Hoàng Văn Hoan (1905 – 18 May 1991) was a personal friend of

Ho Chi Minh (: ; born ; 19 May 1890 – 2 September 1969), commonly known as (' Uncle Hồ'), also known as ('President Hồ'), (' Old father of the people') and by other aliases, was a Vietnamese revolutionary and statesman. He served as P ...

, a founding member of the

Indochinese Communist Party The Indochinese Communist Party (ICP), km, បក្សកុម្មុយនីស្តឥណ្ឌូចិន, lo, ອິນດູຈີນພັກກອມມູນິດ, zh, t=印度支那共產黨 was a political party which was t ...

, and a Politburo member of the

Lao Dong Party The Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), also known as the Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP), is the founding and sole legal party of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Founded in 1930 by Hồ Chí Minh, the CPV became the ruling party of North ...

(Vietnam Workers' Party-VWP) from 1960 to 1976. Born in Nghệ An Province in 1905, Hoan was a crucial link between the

Democratic Republic of Vietnam North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; vi, Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa), was a socialist state supported by the Soviet Union (USSR) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Southeast Asia that existed f ...

and China, ambassador to

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

1950–1957, and leader of many delegations to China as Vice Chairman of the DRV National Assembly Standing Committee in the 1960s. Known for his pro-Chinese sympathies, Hoan reached the peak of his career in the early 1960s when North Vietnam temporarily adopted a pro-Chinese attitude in the Sino-Soviet dispute. In 1963, when Foreign Minister Ung Văn Khiêm was replaced by the more pro-Chinese Xuân Thủy, Hoan headed the International Liaison Department of the VWP CC. In 1965–1966, however, Soviet-DRV relations started to improve, accompanied by increasing tension between Hanoi and Beijing. In the new atmosphere, the leadership found it advisable to replace both Xuan Thuy and Hoan with cadres who had been less conspicuously associated with Le Duan's previous pro-Chinese policies. Still, Hoan remained a prominent actor in Sino-Vietnamese relations for a time. In May 1973, he conducted secret talks in Beijing about the

Cambodian Civil War The Cambodian Civil War ( km, សង្គ្រាមស៊ីវិលកម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ) was a civil war in Cambodia fought between the forces of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (known as the Khmer Rouge, supported by North Vi ...

. In 1974, Hoan traveled to China for "medical treatment," but his real mission was probably related to the secret (and unsuccessful) Sino-Vietnamese border negotiations from August to November. He lost most of his influence after the Fourth National Party Congress in 1977, when the Vietnamese Communists shifted to a pro-Soviet position. Like Truong Nhu Tang, who went into exile in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, Hoang defected and surfaced in Beijing in July 1979, after shaking off political persecution by the Vietnamese communist authorities. Hoang charged that Vietnam's abuse of its ethnic Chinese minority was "even worse than Hitler's treatment of the Jews" and that

Hanoi Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is ...

had become "subservient to a foreign power," referring to the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

. Hoang disclosed that in 1982, the Vietnamese Communist Party's Central Committee decided that opium production should be used to raise badly needed foreign currency like U.S. dollars . Hoang authored his reminiscences as ''A Drop in the Ocean''. He died in

in 1991.

Works

* *

References

External links

Hanoi's Push
''Time,'' Aug. 20, 1979.
Indochina: Five Years of Communist Rule

Factionalism in North VietnamA
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoang, Van Hoan Vietnamese people of the Vietnam War Vietnamese dissidents 1905 births 1991 deaths People from Nghệ An province Vietnamese exiles Members of the 2nd Politburo of the Workers' Party of Vietnam Members of the 3rd Politburo of the Workers' Party of Vietnam Members of the 1st Central Committee of the Indochinese Communist Party Members of the 2nd Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Vietnam Members of the 3rd Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Vietnam Burials at Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery Vietnamese defectors Vietnamese emigrants to China