General Phung Quang Thanh passes away 16:00   General Phung Quang Thanh, former member of the Politburo and former Minister of National Defence, passed away after a period of illness at 3:45 am September 11 at his private home in Hanoi. General Phung Quang Thanh. The memorial services and burial ceremony for General Phung Quang Thanh will be announced later. General Phung Quang Thanh was born on February 2, 1949 in Thach Da commune, Me Linh district, Vinh Phuc province. He was a member of the 9th, 10th and 11th Party Central Committee, member of the Politburo of the 10th and 11th Party Central Committee, and deputy of the National  Assembly in the 11th, 12th, and 13th tenures. He was awarded the rank of General in July 2007. His military career is a shining example of heroic fighting spirit, resilience, will and effort to rise up. At the 10th National Party Congress in 2006, he was elected to the Party Central Committee and elected by the Party Central Committee to the Politburo and assigned as Deputy Secretary of the Central Military Commission and Defence Minister. At the 11th National Party Congress in 2011, he continued to be elected to the Party Central Committee and to the Politburo and assigned to be Deputy Secretary of the Central Military Commission. At the first session of the 13th National Assembly, General Phung Quang Thanh was approved by the National Assembly to continue to hold the position as Minister of National Defence. At the 11th session of the 13th National Assembly in April 2016, the National Assembly approved the relief of Phung Quang Thanh from the position of Minister of National Defence. General  Phung Quang Thanh was honoured with the title Hero of the People's Armed Forces and many other noble titles./.   VNA