This Asian Diplomat Once Rejected The Nobel Peace Prize

US President Donald Trump and his administration campaigned hard, although unsuccessfully, to get the 79-year-old the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize this year. Trump kept saying that he had brokered multiple ceasefires between warring countries and, therefore, deserved to win.

But 50 years ago, there was a man who was honoured with the Nobel Peace Prize, and he refused to accept it. Le Duc Tho, a Vietnamese diplomat, made a historic decision in 1973. The reason: Tho was the joint winner with then US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. They were honoured "for jointly having negotiated a ceasefire in Vietnam in 1973".

He was nominated by a member of the Nobel committee, Norwegian academic John Sanness, two days after the signing of the Paris accords. However, Tho refused to accept it because his "opposite number had violated the truce".

The act was rooted in Tho's strong conviction that peace had not been truly established in South Vietnam, despite the signing of the Paris Agreement. According to a 1973 report in The New York Times, Hanoi's chief negotiator said that “peace has not yet really been established in South Vietnam. In these circumstances, it is impossible for me to accept” the prize.

He further mentioned, "I will be able to consider acceptance only when the Paris accord is respected, the arms are silenced, and real peace is established in South Vietnam."

In a letter to the Nobel Committee, Tho expressed his disappointment and frustration with the United States' continued violation of the agreement and the Saigon administration's ongoing acts of war.

“During the last 18 years, the United States undertook a war of aggression against Vietnam. The Vietnamese people have waged a tenacious and heroic struggle against the United States' aggression for independence and freedom. All of progressive humanity approves and supports this just cause,” Tho's letter read.

In his letter, Tho emphasised that the Paris Agreement was a significant victory for the Vietnamese people, but it was far from a perfect peace.

“However, since the signing of the Paris agreement, the United States and the Saigon administration continue in grave violation of 4 number of key clauses of this agreement. The Saigon administration, aided and encouraged by the United States, continues its acts of war. Peace has not yet really been established in South Vietnam.

"In these circumstances, it is impossible for me to accept the 1973 Nobel Prize for Peace which the committee has bestowed on me. Once the Paris accord on Vietnam is respected, the arms are silenced and a real peace is established in South Vietnam, I will be able to consider accepting this prize. With my thanks to the Nobel Prize Committee please Accept, madame, sincere respects,” it added.

He further said, "Kissinger's realpolitik was ill-suited to an open and democratic society, where it is difficult to invoke distant ends to justify unpalatable means."

When he was interviewed a decade later, Tho said the Nobel Committee made a big mistake. "This is a prize for peace. The thing here is, who is the one that has created peace? The ones who fought against the US and established peace for the country are us, not the US," he said.

When asked if he would now accept the prize, he said, "Yes, but only if the prize is awarded to me only."