Committee, eight agencies will be dissolved: Người Lao Động, Phụ nữ TP. HCM, Pháp luật TP. HCM, Giáo dục TP. HCM Magazine, Du lịch TP. HCM Magazine, Doanh nhân Sài Gòn Magazine, Kinh tế Sài Gòn Magazine, and Khoa học phổ thông Magazine. The outlets were ordered to stop publishing by June 30 and cease operations by Aug. 31. Three other media entities will merge into a new city-run agency.
