HANOI: Thousands of mourners, including top Vietnamese officials, schoolchildren and monks, gathered in Hanoi Thursday for the funeral of Communist Party leader Nguyen Phu Trong as two days of national mourning began. The 80-year-old, who died at a military hospital in the capital Hanoi last week “due to old age and serious illness”, was Vietnam’s most powerful leader in decades.

Trong, who had led the party since 2011, was the first leader to have held three consecutive mandates after the liberalization of Vietnam’s economy in 1986.

He was known for a high-profile anti-corruption drive that swept through the party, police, armed forces and business, which analysts say has been linked to political infighting. Trong enjoyed remarkable longevity in office, although rights groups say his leadership coincided with increasing authoritarianism.

Alongside bouquets of yellow flowers and burning incense, Trong’s flag-draped coffin was laid beneath a large portrait of the leader and dozens of his medals at the National Funeral House in central Hanoi.

Wearing black and white headbands, Trong’s family greeted the mourners, having requested no customary cash envelopes or flowers be given at the funeral. Black-clad officials, Buddhist monks wearing golden robes and schoolchildren in their uniforms were among those to file past the coffin.

All flags across the Southeast Asian country were to fly at half mast, while entertainment and sporting events have been suspended during the mourning period. Smaller remembrance ceremonies also started on Thursday morning in Ho Chi Minh City, the southern business hub. Thousands of people paraded through Trong’s home village in Dong Anh district on the outskirts of Hanoi, holding portrait photos of him. “The general secretary’s death is an irreparable loss for the party, the state, the people and his family,” politburo member Luong Cuong said as the funeral began.

Vietnam’s top party officials led tributes, including President To Lam, who was handed the reins of power a day before Trong’s death was announced. “We vow to learn from you, devoting our life to the nation and the people,” Lam wrote in the memorial book at the funeral home. South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and Cuba’s parliamentary speaker Esteban Lazo Hernandez were among foreign officials to pay their respects. Trong was earlier praised by US President Joe Biden as “a champion of deep ties” between Vietnam and Washington, while Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed him as a “true friend of Russia”.

Le Hong Hiep, a senior fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, Singapore, said “Vietnam managed to maintain a balanced foreign policy with all the major powers” under Trong’s leadership. “And thanks to this, Vietnam managed to achieve significant economic development and now is on the way to become an upper middle-income economy by 2030,” he said. – AFP