Comrade Nguyen Duy Trinh's contributions to Vietnam's diplomacy

Comrade Nguyen Duy Trinh was born on July 15, 1910, in a peasant family in Co Dan village, Dang Xa commune (now hamlet 12, Phuc Tho commune), Nghi Loc district, Nghe An province. At the age of 17, Nguyen Duy Trinh participated in the student movement in Vinh city, then was sent to work in Saigon - Gia Dinh, was arrested by the French colonialists and sentenced to 18 months in prison. He was then deported back to his hometown. In 1930, Nguyen Duy Trinh joined the Indochinese Communist Party. Working as Secretary of Nghi Loc District Party Committee in 1930 - 1931, during the Nghe Tinh Soviet movement, he was arrested by the enemy, sentenced to 13 years of hard labor and exiled to Con Dao. He was then imprisoned in Kon Tum Prison.

In 1945, after being released from prison, he participated in organizing the uprising in Vinh and Hue. After the August Revolution in 1945, comrade Nguyen Duy Trinh was assigned by the Party to hold the position of Standing Committee of the Central Region Party Committee, Secretary of the Inter-Zone Party Committee of Zone V, and Chairman of the Resistance Committee of the South Central Region. At the 2nd National Party Congress, he was elected to the Politburo and the Secretariat, and was assigned by the Politburo to undertake important responsibilities of the Party and State, such as Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the State Planning Committee and the State Science Committee.

Former Foreign Minister Nguyen Duy Trinh. Photo: Getty Image

In April 1965, in response to the new demands of the revolution, comrade Nguyen Duy Trinh was asked by President Ho Chi Minh and the Politburo to resign from his concurrent position as Chairman of the State Planning Committee to concurrently hold the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs. President Ho Chi Minh and the Politburo assigned him, along with comrades Le Duan, Pham Van Dong, and Le Duc Tho, the responsibility of directing the negotiations with the US in Paris. Thoroughly imbued with President Ho Chi Minh's independent and autonomous foreign policy ideology, in his capacity as a member of the Politburo and Minister of Foreign Affairs, comrade Nguyen Duy Trinh was in charge of the entire diplomatic front, including State diplomacy, Party diplomacy, and people's diplomacy.

With a calm and steadfast demeanor, he promptly set out foreign policies for each period, actions for each event, and built a diplomatic sector that met the requirements of the new situation. He successfully implemented President Ho Chi Minh's motto of "responding to all changes with the unchanging", solving each problem and situation, removing obstacles, overcoming difficulties, and completing tasks. At historical turning points, he proved to be an excellent diplomat, thinking and acting according to Ho Chi Minh's diplomatic ideology. Comrade Nguyen Duy Trinh led the foreign affairs sector to successfully complete political and foreign affairs tasks, maintaining solidarity and great support from friends and the international community for Vietnam's revolutionary cause.

The Paris negotiations on Vietnam from May 1967 to January 1973 were the longest negotiations to end the war in the 20th century. After nearly 5 years of intellectual competition, with 200 public meetings, 45 private high-level meetings, 500 press conferences, 1,000 interviews, the negotiations ended. On January 27, 1973, the Paris Agreement on Vietnam was signed, ending the war and restoring peace in Vietnam. The glorious victory of the Paris negotiations and the Paris Agreement forced the US to withdraw its troops from South Vietnam, creating a new position and strength for the revolution in South Vietnam, paving the way for the great victory of Spring 1975, unifying the country.

Comrade Nguyen Duy Trinh signed the Paris Agreement on Vietnam, January 27, 1973. Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs Archives

The negotiation process in Paris and the Paris Agreement were the victory of a young, but righteous and strategic diplomacy of the Vietnamese revolution, bearing the mark of the country's veteran diplomats, including the great contributions of comrades Nguyen Duy Trinh, Xuan Thuy, Le Duc Tho, Nguyen Thi Binh...

During the war years, along with directing the negotiations in Paris, he directed relevant agencies, especially mass organizations of both regions, to mobilize the people of the world, including the American people, to support our people's just fight, forming a broad front of the world's people supporting Vietnam against the US invasion, which in the history of national liberation wars of peoples of all countries has never had such a broad and active international solidarity movement.

Firmly grasping the foreign policy of independence and self-reliance associated with international solidarity of our Party and State, comrade Nguyen Duy Trinh made an important direct contribution to maintaining and strengthening solidarity with the Soviet Union as well as with China, gaining great assistance from both countries for our people's struggle.

Under the direction of comrade Nguyen Duy Trinh, the diplomacy of the two regions of the country actively participated in the struggle against the actions of the US and the Saigon puppet regime that violated the agreement, especially the activities of encroaching on liberated zones, while at the same time creating favorable international conditions for the 1975 Spring General Offensive to completely liberate the South and achieve national reunification.

Comrade Nguyen Duy Trinh, comrades Le Duc Tho, Xuan Thuy, and Nguyen Co Thach rejoiced after signing the Paris Agreement in 1973. Photo courtesy

After the complete liberation of the South, the diplomatic sector actively participated in serving the task of economic restoration and building socialism nationwide. To carry out the important task in the new stage, comrade Nguyen Duy Trinh directed the cadres to perform well the immediate tasks and also prepare the team to meet the requirements set out in the future.

In July 1976, after the country was completely unified, comrade Nguyen Duy Trinh and Prime Minister Pham Van Dong proposed to the Politburo the policy of soon establishing and strengthening relations with neighboring countries in the region with the famous 4-point policy: Respecting each other's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, not invading each other, not interfering in each other's internal affairs; not allowing any country to use its territory as a base to invade another country in the region; establishing friendly relations, good neighbors; developing cooperation for the cause of building a prosperous country, for national independence, peace and neutrality in Southeast Asia. On the basis of that 4-point policy, we established relations with the remaining countries in the region, joining the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

During the difficult post-war period, Vietnam officially became a member of the United Nations, marking the recognition by the entire international community of the legality and representative status of our State at this largest multilateral organization in the world. Comrade Nguyen Duy Trinh represented our Party and State to participate in the flag-raising ceremony at the United Nations Headquarters in July 1977.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Duy Trinh (second from right) attends the Vietnamese flag-raising ceremony at the United Nations headquarters. File photo

During his tenure as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Comrade Nguyen Duy Trinh focused on comprehensively building the sector, considering the training and fostering of diplomatic staff, expanding democracy, strengthening solidarity, and promoting discipline... With strategic vision, political courage and extensive experience in revolutionary activities, Comrade Nguyen Duy Trinh proved to be an excellent diplomat of the Party and State, contributing to building a modern Vietnamese diplomacy on the foundation of Ho Chi Minh's ideology and diplomatic art. He is truly a shining example of revolutionary ethics and foreign affairs intelligence for generations of foreign affairs cadres of the Party today and tomorrow./.