US State Secretary Blinken to attend funeral for Vietnam Party chief

U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken will travel to Vietnam to attend the funeral of Vietnam's late Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and offer condolences to the people of Vietnam, the U.S. State Department announced Monday.

The activity is part of Blinken’s visit to Vietnam, Laos, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, and Mongolia from July 24 - August 3, his 18th trip to the Indo-Pacific region since becoming Secretary.

The secretary will further underscore the United States’ enduring commitment to deepening and expanding ties to unprecedented levels and creating mutually reinforcing relationships to tackle today’s greatest challenges, the department added.

“He will further underscore the strength of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with his government counterparts in Hanoi,” the U.S. Department of State noted.

Antony Blinken’s last visit to Vietnam was in April 2023.

Previewing the trip, Daniel Kritenbrink, Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs under the U.S. State Department, said Nguyen Phu Trong was “really a champion of the U.S.-Vietnam Comprehensive Strategic Partnership” and “we’re very saddened by that news.”

Nguyen Phu Trong passed away on July 19 (last Friday), after holding the top position of Vietnam’s leadership for more than a decade. A day earlier, President To Lam was temporarily assigned to preside over the tasks of the Party Central Committee, the Politburo, and the Party Secretariat.

A funeral with national mourning etiquette will be held for late Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong on July 25-26. He will be laid in state at the National Funeral Hall in Hanoi, where the respect-paying ceremony will start at 7 a.m. on July 25 (Thursday) and the memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. on July 26 (Friday). The burial ceremony is to take place at 3 p.m. the same dayt at the Mai Dich cemetery, Hanoi.

Respect-paying and memorial ceremonies for the late Party General Secretary will also be held simultaneously at the Reunification Hall in Ho Chi Minh City and in his hometown in Dong Hoi commune, Dong Anh district, Hanoi.

Immediately after the passing away of Nguyen Phu Trong, U.S. President Joe Biden offered his condolences to Madam Ngo Thi Man and the people of Vietnam. In a statement on July 19, the Biden administration highlighted Nguyen Phu Trong’s 2015 historic visit to the White House was a milestone in the bilateral relationship.

Thanks to Nguyen Phu Trong’s vision, during Joe Biden’s state visit to Hanoi in 2023, Vietnam and the United States became “comprehensive strategic partners,” the highest level of partnership in the Vietnamese system, Joe Biden added.