In Vietnam, a similar set of economic reforms, the so-called ‘doi moi’ (renovation), was embarked upon in December 1986 by Nguyen Van Linh, the new General Secretary of the communist party of Vietnam. There remains direct state control in both the political and economic spheres in Vietnam, but it is fair to say that the country is on the right track to becoming a true market economy in which the market mechanism plays a dominant role. The reforms in china and Vietnam were, of course, predicated on collective political leadership. Unlike North Korea, both China and Vietnam had long since abandoned hereditary succession of power, thus providing room for a degree of pluralism and new ways of thinking to sprout. Furthermore, even though China and Vietnam are still ruled by their respective communist parties, both have moved away from personality-dominated autocratic institutions of state.