Party building

New requirements and expectations for strategic-level staff

Dr. Nguyen Van Dang • October 12, 2025 08:18

Dr. Nguyen Van Dang - Lecturer of the Institute of Leadership and Public Administration (Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics)

Dr. Nguyen Van Dang
Lecturer at the Institute of Leadership and Public Administration (Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics)

• October 12, 2025

Introducing personnel to the 14th Party Central Committee is one of the key contents at the 13th Conference of the 13th Party Central Committee, taking place from October 6 to 8, 2025. The announcement of the 13th Conference affirmed that the work of introducing personnel to the 14th Party Central Committee and the Central Inspection Commission is "particularly important", "key of the keys", and is a factor "deciding the success of the 14th National Congress of the Party and the development of the country in the coming period".

Milestone for a new stage of development

According to Article 9 of the Charter of the Communist Party of Vietnam (2011), the Central Committee is the highest leadership institution of the Party during the period between two national congresses. Members of the Central Committee are identified as strategic-level leaders. Specifically, they are the group of cadres managed by the Politburo and the Secretariat, including: members of the Politburo, the Secretariat, members of the Party Central Committee; leaders from deputy level and above of central departments, ministries, branches, and organizations and Party committees of provinces and centrally-run cities.

To gradually improve the quality of strategic-level cadres, recently, the Party has issued many institutional documents, clearly stating viewpoints and requirements, and specifying the selected assessment aspects and criteria.

The most notable of these are Resolution 26-NQ/TW/2018 on building cadres at all levels, especially at the strategic level; Regulation 214-QD/TW/2020 on the framework of standards for positions and criteria for evaluating cadres under the management of the Central Committee, the Politburo and the Secretariat; Resolution 28-NQ/TW/2022 on continuing to innovate the Party's leadership and governance methods over the political system in the new period; and Regulation 365-QD/TW/2025 on standards for positions of cadres under the management of the Central Committee, the Politburo and the Secretariat, and the framework of standards for positions of leaders and managers at all levels.

The Party's Resolutions and Regulations on personnel work reflect the Party's viewpoints, policies, and expectations of the Central Executive Committee, associated with each stage of the country's development. Accordingly, the Central Executive Committee must be a place where the country's "elite" individuals can gather, including those with strong political will, exemplary ethics and lifestyle, awareness and dedication, the spirit of "dare to think, dare to do, dare to face difficulties and challenges, and dare to take responsibility"; "capacity must be equal to the task", demonstrated through the quality and effectiveness of specific work results.

However, in the face of the new situation and new requirements, the Party has also frankly pointed out the limitations and shortcomings of the cadres at all levels in our country. Since 2018, Resolution No. 26-NQ/TW has stated: in general, "the cadres are large but not strong... lacking good leaders and managers... Some leaders and managers, including strategic-level cadres, lack exemplary behavior, low prestige, capacity and qualities not equal to the task, bureaucratic, distant from the people, individualistic, entangled in corruption, waste, negativity, and group interests".

The political report presented to the 13th National Party Congress stated: "A number of cadres and party members have faded ideals, reduced will, are afraid of difficulties and hardships, have degraded in political ideology, ethics, lifestyle, "self-evolution", "self-transformation".

The 14th Party Congress will be a milestone for a new development stage of the country.

As shown in Regulation 365-QD/TW/2025, development goals in the era of national growth are making the requirement of "strategic status" for Central Committee members more urgent than ever.

Raising the stature of strategic-level officials

Previously, we were still familiar with the principle of selecting leaders and managers who had to meet the requirement of being "both red and professional", that is, emphasizing two groups of political qualities and professional capacity.

Since the implementation of the renovation policy, under the impact of market economic factors and the international integration process, the above traditional requirements have increasingly revealed many shortcomings, especially in terms of political ethics, public service as well as management capacity of key officials at all levels.

Therefore, the Party's Resolutions and Regulations on personnel work in recent times have emphasized the requirement of "being worthy of the task" and meeting the needs of national development in the new situation.

Regulation 365-QD/TW/2025 sets out 06 groups of requirements for cadres at all levels in general, especially at the strategic level: I) politics, ideology; II) ethics, lifestyle, and sense of organization and discipline; III) qualifications, capacity; IV) prestige and ability to gather and unite; V) work results; VI) health, age and experience.

Accordingly, the Party and the people expect central personnel to be those whose working process has revealed outstanding personal qualities, deep and broad understanding, sharp thinking and long-term strategy, as well as the ability to gather support for the Party's leadership vision, the ability to build and maintain cooperation and solidarity for common goals, progressive policy views that are consistent with the movement of reality, and administrative and implementation capacity commensurate with their position, role and assigned tasks.

In the opening and closing speeches of the recent 13th Conference of the 13th Party Central Committee, towards the 14th National Party Congress, General Secretary To Lam first of all highlighted the top requirement of political awareness for central personnel in the new development stage of the country.

Accordingly, each strategic-level cadre must be aware that they are the country's political leaders, they "must put the interests of the Party, the nation, and the people above all else." This also means that once elected to the Central Committee, each individual will be bound by the political responsibility and duty of being absolutely loyal to the Party's revolutionary cause, serving the people, the nation, and the country.

To clarify the above requirements, General Secretary To Lam emphasized the need to strictly eliminate individuals who show signs of deviation, taking advantage of their positions as high-ranking leaders to pursue selfish personal interests or short-sighted group interests.

The increase in the number of officials at all levels who have committed violations to the extent that they have to be disciplined and prosecuted in recent years suggests that such corrupt and degenerate officials will not only be an obstacle to the country's development but can also reduce people's trust and threaten the survival of the regime. Therefore, according to the General Secretary, we need to "absolutely not allow people who seek positions, seek power, opportunists, or factions to enter the Party Central Committee".

Recent cases of strategic-level officials who have committed violations that require severe punishment have also raised the urgent need to quickly end the phenomenon of newly appointed officials being disciplined.

To ensure Party discipline and order, in his opening speech at the 13th Central Conference, General Secretary To Lam emphasized the importance of the personnel work of the Central Inspection Commission. Accordingly, we "need to select and introduce comrades who are courageous, impartial, knowledgeable about the law, proficient in their profession, "as clear as a mirror, as sharp as a sword", truly a precious sword to maintain Party discipline.

According to the General Secretary, the introduction and selection of central personnel in the coming time must be based on "qualities-capacity-prestige-integrity-efficiency; daring to think, daring to do, daring to take responsibility for the interests of the nation; close to the people, respecting the people, for the people... especially paying great attention to the factors of "Virtue-Strength-Talent".

This spirit was reaffirmed in the closing speech of the 13th Conference: the 14th Central Committee's personnel "must ensure quality - capacity - prestige - integrity - efficiency, resolutely not let in people who seek positions, seek power, are corrupt, negative, or lack the will to progress, and put peace first; promote exemplary leadership, make use of real talent, and arrange the right people for the right job at the right time."

The above criteria require more rational thinking and action in the selection and introduction of strategic-level cadres: there must be "balance and harmony between standards and structure; between inheritance, stability and development; between popularity and specificity; between training expertise and strengths, practical capacity; between prestige, work experience and development direction". In particular, "special emphasis is placed on the quality, efficiency, work products, and dedication of cadres as the basis and measure in selection".

People's expectations and beliefs

In his opening speech at the 13th Conference, General Secretary To Lam emphasized the people’s expectations as well as the need for drastic actions to create practical changes in reality: “The people are looking at us with new trust and expectations. The responsibility of the Central Committee is to turn expectations into reality, “turning policies into the flow of life”.

Looking to the future, in his closing speech, the General Secretary thoroughly grasped the spirit throughout the 13th Central Conference of "taking results as the measure, taking people as the center, taking discipline as the foundation, taking innovation as the driving force".

According to General Secretary To Lam, the improvement in people's living standards and trust is the measure of the correctness and success of policies, as well as the leadership and governing capacity of the Party.

In other words, the Party's revolutionary leadership and national development will only be successful when the people's quality of life is improved and they feel happier. Thanks to that, people's trust in the political regime, the Party's leadership role, and the State's policies will be strengthened and cultivated over time.

More specifically, according to the General Secretary, we must create positive changes, typically “better public services, wider job and business opportunities, less time and procedural costs; a more peaceful society, more prosperous and happier people”… “Switch from “caring” to “practical caring” - social security, health care, education must reach the right people, the right needs, at the right time; worker housing, public services must be upgraded, no one is left behind, striving so that each individual and each family is well taken care of both spiritually and materially”.

The above statements by General Secretary To Lam not only affirm the Party's leadership viewpoints and policies, but also meet the expectations of the people of the whole country.

The above progressive and correct viewpoints also set new requirements for the qualities and capacities of central personnel in the position and role of strategic-level leaders.

Accordingly, each individual needs to demonstrate that they are professional leaders, clearly aware of their responsibilities, duties, and political missions entrusted by the Party and the people. More specifically, in addition to meeting the requirements of political qualities, ethics, lifestyle, educational level, professional capacity, prestige, and personal health, members of the Central Committee must also regularly cultivate leadership and administrative capacity based on close adherence to reality and grasping the trends of social life in the new context.

Recently, the need to innovate thinking and improve institutional conditions in our country in a modern direction, so that the government can gradually change its role - from "management" to "governance", "creation", "service", "serving", has become increasingly urgent. From the end of 2024, the revolution to streamline the political system's apparatus and rearrange administrative units has been carried out rapidly and drastically, aiming at the highest goal of building a modern national governance system, with a government system close to the people; an administration serving the people, businesses and serving the country's development.

For a government to truly serve the people, the key condition is a team of cadres and civil servants who are always aware of their position as "public servants".

According to President Ho Chi Minh's viewpoint from the early days of the founding of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, public servant means working for the benefit of the people, and more broadly for the development of the social community, the nation and the country. Towards a modern public servant force, the team of strategic-level cadres is the key force, playing a decisive role in setting an example, inspiring and leading the innovation process.