Vietnamese communist politician, member of
the Politburo 1976-81 and from 1985; party
leader from 1986. He began economic
liberalization and troop withdrawal from
Cambodia and Laos. Nguyen, born in North
Vietnam, joined the anti-colonial Thanh Nien,
a forerunner of the current Communist Party
of Vietnam (CPV), in Haiphong 1929. He spent
much of his subsequent party career in the
South as a pragmatic reformer. He was a
member of CPV's Politburo and secretariat
1976-81, suffered a temporary setback when
party conservatives gained the ascendancy,
and re-entered the Politburo in 1985,
becoming CPV leader in Dec 1986.