Vietnam’s older generation of communist leaders, I now believe, is incapable of breaking out of a fundamentally socialist mindset. They had initially agreed to embark on the journey of reforms because they could see that the country was not going anywhere. But they have not since come close to exhibiting the genuine determination to overhaul the system that one finds in China. These Old Guard leaders are keeping Vietnam stagnant. Until they pass on, the country will not make breakthroughs in its bid to modernise.