HONG KONG — Vietnam president Tran Dai Quang, one of the three most powerful leaders in Vietnam despite his largely ceremonial role, died Friday at 61, according to state media. His death opens up a power vacuum in the communist country, which has no paramount head of state. Power is shared between the president, the prime minister, the Communist Party chief and also the head of the legislature, the National Assembly. Quang also hosted President Trump during his first state visit to Vietnam last year, and before that, former president Barack Obama when he visited in 2016. The last was Ho Chi Minh, the communist revolutionary and Vietnam’s independence hero, who died as the Democratic Republic of Vietnam’s first president in 1969.

Source: National Post September 21, 2018 13:41 UTC