Tôn Nữ Thị Ninh - Wikipedia

Vietnamese diplomat and educator (born 1947) In this Vietnamese name, the surname is Tôn Nữ. In accordance with Vietnamese custom, this person should be referred to by the given name, Ninh.

MadameTôn Nữ Thị Ninh
Deputy Chair of the National AssemblyForeign Affairs Committee
In office2002–2007
Committee Chair	Vũ Mão
Preceded by	Đỗ Văn Tài
Succeeded by	Ngô Đức Mạnh
Member of the National Assembly
In office2002–2007
Chair	Nguyễn Văn AnNguyễn Phú Trọng
Constituency	Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu
Ambassador of Vietnamto Belgium and Luxembourg
In office2000–2003
Head of the Vietnamese Delegationto the European Union
In office2000–2003
Foreign Minister	Nguyễn Dy Niên
Personal details
Born	(1947-10-30) 30 October 1947 (age 77)Thừa Thiên-Huế Province, Vietnam
Political party	Independent
Other politicalaffiliations	National Liberation Front (1968-1976)
Relations	Nguyễn dynasty
Education	Marie Curie High School
Alma mater	Université de ParisUniversity of Cambridge
Awards	Legion of Honour (third rank)

Tôn Nữ Thị Ninh (born October 30, 1947) is a Vietnamese diplomat, politician and educator. She served as the Vietnamese Ambassador to the European Union and other European nations such as Belgium and Luxembourg. A member of the National Assembly from 2002 to 2007, she also served as the Deputy Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Early life and education

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Tôn Nữ Thị Ninh was born on October 30, 1947, in Huế city,Thừa Thiên-Huế province, Vietnam. Because she was a descendant of the royal Nguyen dynasty, her surname is "Tôn Nữ" (it is same as a male descendant of Nguyen dynasty who is named "Tôn Thất").

In 1950, her family moved to France and then came back to Saigon, where she attended the Marie Curie High School. In 1964, she attended the Université de Paris and later the University of Cambridge.[1]

Career

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Early career

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While being in Paris, she joined the National Liberation Front (Viet Cong), which later became the Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam, as an assistant and a translator for the Vietnam delegates negotiating at the Paris Peace Accords from 1968 to 1973, especially in the unofficial negotiations of Madame Nguyễn Thị Bình.[2][3] Ninh used to be a university lecturer at Université Sorbonne-Nouvelle.[4]

After coming back to Vietnam in 1972, she became the Associate Dean of the English Faculty of the Saigon University of Education (now the Ho Chi Minh City Pedagogical University).

In 1975, when she was at the Saigon University of Education, Ninh met the Chair of the Central Foreign Affairs Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam and accepted his invitation to work at the Committee, formally ending her teaching career in 1979.[1]

Diplomatic career

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She began her career as an interpreter for figures such as Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Van Dong, General Vo Nguyen Giap, and French President Francois Mitterrand.

She later held the positions of Director of the Department of International Organizations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and became an Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs.[1] She has played an important role in Vietnam's participation in multilateral organizations, particularly its entry to the World Trade Organization.[5][6]

In 2000, Madame Ninh was appointed the Ambassador of Vietnam to EU, Belgium and Luxembourg. In 2002, she was elected to the National Assembly, where she served as the Deputy Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee until 2007.[7]

Later career

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After her retirement from politics, she involved in the creation of the University of Trí Việt, a private non-profit institution, and served as its founding President. However, the project is considered a failure by Ninh herself.[8]

She was the Vice President of Vietnam Peace Committee, President of the Ho Chi Minh City Peace Committee, and a member of Council of Leaders for Peace. Madame Ninh has also served as the president of the Ho Chi Minh City Peace and Development Foundation. She's currently focusing on the socio-cultural sphere, working to promote Vietnam's sustainable development, empowerment of women and youth, and contribute to Vietnam's more effective international integration and national branding.[7]

She has published a book called Tư duy và chia sẻ.[9]

Political positions

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In her time as the Deputy Chair of Foreign Affairs Committee, she was very critical of the United States accusations on the problem of human rights in Vietnam, citing the country's sovereignty over its legal process and people: "We have some naughty and stubborn children and grandchildren in the family, so we punish them behind closed door, and of course, we punish them our ways. The neighbors shouldn't knock on our door and put their noses into our family's business".[citation needed]

She also showed her disapproval over the appointment of Bob Kerrey as the Fulbright University Vietnam's first chancellor.[10] In her letter to the editors of The New York Times, she wrote: "While Mr. Kerry has expressed remorse over his role in the Thanh Phong massacre, a leadership position at a university with the status and ambitions of FUV, a joint American-Vietnamese venture set to start up in the fall of 2017, should not be viewed as an opportunity to atone for past wrongdoings. That opportunity can take other, uncontroversial forms".[11]

Awards

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In 1997, Madame Ninh was awarded the second rank (officier) of the Legion of Honour after the Hanoi-French Summit. In 2013, she received the third rank (commander) of the Legion of Honors.[12][1]

Personal life

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Tôn Nữ Thị Ninh is married to a lecturer at the Ho Chi Minh City Pedagogical University in 1982.[13] They have a son.

References

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1. ^ a b c d "Bà Tôn Nữ Thị Ninh nhận Bắc đẩu Bội tinh". VietNamNet (in Vietnamese). 2013-02-27. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
2. ^ "Vietnam War and Historical Context of 1967 Peace Movement". C-SPAN. 2021-07-21. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
3. ^ "Paris: "Vườn ươm" lực lượng". Thế giới & Việt Nam. 2014-12-19. Archived from the original on 2014-12-19. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
4. ^ "Ton Nu Thi Ninh, la diplomate dévouée du Vietnam". 15 March 2013.
5. ^ "Bà Tôn Nữ Thị Ninh gặp một số đại diện truyền thông tại Câu lạc bộ Báo chí Hoa Kỳ ở Washington". VOA (in Vietnamese). 2004-12-11. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
6. ^ "Phỏng vấn bà Tôn Nữ Thị Ninh về quan hệ Mỹ-Việt và vấn đề gia nhập WTO của Việt Nam". VOA (in Vietnamese). Retrieved 2023-05-05.
7. ^ a b "Our President". Ho Chi Minh City Peace & Development Foundation. Retrieved 2020-03-05.
8. ^ Thảo, Anh. "Từng thất bại với dự án Đại học Tư thục, bà Tôn Nữ Thị Ninh khẳng định thành công không chỉ đong đếm bằng tiền". CafeF (in Vietnamese). Retrieved 2023-05-05.
9. ^ Thoại, Hà (2015-06-03). "Bà Tôn Nữ Thị Ninh ra mắt sách 'Tư duy và chia sẻ'". VnExpress (in Vietnamese). Retrieved 2023-05-05.
10. ^ "'Lẽ nào nước Mỹ không còn ai ngoài Bob Kerrey?'". ZingNews.vn (in Vietnamese). 2016-06-01. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
11. ^ Tôn, Nữ Thị Ninh (2016-06-07). "Opinion | Bob Kerrey in Vietnam". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-03-05.
12. ^ "Bà Tôn Nữ Thị Ninh: Dân Châu Phi đã gọi 'Đại tướng của chúng tôi'". Soha (in Vietnamese). Retrieved 2020-03-04.
13. ^ "Người có 'mắt xanh' chiêu hiền đãi sĩ". Tuổi Trẻ (in Vietnamese). 2017-09-02. Retrieved 2023-05-05.