Leadership Quote by Nguyen Xuan Phuc

National pride is easy to declare; the interesting work happens in the verbs. Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s line leans on “preserve and promote” to turn heritage into an active state project, not a passive inheritance. “Proud” is the soft opening that signals unity, but the policy signal is in the two-part mandate: protect what counts as culture, then curate it outward for audiences at home and abroad.

The subtext is managerial. “Cultural heritage” sounds like temples, folk songs, and festivals, but in a modern Vietnamese political context it also implies a controlled narrative about identity, continuity, and legitimacy. Preservation isn’t neutral: it requires selecting which traditions get funding, which histories get highlighted, which minority practices are framed as national treasures, and which contemporary expressions are treated as disorder rather than culture. Promotion, meanwhile, is diplomacy with better costumes. It’s tourism strategy, soft power, UNESCO recognition, and brand Vietnam - the country as an attractive story, not just an economy.

Phuc’s phrasing also anticipates the anxieties of rapid development. As cities densify, as global pop culture floods screens, and as markets reward speed over memory, leaders reach for heritage as ballast. The line reassures older generations that modernization won’t dissolve the past, while telling investors and visitors that Vietnam is stable, coherent, and distinctive.

Politically, it’s a low-risk, high-return pledge: who argues against heritage? That’s precisely why it works. It frames cultural policy as consensus, while quietly reserving the state’s authority to define what, exactly, the nation is being proud of.