- Xuan Thuy
Xuân Thuỷ (c. 1912 –
June 20 ,1985 ) was a North Vietnamese political figure. He was the Foreign Minister of North Vietnam from 1963 to 1965 and then chief negotiator of the North Vietnamese at the Paris Peace talks, which ended theVietnam War in 1973.Thuỷ was born in the
Ha Dong province in Northern Vietnam in 1912. His name means "spring water". He was educated at a French school inHanoi . Becoming interested in nationalist politics in his early teens, the fourteen-year old Thuỷ entered theRevolutionary Youth League of the communist leaderHo Chi Minh .cite web |title=Xuan Thuy: Abrasive Advocate |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,902167,00.html |publisher=Time Magazine |date=1968-05-10 |accessdate=2008-06-12] At sixteen, he was arrested for the first time. When he was eighteen, he was sent to thepenal colony onCon Son Island in theSouth China Sea .cite web |title=Xuan Thuy: Abrasive Advocate |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,902167,00.html |publisher=Time Magazine |date=1968-05-10 |accessdate=2008-06-12] Two further jail terms followed. In 1938, Thuỷ became a member of theIndochina Communist Party . After the outbreak of theSecond World War in 1939, he was imprisoned inSonla being held there for six years until the end of the war in 1945. However, he used his internment to edit the underground communist newspaper "Suoi Reo ".After his release, Thuỷ became the editor and director of the newspaper "
Cuu Quoc ", the official organ of theViet Minh national liberation movement formed by Ho Chi Minh in 1941 in opposition to both French and Japanese control over the country. In 1946, he then became a member of the National Assembly of the just-proclaimed Democratic Republic of Vietnam. The Assembly was started by the Viet Minh as a vehicle of resistance against French colonial rule in what would become theFirst Indochina War . Speaking both French and Chinese fluently and known as an expert inagitprop , Thuỷ traveled both Asia and Europe visitingVienna ,Stockholm ,Rangoon ,Beijing , andMoscow in 1950 to gather support for the North Vietnamese cause. In 1961 and 1962, he attended theGeneva Conference on Laos as the deputy chairman of the Vietnamese delegation. An American diplomat at the meeting described him as "a top-drawer negotiator, a dreadful fellow to face across the table day after day." In 1963, he then becameForeign Minister of Vietnam. However, in 1965 he had to step down. Thuỷ's health was cited as the reason for his resignation, yet his losing a power struggle, in which he supported a pro-Soviet line, is the more likely cause. His successor wasNguyen Duy Trinh , an avowed supporter of China in theSino-Soviet split . Thuỷ then fell out of favor with the ruling party, but he returned to the political scene in 1968, as North Vietnam's chief diplomat at the Paris peace talks. These meetings finally led to American withdrawal from the country and the end of theVietnam War in 1973. He was known to use long tirades to test the American negotiators' endurance during the meetings. He was also made Vice-Chairman of North Vietnam's National Assembly, a position he retained until his death.Xuân Thuỷ is known to have been married with children, but how many and whether they are still alive was kept secret.
Thuỷ died of
heart failure inHanoi onJune 20 , 1985.Notes
References
*"Xuan Thuy, Hanoi Envoy at Paris Talks, Dies". "New York Times". June 20, 1985.
*" [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,902167,00.html Xuan Thuy: Abrasive Advocate] ". "Time". May. 10, 1968.
*"Xuan Thuy; Negotiator for Hanoi at Paris Peace Talks". "Los Angeles Times". June 30, 1985.
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