Tôn Nữ Thị Ninh

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
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.

Early career
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. Ninh used to be a university lecturer at Université Sorbonne-Nouvelle.

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.

Diplomatic career
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. She has played an important role in Vietnam's participation in multilateral organizations, particularly its entry to the World Trade Organization.

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.

Later career
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.

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.

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

Political positions
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".

She also showed her disapproval over the appointment of Bob Kerrey as the Fulbright University Vietnam's first chancellor. 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".

Awards
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.

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