Nguyễn Thị Bình
Nguyễn Thị Bình
PRG foreign minister, the only woman to sign the Paris Peace Accords, and later vice president of Vietnam
At the 1969 Paris Peace Conference, she was deputy head of the National Liberation Front delegation. Later that year she became foreign minister of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam and headed its delegation, signing the 1973 Paris Agreement.
Born in Sa Đéc province and a granddaughter of the nationalist leader Phan Châu Trinh, she joined the Communist Party in 1948 and was held by the French in Saigon’s Chí Hòa prison in 1951–1953. During the Vietnam War she sat on the Central Committee of the National Liberation Front, and in 1969 she became foreign minister of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam, leading its delegation in Paris. She was the only woman to sign the 1973 Paris Peace Accords. After reunification she was minister of education, and the National Assembly twice elected her vice president of Vietnam, for 1992–2002.
Career timeline
- 1949Joined the Vietnamese Communist Party and worked as a grassroots organiser.
- 1951–1954Arrested by French police, imprisoned at Chi Hoa Detention Centre, and released in poor health.
- 1969Served as deputy head of the National Liberation Front delegation in Paris, then became foreign minister of the Provisional Revolutionary Government and head of its Paris delegation.
- 1973Was the only woman to sign the Paris Agreement.
- 1976–1987Served as minister of education.
- 1992–2002Elected vice president of Vietnam for two terms.