Minister of Defence (Vietnam)
member of the Government of Vietnam, head of the Ministry of National Defence
The minister of national defence (Vietnamese: Bộ trưởng Bộ Quốc phòng, lit. 'minister of the Ministry of National Defence') is a Vietnamese cabinet member in charge of the Ministry of National Defence. The minister is responsible for the formal executive management functions of state for defence. By Vietnamese politics' design, the assigned defence minister also automatically assumes the positions of deputy secretary of the Central Military Commission (CMC), member of the Politburo and member of the Council for National Defense and Security, by that the defence minister is practically the highest-ranking military officer - who always keeps the rank of army general - and politically the second-highest leader of the Vietnam People’s Army as well as the Militia and Self-Defence Force, just under the general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam - who serves ex officio as the secretary of the Central Military Commission. The current defence minister is Army General Phan Văn Giang, since 8 April 2021.
Chain of command
General Secretary of the Communist Party (ex officio Secretary of the CMC)
President (nominal commander-in-chief of the People's Armed Forces)
Prime Minister
Minister of Defence (ex officio Deputy Secretary of the CMC)
Chief of the General Political Department
Chief of the General Staff (ex officio Deputy Defence Minister)
Deputy ministers of defence
Lists of ministers of defence
See also
Prime Minister of Vietnam
Deputy Prime Minister of Vietnam
Notes
References
Bibliography
Van, Canh Nguyen; Cooper, Earle (1983). Vietnam under Communism, 1975–1982. Hoover Press. ISBN 9780817978518.
The public source identifies “Minister of Defence (Vietnam)” as member of the Government of Vietnam, head of the Ministry of National Defence. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Minister, Defence and Vietnam.
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A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Minister of Defence (Vietnam)”, the useful work is to connect “member of the Government of Vietnam, head of the Ministry of National Defence” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4294935. The first chronological checks are 2021, 1983, 1975 and 1982.
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This entry incorporates text from “Minister of Defence (Vietnam)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.