Vinh, hailing from Thua Thien-Hue province, central Vietnam, was son of General Nguyen Chi Thanh, late head of the General Political Department of the Vietnam People’s Army.

The military intelligence expert was a professor and Doctor of Philosophy in international relations. He held several positions in the General Department of Defense Intelligence before being elected Deputy Minister of National Defense in 2009.

In November 1999, he was appointed Deputy Director of the General Department of Defense Intelligence under the Ministry of National Defense with the rank of Colonel. In June 2000, he became Director of the General Department of Defense Intelligence.

In February 2002 and December 2004, he was promoted to the grade of Major General and Lieutenant-General respectively.

From March 2009 to June 2021, he served as Deputy Minister of National Defense.

From the end of 2009, he left the position of Director of the General Department of Defense Intelligence to work as Deputy Minister of Defense in charge of foreign affairs.

In that period, he successfully defended his doctoral thesis in law.

In December 2011, he was promoted to the rank of Senior Lieutenant General.

He was elected to the Party Central Committee in the 11th and 12th tenures, and retired in late 2021.

During his 12 years serving as Deputy Minister of National Defense, Vinh made practical contributions to promoting the development of Vietnam’s defense diplomacy, including sending forces to UN peacekeeping missions and organizing a series of ASEAN defense meetings.

The former Deputy Defense Minister frankly made comments on a number of thorny issues, including the East Sea issue. He affirmed that powerful countries must respect ASEAN’s rules of the game and no one can force Vietnam to take sides.

The Party and State have presented the Senior Lieutenant General many noble awards in recognition of his contributions to national development and defense. He was also honoured with noble distinctions by Cambodia, Russia, Cuba and Japan.

Tran Thuong