PANO - Foreign scientists participating in the international conference, “Dien Bien Phu Victory - Vietnamese power and world significance”, on May 5th in Hanoi agreed that the spirit of “determination to fight and to win” for national independence and freedom in the resounding Dien Bien Phu Campaign that shook the world.
>>Hanoi conference analyses Dien Bien Phu victory
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| The Dien Bien Phu Campaign highlighted in the international conference |
Addressing the event, Prof. Dr. Liu Zhi Gang from the Southeast Asia Research Institute under the Chinese Guangxi National University stressed that China totally supported General Vo Nguyen Giap’s strategy “slow advance, certain victory”.
Prof. Dr. Liu further said Chinese advisors actively joined Vietnamese military generals to do surveys, set up plans and prepare the battlefield for the Dien Bien Phu Campaign,. At first, taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of the warfare and the logistics, the Chinese advisors on December 9th, 1953 recommended to apply the strategy “quick attack, quick win”. However, studying General Vo Nguyen Giap’s strategy “slow advance, certain victory” as well as analyzing the reality, head of the Chinese Military Advisory Group to Vietnam Wei Guoqing completely backed General Vo Nguyen Giap’s strategy. Wei also asked the Central Military Commission and the General Staff of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, especially experience on building battlefields and combats in trenches as reference for Vietnamese troops to well prepare for the important campaign.
For his part, Dr. Bountheng Souksavatd from Laos National Institute of Social Sciences held that the victory on May 7th, 1954, ended the French colonialists’ rule in Vietnam, contributing to the collapse of old colonialism in the world.
“Vietnamese people’s great victory is also the victory of the Vietnam-Laos-Cambodia combat alliance in which Vietnam is the pillar of the resistance war against the common enemy”, the Lao doctor said, adding that the Indochinese war changed in favour of the struggle of the people of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia at the Geneva Conference.
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| Artilleries ready to open fire at the enemy. A filed photo |
The Lao scientist stressed that the great victory of the Dien Bien Phu Campaign clarified the truth that a small nation with strong solidarity and determination to fight under the sound military and political policy was capable of defeating all invaders with elite troops armed with modern equipment.
He also quoted the French magazine Le Nouvel Observateur on April 8th, 1984 as stressing that Vietnam’s Dien Bien Phu is one of combats that change the world’s face.
Another participant, Associate Prof. Dr. Musiychuk Victoria from the Oriental Research Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine confirmed the press circle in his country followed closely the developments of the Dien Bien Phu Campaign at that time. Notably, Vietnam’s anti-French resistance war and the Dien Bien Phu Campaign were highlighted via analyses not only on its developments, the participating forces but also on the negotiations at Geneva Conference and the US’s role and influence. He stressed that the Dien Bien Phu Victory was an important landmark in the history of Vietnam.
Meanwhile, Dr. Seung-Kyun KO from the US Hawaii Pacific University affirmed that the Dien Bien Phu Campaign brought about for Vietnam a historic victory over colonialism and at the same time the absolute confidence in its selected path for national independence.
Sharing the same view with the Lao scientist, American Associate Prof. Dr. Christian C.Lentz from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill asserted that the Dien Bien Phu battle had changed the world. The People’s Army of Vietnam had won over the French colonists and the victory of the campaign helped consolidate Vietnam’s status at diplomatic negotiations leading to the signing of the Geneva Accords. The victory had ended the resistance war against the French colonialists in Vietnam and at the same time encouraged oppressed nations to stand up in the fight against imperialists.
Translated by Mai Huong