The 12th Central Committee (12th CC), officially stylised as XII Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), was composed of 180 members and 20 alternates. It was elected by the 12th National Congress on 27 January 2016, and its electoral term lasted until the 13th National Congress' election, of the 13th Central Committee on 31 January 2021. The Central Committee, as the Party's highest decision-making body in the given period, was not a permanent body and convened for fifteen meetings, which lasted for a combined total of 66 days. At its 1st Plenary Session on 27 January 2016, the CC elected the general secretary of the 12th CC, the 12th Politburo, the 12th Secretariat, and the 12th Central Inspection Commission (CIC), as well as the chairman of the 12th CIC. These elected officials and bodies oversaw the day-to-day work of the Central Committee and its apparatus.
Despite being older than the formal age limit, Nguyễn Phú Trọng was reelected for a second term as CPV general secretary, the highest party office. His term and the 12th CC were marked by a nationwide anti-corruption campaign, commonly called "", which began in 2013. The campaign's intensity increased during the 12th term as it began to indict retired, incumbent, and senior leaders at all levels of governance. Eleven members of the 12th CC were disciplined, with punishments ranging from a warning to expulsion from the Party. There was also a struggle for succession taking place during this electoral term, with most observers believing that Nguyễn Phú Trọng favoured Trần Quốc Vượng as his successor. However, Trần Quốc Vượng failed to garner support, and Nguyễn Phú Trọng was reelected to a third term by the 1st Plenary Session of the 13th CC.
The 12th CC discussed and adopted strategies and plans for economic development, economic reforms, political reforms, and foreign policy issues. Furthermore, it elected and held to account the Politburo, the Secretariat and the CIC, and organised a motion of no confidence on all members of the Politburo. It also suggested candidates for state offices, such as the president, the prime minister, and the chair of the National Assembly of Vietnam amongst others, to the National Assembly. Beginning with the 8th plenum in 2018, the 12th CC began preparing for the 13th National Congress. It established sub-committees to draft congress documents and discussed them at plenary sessions. It also began gathering candidates to stand for office in the 13th CC, 13th Politburo, 13th Secretariat, and the 13th CIC.
Background and composition
The 12th National Congress convened from 20 to 28 January 2016, at the Vietnam National Convention Center for the purpose of voting on reports, resolutions, and the composition of the 12th Central Committee (CC). On 26 January, the congress delegates conducted a vote regarding the list of nominees presented by the 11th CC for the positions of members and alternates of the 12th CC. Scholar Alexander L. Vuving characterised the 12th Congress as "especially partisan" in comparison to previous congresses and deduced that it represented a choice between Party General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng and then-Prime Minister Nguyễn Tấn Dũng. Although numerous external analysts, including Vuving, Jonathan London, and Le Long Hiep, anticipated that Nguyễn Tấn Dũng would prevail in the power struggle, the 12th National Congress did not elect him to the 12th CC. Lê Quỳnh from BBC Vietnam remarked that both Nguyễn Tấn Dũng, aged 66, and Nguyễn Phú Trọng, aged 71, exceeded the stipulated age limit set by party regulations, which established a retirement age of 65 for the position of general secretary. Nonetheless, this age requirement is subject to negotiation among the various factions within the party. Political scientist Phuong Nguyen posited that the reelection of Nguyễn Phú Trọng, through his three fundamental principles of restoring party authority, mitigating corruption, and reinforcing party oversight of Đổi Mới—an all-encompassing term denoting reform and development—established the political tone and direction of the 12th Central Committee.
The 12th CC comprised 180 members with voting rights and 20 alternates without voting rights. Members and alternates occupied key positions in the country, from the President of Vietnam to the President of the Vietnam Women's Union's Central Committee. Seventeen out of the one hundred eighty members, and three out of the twenty alternates were women. This represented a slight increase in female representation compared to the 11th term. Regarding age, nineteen members were below the age of forty-five, with Nguyễn Thanh Nghị and (both born in 1976) being the youngest among them. Nguyễn Phú Trọng, born in 1944, was the oldest individual elected to the 12th CC. Four individuals elected as alternates were under the age of forty, with the youngest, , serving as the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Hồ Chí Minh Communist Youth Union, being thirty-eight years old at the time of his election. Institutionally, the Ministry of National Defence had the highest number of representatives, with twenty-two officials having been elected to the 12th CC. The Ministry of Public Security, conversely, was represented by five members. No one from the Ministry of Health was elected to the CC. Sixteen members of the incumbent Government were not elected; however, these individuals had all attained the retirement age stipulated by governmental regulations and were scheduled to vacate their positions by mid-2016 before.
Plenary sessions 2016 1st Plenary: Election of the central leading organs (27 January)
After being elected on 26 January 2016, the 12th CC convened for its 1st Plenary Session on 27 January 2016 at the Headquarters of the Party Central Committee in Hanoi during the 12th National Congress. It elected the 12th Politburo, the 12th Central Inspection Commission (CIC), three members of the 12th Secretariat, the CIC chairman and the CC general secretary. Nguyễn Phú Trọng, in his capacity as the general secretary of the 11th CC, presided over the 1st Plenary Session of the newly-elected Central Committee. The session proceeded to reelect Nguyễn Phú Trọng as general secretary, elect Trần Quốc Vượng as chairman of the Central Inspection Commission, and to elect a 19-member Politburo, a 21-member CIC, as well as three additional members of the Secretariat. Asked about his reelection, Nguyễn Phú Trọng stated, "I did not expect the Congress to introduce and elect me to the Central Committee. Then, the First Plenary Session elected me to the post of general secretary with almost 100% absolute votes. I was surprised because my age was advanced while my health and qualifications were limited. I also asked for leave, but the Party assigned me the task, and I had to comply." The election results were promulgated to the congress delegates on the morning of 28 January by Đinh Thế Huynh, on behalf of the Presidium of the 12th National Congress. He apprised them that the electoral process was conducted in accordance with the CPV Charter and the Election Regulations of the 12th National Congress.
The 11th Central Committee put forth a list of 18 nominees for election to the 12th Politburo to the 12th National Congress and, indirectly, the 1st Plenary Session of the 12th CC. In addition to that list, the 1st Plenary Session elected Đinh La Thăng, thus expanding the size of the 12th Politburo to 19 members. The median age of the newly-elected Politburo was 59. Nguyễn Phú Trọng, aged 72, was the oldest member, whereas Võ Văn Thưởng, aged 46, was the youngest. Tòng Thị Phóng was the sole Politburo member with an ethnic minority background, being of Thai ethnicity. Furthermore, for the first time in its history, the Politburo had three female members (Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân, Tòng Thị Phóng and Trương Thị Mai). Seven members had served in the 11th Politburo. Of the 19 members, three had served in the 11th Secretariat (Trương Hòa Bình, Ngô Xuân Lịch and Trần Quốc Vượng), two had served in the apparatus of the 11th Central Committee (Phạm Minh Chính and Vương Đình Huệ), five had served in government (Hoàng Trung Hải, Phạm Bình Minh, Nguyễn Văn Bình, Đinh La Thăng and Tô Lâm), one had led a committee of the 13th National Assembly of Vietnam (Trương Thị Mai) and one had served in local administration (Võ Văn Thưởng). Of the three members elected to the Secretariat at the plenum, none had served in the previous term.
Scholar Alexander Vuving observed that the election of Nguyễn Phú Trọng as general secretary has "surprised many observers." Rodion Ebbighausen, writing for Deutsche Welle, wrote that Nguyễn Phú Trọng's reelection was a victory by Marxist–Leninist forces and of collective leadership over Nguyễn Tấn Dũng's capitalist approach and his individualistic ethos. A report from BBC News shared Ebbighausen's analysis of conservatives versus reformers. It noted that Nguyễn Tấn Dũng was perceived as being friendly towards the United States, gaining domestic popularity for being viewed as the anti-China figure candidate. Scholar Jonathan London presented an alternative perspective on recent events, emphasising the ideological alignment of Nguyễn Phú Trọng with the Chinese Communist Party. According to London, Nguyễn Tấn Dũng was perceived as a maverick who endeavored to present himself as a proponent of a more democratic style of governance and a political reformer. In response, allies of Nguyễn Phú Trọng accused him of pursuing power solely for the sake of power and highlighted the corruption that thrived during his tenure in government. Conversely, Stratfor posited that it would be overly simplistic to reduce the narrative to a dichotomy between the pro-Chinese Nguyễn Phú Trọng and the pro-Western Nguyễn Tấn Dũng. They cited that Nguyễn Phú Trọng had endorsed several policies that provoked significant discontent with China.
2nd Plenary: Economic planning and the 11th Session of the 13th National Assembly (10–12 March)
On 10 March 2016, the 2nd Plenary Session was convened under the leadership of Nguyễn Phú Trọng, who delivered an opening address outlining the activities of the Politburo and the Secretariat since the 12th National Congress. He informed the session that the two organs had established a working agenda for 2016. In the same address, Nguyễn Phú Trọng advised the 12th Central Committee to adopt a working agenda that prioritises issues and tasks that enhance party governance, fortify the political system, mitigate political corruption, and combat bureaucratic inefficiencies. Furthermore, he expressed the hope that the plenary session would contribute to the implementation of the slogan calling for three strategic breakthroughs, which states that the CPV works to perfect the institutions of the socialist-oriented market economy, enhance human resources, and construct a synchronous infrastructure system.
On behalf of the Party Delegation to the Government, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc presented at the morning session of the second working day a report concerning the socio-economic development plan, Vietnam's official term for five-year plan and inspired by its Soviet namesake, and the mid-term financial and public investment plans, which is formulated by the Ministry of Finance alongside the Ministry of Planning and Investment to set objectives for the state budget and public finances, for the period 2016–2020. The plenary session endorsed the proposed the socio-economic development plan and consented to forward it to the 11th Session of the 13th National Assembly for ratification. The plan's details were not disclosed to the public until its adoption by the 13th National Assembly.