Vietnam elects police chief to No. 2 post of president

Vietnam's police chief was elected Saturday by the National Assembly to become president — the second-highest post — and promised to "resolutely" protect the country's sovereignty amid an ongoing territorial dispute with longtime rival China.

Public Security Minister and police general Tran Dai Quang, 59, received 436 votes from 465 assembly members who cast their votes, the Communist government said on its website.

Re-elected Vietnam communist boss defends one-party rule

Vietnam's re-elected leader, a 71-year-old Communist Party ideologue, made it clear Wednesday that one-party rule was here to stay, insisting that the collective leadership he heads is a far better alternative to what he called authoritarianism disguised as democracy.

General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong (pronounced Noo-yen Foo Chong) was re-elected Wednesday as head of the party and the leader of a 19-member Politburo that will govern Vietnam for the next five years. The decisions were made at the end of a weeklong congress of the 4.5-million-member party, which rules the lives of 93 million Vietnamese.