Mr. Vu Khoan's embarrassing times

The book 'Vu Khoan - Confessions left behind' has just been released to readers - Photo: T.DIEU

Vu Khoan - sent back feelings (published by the Writers Association Publishing House and Lienviet) is a collection of articles, writings, and speeches published or unpublished by Mr. Vu Khoan around two major topics.

The heart and vision of Mr. Vu Khoan

One is the section "Vietnam and World Diplomacy", reflecting the Deputy Prime Minister's thoughts on the foreign policy of the Party and State through a number of press works and articles.

Reading books, readers will learn more about the country's talented diplomats, from President Ho Chi Minh to Mr. Nguyen Co Thach, Mr. Nguyen Duy Trinh...

Especially those working in diplomacy can find for themselves a lot of knowledge about the history of Vietnamese diplomacy as well as valuable lessons for the diplomatic profession.

Part two, "Vietnam's Aspirations: Opportunities and Challenges in the New World Situation", addresses many emerging issues in the process of building and protecting the country in general, and the foreign affairs sector in particular, his thoughts on the country's issues as well as his instructions for the younger generation.

Readers recognize a leader who always cares about the country's situation and has many dedicated, profound, responsible, and frank comments to the Party, State, many ministries, localities, and young people, even after his retirement.

The book also has an appendix, including articles about Mr. Vu Khoan by family, comrades, and friends.

Readers will understand more about Mr. Vu Khoan's mind and vision, his contributions to the country's development as well as his personal qualities of "humanity, justice, courtesy, wisdom, trustworthiness and courage".

Minister of Trade Vu Khoan (right cover) and US Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky signed the Vietnam - US Trade Agreement on July 13, 2000 in Washington DC - File photo

Valuable lessons from Prime Minister Pham Van Dong

In an article, Mr. Vu Khoan told many interesting stories that helped him draw many valuable lessons for himself and for those working as interpreters and diplomats in general.

Once, Prime Minister Pham Van Dong visited the Soviet Union after the Paris Agreement was signed. Mr. Vu Khoan was a young man at that time and was assigned to be an interpreter for Mr. Pham Van Dong.

While visiting the Lenin automobile factory in Moscow, the director pointed to a photo on display about Soviet-Vietnamese relations and said: This is you, comrade, meaning Prime Minister Pham Van Dong.

Mr. Vu Khoan immediately said that it was not and corrected that it was Mr. Duong Bach Mai - General Secretary of the Vietnam - Soviet Union Friendship Association.

At that moment, the director's face turned red, but Mr. Vu Khoan still hadn't realized that he had been tactful at the wrong place and at the wrong time.

When the delegation arrived at our country's Embassy, ​​Prime Minister Pham Van Dong did not enter the hall immediately but invited Mr. Vu Khoan to take a walk in the garden.

After a few exchanges, Prime Minister Pham Van Dong suddenly told Mr. Vu Khoan: "Khoan doesn't need to make any corrections, doing so would only put the factory director in a difficult position."

At that time, Mr. Vu Khoan realized that he had made a mistake, so he apologized to the Prime Minister and promised never to act like that again.

That time, Mr. Vu Khoan not only learned the lesson of not being "chattery" but also learned the lesson of how to behave very humanly from Mr. To (the alias of Prime Minister Pham Van Dong).

The Prime Minister did not embarrass the young man in public but tried to gently correct him in private.

Mr. Vu Khoan said that later, when he held leadership positions, when correcting the mistakes of subordinates, he always avoided making them "lose face".

During his time as a Russian interpreter for senior leaders of our country, Mr. Vu Khoan also had other embarrassing moments and thanks to that, he learned unforgettable lessons.

Mr. Vu Khoan (1937 - 2023) was born in Phu Xuyen district, Ha Tay province (now part of Hanoi city).

He is a Vietnamese politician and diplomat, who has held the positions of Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Trade, Permanent Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs...

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/nhung-lan-nguong-chin-nguoi-cua-ong-vu-khoan-20240430175914276.htm