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In the aftermath of the heated January 2016 12th Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), Vietnam seemed face multiple challenges, both at the domestic and at the international level. For what concerns domestic affairs, this paper argues that one major challenge for the newly elected Vietnamese leadership (and one major stake for Vietnam in the coming years) was one of gaining back control over the country’s development pattern – and responding to raising bottom-up discontent and demands. Concerning foreign relations, the paper highlights the growing challenges and sources of uncertainty for Vietnam – and its attempt at balancing between major (and smaller) powers’ foreign strategies – emerging out of the already-fluid and thorny Asia-Pacific geopolitics.