Editing Bùi Tín

{{Short description|Vietnamese activist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2021}}
{{family name hatnote|Bùi|Tín|Bui|lang=Vietnamese}}
{{Infobox military person
| image = File:Bui Tin pic.jpg
| birth_date={{Birth date|1927|12|29|df=y}}
| birth_place=[[Hanoi]], [[French Indochina]]
| death_date={{death date and age|2018|08|11|1927|12|29|df=y}}
| death_place=[[Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis|Montreuil]], Paris, France
| allegiance={{Flag|North Vietnam}}
| branch=[[File:Flag of the People's Army of Vietnam.svg|border|23px]] [[People's Army of Vietnam]]
| rank=[[Colonel]]
| battles=[[Vietnam War]]
| serviceyears=1945–1990
}}
'''Bùi Tín''' (29 December 1927 – 11 August 2018) was a Vietnamese [[dissident]] and [[Vietnam People's Army|People's Army of Vietnam]] (PAVN) [[colonel]], serving in the [[General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army|PAVN general staff]]. After the [[Vietnam War|war]], he became disillusioned by corruption and the continuing isolation of the newly unified Vietnam. He decided to leave Vietnam and live in [[exile]] in Paris to express his growing dissatisfaction with the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]] and their political system.

==Early life and education==
Tín was born near [[Hanoi]] on 29 December 1927, and was educated in [[Huế]].

==Career==
During the [[August Revolution]] in 1945, Tín became an active supporter to politically pressure the government of France to cede Vietnam its independence. He later joined the [[Việt Minh]] along with Chairman [[Ho Chi Minh|Hồ Chí Minh]] and General [[Võ Nguyên Giáp]]. He would fight on two sides of the line, using both weapons and his skills as a journalist for the Vietnam People's Army newspaper. He enlisted in the Vietnamese People's Army at age 18. He was wounded during the 1954 [[Battle of Dien Bien Phu]].<ref name="wapo-piece">{{cite news |author=Tín |first=Bùi |date=19 October 1991 |title=Vietnam: The Betrayal of A Revolution; Victims of Discredited Doctrine, My People Now Look to America |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1991/10/20/vietnam-the-betrayal-of-a-revolution/baef22ef-5ee7-43f0-97d3-7dc02ab24533/ |access-date=2025-04-29 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]}}</ref>

Tín would serve on the general staff of the army. During the [[Vietnam War]], he had authority from Defense Minister [[Võ Nguyên Giáp]] to visit any of the camps where American [[Prisoner of war|Prisoners of War]] (PoW) were held, meet with the camp officers, look at the PoW files, and interview the PoW's.<ref name="one">Hearings before the Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs, United States Senate, 7 November 1991. See transcript pages 461 ff. [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/pow/senate_house/pdf/hear_11_91.pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121028050505/http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/pow/senate_house/pdf/hear_11_91.pdf|date=28 October 2012}}</ref> During at least one such occasion, he was involved in an interrogation of [[John McCain]].<ref name=one/><ref name="wtff"/>

Tín was with the PAVN in the South in 1975, reporting for [[Nhân Dân]].<ref>{{harvnb|Bui|1999|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=2NUl_nVpW-gC&dq=%22nhan+dan%22&pg=PA83 83]}}</ref> Western media often claims to have been called into service at the [[Fall of Saigon]] because of his Army rank of colonel and to have personally accepted the surrender of [[Dương Văn Minh]] and his Cabinet,<ref>{{harvnb|Bui|1999|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=2NUl_nVpW-gC&dq=%22duong+van+minh%22+%22his+cabinet%22+waiting&pg=PA84 84]}}</ref> this was disputed by the Vietnamese government as well as by Tín himself, claiming the act to Colonel {{Interlanguage link|Bùi Văn Tùng|vi}}.<ref>{{harvnb|Bui|1999|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=2NUl_nVpW-gC&dq=%22a+subject+of+controversy%22&pg=PA85 85]}}<!--re dispute--></ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://thediplomat.com/2018/08/prominent-north-vietnamese-communist-defector-dies/|title=A closer look at the wider significance of Colonel Bui Tin's death.|date=18 August 2018|newspaper=The Diplomat<!--re defection-->|access-date=6 January 2020|archive-date=4 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200704080801/https://thediplomat.com/2018/08/prominent-north-vietnamese-communist-defector-dies/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="wapo-piece" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Tín |first=Bùi |date=2009-04-15 |title=Sai gon trong nhung gio phut lich su |trans-title=Saigon In Historical Hours |url=http://hanoi.vnn.vn/chuyen_de/000430/hcm_ngayhoi/bai_1.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090415035824/http://hanoi.vnn.vn/chuyen_de/000430/hcm_ngayhoi/bai_1.html |archive-date=15 April 2009 |access-date=2022-08-27 |website=hanoi.vnn.vn}}</ref>

After the war ended, he went on to serve as the Vice Chief [[Editing|Editor]] of the ''People's Daily'' (''Nhân Dân'', the official newspaper of the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]]), responsible for the ''Sunday People's'' (''Nhân Dân Chủ Nhật''). He became disillusioned in the mid-1980s with postwar [[political corruption|corruption]] and the continuing [[Isolationism|isolation]] of Vietnam. In 1990, Tín decided to leave Vietnam and emigrated to [[Paris, France|Paris]], deciding to stay after being invited by the French newspaper [[L'Humanité]] after becoming disillusioned with the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]] and Vietnam's political system.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-45195395|title=The communist reporter scrubbed from the history books|author=|date=19 August 2018|publisher=BBC|access-date=16 September 2018|archive-date=18 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180918140544/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-45195395|url-status=live}}</ref>

In November 1991, Tín became involved in the [[Vietnam War POW/MIA issue]] when he appeared before hearings of the [[United States Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs]] in [[Washington, D.C.]]<ref name=one/> He stated that, "I can say that I know as well as any top leader in Vietnam and, in my opinion, I state categorically that there is not any American prisoner alive in Vietnam."<ref name=one/> After his testimony, he and former PoW John McCain embraced, which produced a flurry of "Former Enemies Embrace" style headlines.<ref name="wtff">{{cite book|last=McCain|first=John|author-link=John McCain|author2=Mark Salter|author2-link=Mark Salter|title=[[Worth the Fighting For]]|publisher=[[Random House]]|year=2002|isbn=0-375-50542-3}} pp. 245–247.</ref> Tín's testimony was the subject of anticipation: when he had arrived at [[Dulles International Airport]] three weeks earlier, former [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. Congressman]] [[Bill Hendon]] and a staff assistant to the committee's vice-chair [[Bob Smith (New Hampshire politician)|Bob Smith]] confronted Tín and tried to convince him that there ''were'' live prisoners in Vietnam; Tín felt it was an intimidation attempt.<ref>{{cite news |author=Oberdorfer |first=Don |author-link=Don Oberdorfer |date=20 October 1991 |title=Bui Tin: My 'Detention' at Dulles |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1991/10/20/bui-tin-my-detention-at-dulles/bb6f3d6c-0a18-46b9-bd7d-15d9634b105d/ |url-access=subscription |access-date=2025-04-29 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]}}</ref>

Tín subsequently published two books, ''Following Ho Chi Minh: The Memoirs of a North Vietnamese Colonel'' ([[University of Hawaii Press]], 1995)<ref>{{cite book|title=Following Ho Chi Minh: The Memoirs of a North Vietnamese Colonel|first=Tin|last=Bui|date=1 August 1995|publisher=Univ of Hawaii Pr|isbn=0824816730}}</ref> and ''From Enemy To Friend: A North Vietnamese Perspective on the War'' ([[U.S. Naval Institute Press]], 2002).<ref>{{cite book|title=From Enemy to Friend: A North Vietnamese Perspective on the War|first=Bui|last=Tin|date=14 June 2002|publisher=Naval Institute Press|isbn=155750881X}}</ref>

In a 2000 [[PBS]] ''[[American Experience]]'' forum, he maintained that no captured U.S. soldiers had been tortured during their captivity in North Vietnam during the war. He conceded the same might not be true of captured [[United States Air Force]] pilots, going so far as calling some of their alleged treatment "a violation of the [[Prisoners' rights in international law|International Agreement]] on Prisoner of War".<ref name="rwh-forum-1">{{cite web |date=15 November 2000 |title=American Experience: Return With Honor: Online Forum |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/honor/sfeature/sf_forum_1115.html |url-status=dead |access-date=7 July 2008 |publisher=[[PBS]] |archive-date=21 May 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080521094531/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/honor/sfeature/sf_forum_1115.html }}</ref>

He died aged 90 in [[Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis|Montreuil, France]] on 11 August 2018.<ref>{{cite web|title= Obituary: Bui Tin, the Vietnamese reporter scrubbed from the history books |date= August 19, 2018 |work= [[BBC News]] |language= en |url= https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-45195395 |access-date= May 19, 2025 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20250519124104/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-45195395 |archive-date= May 19, 2025 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title= Bui Tin obituary |first= Mark |last= Tran |date= August 22, 2018 |newspaper= [[The Guardian]] |issn= 1756-3224 |language= en |url= https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/22/bui-tin-obituary |access-date= May 19, 2025 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20250519124042/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/22/bui-tin-obituary |archive-date= May 19, 2025 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title= Bui Tin, Vietnamese communist soldier turned dissident, dies at 90 |first= Harrison |last= Smith |date= August 13, 2018 |newspaper= [[The Washington Post]] |issn= 0190-8286 |language= en |url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/bui-tin-vietnamese-communist-soldier-turned-dissident-dies-at-90/2018/08/13/7a8cf460-9f06-11e8-83d2-70203b8d7b44_story.html |access-date= May 19, 2025 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20250519124604/https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/bui-tin-vietnamese-communist-soldier-turned-dissident-dies-at-90/2018/08/13/7a8cf460-9f06-11e8-83d2-70203b8d7b44_story.html |archive-date= May 19, 2025 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}
* {{cite book |last=Bui |first=Tin |title=Following Ho Chi Minh: The Memoirs of a North Vietnamese Colonel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2NUl_nVpW-gC |year=1999 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=978-0-8248-2233-0}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bui, Tin}}
[[Category:1927 births]]
[[Category:2018 deaths]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Hanoi]]
[[Category:Vietnamese defectors]]
[[Category:Vietnamese dissidents]]
[[Category:Vietnamese expatriates in France]]
[[Category:Vietnamese people of the Vietnam War]]