During the conversation, the Lao diplomat recalled that the solidarity between the two nations, established and nurtured throughout the thousand-year history of national construction and defense, has been expanded and lifted since the birth and sound leadership of the Communist Party of Indochina, later the Communist Party of Vietnam and the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party.
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Lao Ambassador to Vietnam Sengphet Houngboungnuang |
The birth of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam on September 2, 1945 and the Lao Issara Government on October 12, 1945 was seen as a foundation to lift the solidarity and mutual support relationship of the two countries to combat alliance. Right after seizing power, the two governments signed the Laos - Vietnam support agreement on October 16, 1945 and an agreement on October 30, 1945 on forming the Laos - Vietnam joint military. They were the first official legal documents for the two countries to cooperate and stay united to combat common enemy.
Talking about the special combat alliance between the two countries, Ambassador Sengphet Houngboungnuang emphasized that the Vietnamese volunteer soldiers in Laos were noble symbols of the close relationship between the two countries. In the long resistance wars against colonialists and imperialists, generations of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers heightened the noble proletarian internationalism spirit, overcame difficulties and hardships, and stood side by side with the Lao people and troops to fight to the final victory, contributing to the great success of the revolutions of the three Indochina countries of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.
Lao President Kaysone Phomvihane once said, “Observing directive of the Vietnamese Party Committee and President Ho Chi Minh, the Vietnamese special international soldiers heightened the pure proletarian internationalism spirit, loved the Lao people like their parents and siblings, shared joy and difficulties, shouldered difficult tasks, and bravely stood side by side with the Lao people and troops in all trenches and all battlefields.”
In the resistance war against the French colonialists, the Vietnamese volunteer soldiers braved all difficulties and hardships to stand side by side with the Lao troops to fight and achieve glorious victories. From coordination in small-scale battles, the Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and the Lao Issara troops cooperated with Vietnamese regular units to launch campaigns, including the Upper Laos Campaign in 1953, which took place from April 13 to May 3, 1953.
The Lao diplomat affirmed that the victory was significant to the national liberation cause of the Vietnamese and Lao people. Firstly, it forced the enemy’s troops in the Indochina theater to passively cluster, while its mobile force was dispersed.
He added that the Upper Laos Victory also contributed to creating a new situation for Laos’ national liberation war and extending its revolutionary bases which were close to Vietnam’s liberated zones. Through the victory, the Lao revolutionary forces were forged and strongly grew, the confidence in the combat alliance between the two countries was consolidated, and their strategic coordination developed fruitfully.
Ambassador Sengphet Houngboungnuang said that the Upper Laos Victory was not only a military victory, but also the victory of the noble proletarian internationalism spirit. It contributed to affirming the important role of the combat alliance and the close solidarity between Vietnamese and Lao troops and people in the war against a common enemy for national independence.
The Lao diplomat said that the Laos - Vietnam, Vietnam - Laos special solidarity was an important factor to ensure the success of the revolutionary cause in each country and is an invaluable common asset of the two parties and nations.
In the context of the quick and complicated developments of the regional and international situation, the Lao Ambassador said that the two parties, two states, and two peoples should continuously work together to uphold, protect, and promote the tradition, thus lifting the countries to the socialism for prosperity and happiness of the two peoples and for peace, stability, cooperation, and development in the region and the world.
Translated by Tran Hoai