Abstract: As if its international image were not tarred enough by the invasion and occupation of Cambodia and the recent massive expulsion of Vietnamese refugees of Chinese origin, the prestige of the Hanoi regime suffered another stunning blow in 1979 when Hoang Van Hoan, Deputy Chairman of the Vietnamese National Assembly and a close comrade-in-arms of the late Ho Chi Minh, fled to China. He thus became the first high-level defector from the Vietnamese Communist Party, an organization which has prided itself on its unbroken tradition of leadership unity. Hoan, 74, had received permission to travel to East Berlin for medical treatment; and on July 5, 1979, he left Hanoi aboard an East German airliner that stopped to refuel in Karachi, Pakistan. Feigning a sudden onset of acute chest pains, he disembarked there and was hurriedly taken to a hospital. Two days later, he disappeared only to surface shortly thereafter in Peking. Hanoi's immediate reaction to Hoan's defection was to denounce him as a longtime agent of the Chinese, and as a traitor comparable in his perfidy to Tran Tich Tac, a high official of the 12th century Tran Dynasty who leaked secrets to the Chinese court and invited a Chinese invasion.1 Hoan was promptly expelled from the VCP amid demands that he be brought to trial, presumably for treason.2 At the same time, at least four other senior Communist Party members were reportedly placed under house arrest for suspected or known pro-Chinese sentiments-although, following Vietnamese tradition, none of them was publicly vilified. They were General Le Quang Ba, former Chairman of the Nationalities (Minorities) Commission; General Chu Van Tan, a legendary hero of the guerrilla wars against the Japanese and the French who helped to found the Vietnamese
Publication Year: 1980
Publication Date: 1980-05-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 12
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