Vietnamese Public Security is Becoming the Next Vietnamese Army Vietnam's economic reforms are aimed at expanding the power of the Tô Lâm Public Security faction. Vietnam has now become a police state, with both the public security force and the military vying for economic power. The police make money faster through economic means—fines are the answer! Ordinary people may not even earn enough to pay traffic fines in a month, and some have even committed suicide because they couldn't afford them. Vietnam's two major initiatives by 2026: Public Security entering the business world + significantly lowering the barriers to making money! On the one hand, newly appointed Prime Minister Le Minh Hung is pushing for a sweeping "package of business reforms" to boost GDP: Relaxing restrictions on casino and KTV operations—eliminating pre-licensing for 38 industries, replacing it with a "no-holds-barred, problem-solving" approach. Pilot programs are opening casinos on Phu Quoc Island, in Ho Chi Minh City, and in Quang Ninh to Vietnamese citizens (a monthly salary of approximately 2800 yuan and a 260 yuan daily pass are sufficient for entry). Short-term negative effects are disregarded as long as it brings in real money. On the other hand, the top leadership has taken a drastic step: pushing the public security department into business! With the dissolution of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), the Ministry of Public Security took over Mobifone, Vietnam's third-largest telecommunications giant, and deeply penetrated internet infrastructure such as FPT and the national data center. Not only does it control huge sums of government funding (annual expenditures of approximately $5 billion), but it has also aggressively acquired real estate, educational institutions, and security assets (for example, its subsidiary, Thang Long Security, directly monopolizes entertainment venues). Even more ruthless is its expansion of power through legislation: transferring some investigative powers from the Supreme Prosecutor's Office to the Ministry of Public Security, giving it absolute dominance in commercial investigations, data security, and the grassroots entertainment industry. If the military was previously a commercial empire, the Ministry of Public Security is now transforming into a "government-enterprise integrated" behemoth, controlling telecommunications, digital, real estate, and entertainment. With law enforcement power directly tied to commercial interests, will the future of Vietnamese politics devolve into a factional struggle between the public security and military, or will it descend into an uncontrollable rent-seeking frenzy? The Vietnamese government is also cracking down on telecom fraud, confiscating cryptocurrency from fraudsters. After all, combating telecom fraud is far more lucrative than developing the economy! All it takes is arresting people and the profits are in hand. To Lam is pushing the Ministry of Public Security to engage in business; anything produced by the Public Security is bound to be high-quality! In reality, the Public Security Bureau often has respectable reasons, firstly for national security, and secondly because digital and information technology needs to be regulated by the Public Security Bureau. To Lam's "melting pot" anti-corruption campaign failed at the military level. The military is a commercial empire with telecommunications, banking, and various other businesses. Under such circumstances, arresting those in the military for illegal gains is almost impossible; it simply cannot prevent these people from laundering their ill-gotten gains. Why doesn't Vietnam's reform to curb military corruption stop the military from engaging in business, but instead transforms the Public Security Bureau into a second military? Everyone knows the answer: To Lam himself came from the Public Security system, and this is also related to Vietnam's current political landscape. With To Lam's approach, the Ministry of Public Security will foreseeably become the next Vietnam People's Army. The Ministry of Public Security already has a considerable commercial empire. Telecommunications and the core assets of the digital economy are currently the largest and most strategically significant asset sector of the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security. With the Vietnamese government streamlining its institutions and dissolving the State-Owned Capital Management Committee, several large state-owned telecommunications companies (MobiFone Telecom Corporation, FPT Telecom Joint Stock Company) have been placed under the management of the Ministry of Public Security to strengthen state control over data security and digital sovereignty. The Ministry of Public Security possesses a vast amount of office space, training bases, housing projects, and acquired local assets nationwide. The police force has more than half the personnel of the military, but receives significantly more funding. The police receive state funding, and now, with a commercial sector, the Vietnamese public security system is reaping the benefits, but that's not enough. To Lam intends to further expand the police's powers, transforming it into something that could even surpass the Vietnam People's Army. The image shows Vietnamese public security personnel who have been granted permission to engage in business.