Bamboo diplomacy: Vietnam's new ruler

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  Hello, Rosie Bloor here, co-host of The Intelligence,

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  our daily news and current affairs podcast.

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  Welcome to Editor's Picks.

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  You're about to hear an article from the latest edition of The Economist, read aloud.

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  We hope you enjoy it.

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  What should you make of Tho Lam, the enigmatic new leader of Vietnam's Communist Party,

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  who has emerged victorious from a savage power struggle over the past year?

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  On his first trip abroad, Mr Lam met his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on August 19th.

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  The two signed 14 documents on everything from Communist Party schools to crocodile exports.

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  Mr Lam reaffirmed the importance of Vietnam's biggest trading partner.

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  Next month, he will head to America.

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  It is a sign that he intends to continue Vietnam's bamboo diplomacy,

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  swaying between the two.

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  Nothing new there.

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  The more striking aspect of Mr. Lam's trip came the day before.

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  En route to Beijing, he retraced the steps of a revolutionary known as Li Tui,

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  who in 1924 arrived in the port city of Canton,

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  then the seat of the republican government in China.

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  Better known today as Ho Chi Minh,

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  he set about establishing the forerunner of the Communist Party of Vietnam in Canton,

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