Mr. Vu Khoan, at close range

...One afternoon in October 2001. The autumn sky was a clear blue, and the sea was azure. I was sitting with him on a boat tour of Hamburg Port.

Generous in the sunshine and gentle breeze, the conversation unfolded in a warm, intimate atmosphere, bridging any distance between people. It's interesting to learn that the first letter of the word KHOAN/GIẢN/AN/LẠC – the secret to a healthy and long life for the Vietnamese people – was chosen by our ancestors to name him!

Khoan, the name of the son of the foreman of a paper mill in the outskirts of Hanoi . When the nationwide resistance war broke out, at the age of 8, he had to follow his father from his hometown of Phu Xuyen, Thuong Tin, to the Viet Bac resistance zone.

In 1951, Vu Khoan was sent to China for studies. After 1954, he was selected to work at the Vietnamese Embassy in the Soviet Union, a fortunate opportunity to enter the diplomatic field. A few years later, he underwent training at the Moscow School of International Relations.

With outstanding academic achievements, graduating two grades in one year, and a natural aptitude for languages, Vu Khoan quickly mastered Russian.

When I pressed him about the events – the times he directly translated for President Ho Chi Minh, and later for other important figures like Le Duan and Pham Van Dong… – he was very reticent and just laughed, “I didn’t have to work that hard! My father (President Ho Chi Minh) was fluent in Russian!”

I also wondered why, even in the late 1980s, he was still an assistant to Foreign Minister Nguyen Co Thach? Then, during the Doi Moi (Renovation) period, he only became a Deputy Minister; wasn't that too late? But he just laughed and said, "You don't know how happy I was during the time I spent close to Mr. Thach."

And there were things that were difficult to talk about, just as difficult for me to write about. That was the period in late 1979 and early 1980 when the diplomatic sector was under embargo, a time when he was directly responsible for responding.

He revealed that there were months when he only got fifteen days of sleep!

He shared both recent and distant stories, and the agonizing feelings of Vietnamese envoys from poor countries when fulfilling their duties abroad. He revealed that his ancestors had a saying, "Nothing is worse than poverty"—nothing is more painful than the sin of poverty. That humiliation can sometimes lead people to cowardice!

I was also curious about the pen name Ho Vu that he used. It turns out that the wife of diplomat Vu Khoan, Mrs. Ho The Lan, was once a key figure in the Press Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs .

I'm adding more information about the sensational event from last year (i.e., 2000). In July 2000, Minister of Trade Vu Khoan undertook the mission to go to the US to renegotiate the Trade Agreement (TIA) that the two sides had initialed.

The story, though brief, is quite long when written down. Listeners seem to be infected by the shared anxieties of someone worried about the nation's fate! Vietnam desperately wanted a trade agreement, but wanted to change some details to suit its own perspective. But could they convince their American counterparts?

Finally, after much struggle and difficulty, the original agreement stipulated a 50-50 investment ratio, but Vietnam changed it to 51-49!

Later, after the two sides signed an agreement, Mr. Vu Khoan was received by President Bill Clinton at the White House.

...I also recall the celebratory gathering in 2001, called the New Year's celebration of the trade sector. The celebration had two events: "Bidding farewell to the old and welcoming the new" - two "figures": Vu Khoan, who became Minister of Trade; and bidding farewell to former Minister of Trade Truong Dinh Tuyen, who went to govern Nghe An (as Provincial Party Secretary). Prime Minister Phan Van Khai was also present.

As if suddenly remembering the refined hobby that former Mr. Truong Dinh Tuyen had long enjoyed, the new Mr. Vu Khoan cheerfully suggested that Mr. Tuyen recite some poetry!

Both the Prime Minister and Mr. Tuyen agreed.

"Mr. Prime Minister, Mr. Vu Khoan, and my colleagues, there are many old poems I've written and many of you have heard, but today I would like to read a few lines that just came to mind..."

The spacious room was eerily silent.

"Five years guarding this gate / I've experienced both sweetness and bitterness / No one is a stranger here / When I leave, who will mourn my departure, and who will rejoice?"

Prime Minister Phan Van Khai smiled, looking at him with an encouraging gaze, "Surely it's not over yet?" He smiled, "No, not yet..." then continued, "Why ponder, why think? This love is very heavy, this meaning is very deep..."

Amidst bursts of laughter, Uncle Six Khai turned to the old man and said, "Hey, doesn't that concluding line sound forced?"

The proactive demeanor at that reception reminded many of Mr. Vu Khoan's later career breakthroughs. These included his decisive initiative as Minister to establish trade promotion agencies both domestically and internationally. "Why should Vietnamese people just sit around waiting for customers to come buy? In a market economy, you have to go out and promote your products..." Since no one was in charge of promoting products at the time, he created trade promotion agencies, followed by investment promotion agencies, tourism promotion agencies, and so on.

During his tenure as Minister of Trade and then Deputy Prime Minister, Vu Khoan made a name for himself in the fields of ASEAN trade, APEC, and ASEM (Asia-Europe Cooperation Forum). He also contributed significantly to the BTA (Border Trade Agreement) and played a crucial role in the negotiations for Vietnam's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO)…

Then came major undertakings such as expanding international relations, both bilateral and multilateral. Approaching the United States and South Korea, expanding relations with Australia and Japan. With Japan, he was the first to negotiate, and in secret at that, to secure their first ODA (Official Development Assistance).

A diplomatic official shared with me his impressions of diplomat Vu Khoan.

This was a party held in Washington D.C. to celebrate the exchange of ratification letters for the Vietnam-U.S. Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA). The party took place in a large, elegantly marble-floored hall. Officials from both parties (Democrats and Republicans) and both houses of Congress (Senate and House) were present. The event was further enlivened by representatives from prominent U.S. businesses and major Vietnamese enterprises.

Beginning his speech, Mr. Vu Khoan smiled and spoke extemporaneously:

"Last night, I had a dream!"

The auditorium immediately fell silent.

Mr. Vu Khoan in the museum dedicated to the musical genius Johann Sebastian Bach.

(The envoy paused to add that most Americans are familiar with this famous quote by Martin Luther King Jr., the American anti-racism activist.)

People fell silent, surprised and curious to see what this Vietnamese Minister of Trade was dreaming about.

Maintaining his composed demeanor, Mr. Khoan continued:

"I dream of being invited to a party where the entire floor is paved with marble imported from Vietnam."

At this point, he invited representatives from Vietnamese construction material businesses to stand up and greet him.

The specific content and sequence of events were unclear, but the audience erupted in applause because the guest was quite impressed by the unusual demeanor, which differed from the way Vietnamese officials usually spoke.

Then Mr. Vu Khoan went on to describe the party where the tables, chairs, and even the guests' clothing were all imported from Vietnam. The main course was basa fish, and the dessert was dragon fruit and Buon Ma Thuot coffee. After each product name, he called on the Vietnamese representative to stand up and greet him.

In the final scene, Mr. Vu Khoan dreams of a Boeing 777 carrying American tourists, gradually descending to land at Noi Bai International Airport.

Mr. Vu Khoan (right in the photo) at an event abroad.

"When American tourists disembark at Noi Bai airport, graceful Vietnamese girls in traditional ao dai dresses happily rush out to present them with flowers."

"But ladies and gentlemen, do you know, among the beautiful women who came to greet me, I suddenly saw a woman with snow-white hair. Looking closely, I realized it was my wife, and I was startled awake."

Another round of applause erupted, further intensifying the show of appreciation!

As I sit here typing these lines, I think about the time when the Vietnam-US Trade Agreement progressed and became a reality – it truly felt like a dream! With the boost of the Trade Agreement, Vietnam's trade turnover with the US quickly increased from $700 million to $19 billion in 2012!

Dear Mr. Vu Khoan, the content of the Vietnam-US Trade Agreement (comprising 7 chapters, 72 articles, and 9 appendices), which the pioneering leader Vu Khoan wholeheartedly built, has now yielded so many positive results. Basa fish, dragon fruit, Ban Me coffee… textiles, building materials are now vividly present in the lives of Americans, not just fleeting dreams anymore!

I heard that Mr. Vu Khoan left behind memoirs? Surely his honesty and straightforwardness would convey things like, "At that time, Mr. Phan Van Khai sent me to a meeting at the Ministry of Construction. I persistently suggested that no high-rise buildings be constructed in the center of Hanoi, but it seemed impossible. As a consequence, we see the rampant construction we see today."

…At that time, there were the Chu Lai and Van Phong industrial zones. Based on the experience of other countries, I also suggested that if you want to develop an export processing zone, you need a "battery" – energy to recharge it before it can flourish. If you spend a lot of money but don't have that energy, that zone will just die.

He used to be conflicted about decentralizing authority to local governments regarding foreign investment in particular and investment in general.

Decentralization must follow overall planning and the capacity of officials – two necessary conditions. I haven't considered all of this, but I see the need to remove excessive centralization, bureaucracy, and negativity… For the economy to become dynamic, decentralization is necessary, but we haven't realized that achieving this requires very tight overall planning and a very high level of human resource capacity, resulting in the current chaotic situation."

Mr. Khoan regrets that he sometimes misinterpreted things, leading to losses, and sometimes he correctly perceived things but failed to fight for them to the end, leaving him powerless to prevent those losses.

From the bottom of his heart, Mr. Vu Khoan wrote these lines at the time when former Prime Minister Phan Van Khai, also known as Mr. Sau Khai, passed away.

"The musician Trinh Cong Son has profound lyrics, emphasizing that life requires a compassionate heart. With Anh Sau Khai – in his life, he possessed a wholehearted devotion to the people and the nation."

And with Mr. Vu Khoan, that same kind of unwavering devotion and loyalty was fully realized!

Night of June 22, 2023

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