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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Rebecca Ratcliffe South-east Asia correspondent

Vietnam’s Communist leader dies aged 80 creating power vacuum

Nguyen Phu Trong  stands in front of the Vietnamese and American flags.
Nguyen Phu Trong had been general-secretary of the Communist party since 2011. Photograph: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters

Nguyen Phu Trong, the general secretary of Vietnam’s ruling Communist party and the country’s most powerful politician, has died aged 80, creating a power vacuum.

Trong died early on Friday afternoon “after a period of illness”, according to his medical team, state media reported.

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