50 years of Paris Agreement: The plot to divide Vietnam failed

After the Dien Bien Phu victory in 1954, the Geneva Agreement was signed. According to the content of the Agreement, Vietnam was temporarily divided into two regions, with the 17th parallel as the temporary boundary. Within 2 years, the two regions would be unified on the basis of a free general election. During this time, no country was allowed to bring into Vietnam any types of weapons such as fighter planes, naval ships, large artillery and armored vehicles. The Agreement also clearly stated that no country was allowed to establish military bases in the two regions. The two sides were not allowed to join any military alliances, and were not allowed to take advantage of the situation to re-enact a state of war.

Delegation of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam attending the Opening Session of the Four-Party Conference on Vietnam in Paris, January 25, 1969.

The United States was a party, a member participating in the Geneva Conference. Even if the United States did not sign this Agreement, it still had international legal value. However, the United States blatantly sabotaged the Agreement, sent troops to the South, and waged a war of aggression against Vietnam. Therefore, the most crucial issue at the Paris negotiation table was the withdrawal of American troops from the southern battlefield. And with the victory of the Paris Agreement, we took an important step forward in eliminating the border that had divided the country for 20 years.

On May 8, 1969, representing the National Liberation Front Delegation of South Vietnam, Tran Buu Kiem proposed a 10-point solution to the Paris Conference. Among them, the content of the Vietnamese armed forces in the South was resolved by the Southern parties. This proposal paved the way for the US to withdraw with honor while still being able to maintain the puppet government in Saigon. We made such concessions, but US President Nixon still deliberately ignored the proposal. He blatantly made a request, bargaining with us, that if the US troops withdrew, the Northern troops would also have to withdraw from the South.

The Americans understood that, with more than half a million troops, strong generals, and the most modern weapons in the world, for 4 years since 1968, the US and its puppet regime still could not achieve their goals. Now, if the US withdraws, the balance of power will be unequal, disadvantageous to Nguyen Van Thieu. Therefore, if the US withdraws while the Northern army remains, the collapse of the Republic of Vietnam is only a matter of time. Meanwhile, we persistently argue that the US is the aggressor, violating Vietnam's territorial sovereignty, therefore, the US must withdraw all US troops and vassal troops from Vietnam.

Former Deputy Prime Minister Vu Khoan.

Former Deputy Prime Minister Vu Khoan analyzed: "During the negotiation process, we consistently insisted on two things. First, the US must recognize Vietnam's independence, sovereignty, unity, territorial integrity and the Vietnamese people's right to self-determination. Vietnam's affairs must be decided by Vietnam. Second, the US must definitely withdraw its troops completely from Vietnam. As for the Vietnamese army, whether in the South or the North, they are on Vietnamese soil, there is no way they can withdraw anywhere, they cannot withdraw from their own country."

Major General Vu Quang Dao, former Director of the Institute of Military History, said that it was a plot and intention of the US.

"The US did not want to immediately accept the demands of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and later the Provisional Government. Our highest acceptable demand was for the US troops to withdraw and our troops to stay. In short, that's it. Because Vietnam is ours. The US invaded Vietnam, now if they want peace in Vietnam, the US should go home. We will solve it ourselves. The US knew that basic demand but did not accept it. And to not accept it, they used all kinds of excuses to not sign. Therefore, the issue of whether the Provisional Government could participate or not took several conferences to discuss back and forth," Major General Vu Quang Dao added.

When waging a war of aggression in South Vietnam, the US always spread rumors and distorted the story that the North invaded the South. The US had the responsibility to prevent the communists from coming to South Vietnam. They also spread propaganda to incite world public opinion, claiming that the North was a lackey of foreign communist forces. Therefore, they openly demanded that the North's army withdraw from the South.

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Manh Ha, former Director of the Institute of Party History, affirmed: This is an unreasonable demand. Because Vietnam is an independent, unified and sovereign entity. The division of the North and South after the Geneva Agreement in 1954 was only a temporary division. But the Americans always tried to equate the nature of their war of aggression with the presence of the Northern army in the Southern battlefield.

"We persisted in the principle that Vietnam is one. The Vietnamese people are one. The North helped the South to defeat the invaders, not to invade anyone. Historically, our country was a unified strip. The US was determined to divide the 17th parallel into a national boundary. We persisted in that view until around mid-1971, when the US stopped demanding that the Northern troops withdraw from the South. Meanwhile, we persisted in asking the US to come up with a schedule for withdrawing troops from Vietnam, the sooner the better," Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Manh Ha shared.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Binh, representative of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam, at a press conference in Paris. Source: Getty Images

Despite the direct combat of the US army and its vassal army, which at one point numbered more than half a million troops, with all the most modern and sophisticated weapons, the Americans still failed. With that situation, if the Americans withdrew from the Southern battlefield, the army and puppet government of the Republic of Vietnam would be quickly crushed, and Vietnam would be unified. And conversely, if we withdrew the Northern army from the South, the Southern Liberation Army would have difficulty resisting the Republic of Vietnam army with the help of the US. And so the South would not be liberated, and Vietnam would be permanently divided into two regions, similar to the situation in North Korea and South Korea.

Associate Professor, Dr. Ha Minh Hong, Vice President of the Ho Chi Minh City Historical Science Association, said that the conflicts between the top brass of the Pentagon and the puppet government of Nguyen Van Thieu are a difficult problem. Because they have not yet found an answer to this problem, the Americans are still hesitant and indecisive when deciding to withdraw troops from South Vietnam.

"That is also the product they gave birth to and they have to bear. That is the Republic of Vietnam government. Because the Republic of Vietnam government, especially President Nguyen Van Thieu at that time, clearly saw that if the war ended by the US withdrawing, leaving this force intact. That is, the Liberation Army staying here, the Vietnam People's Army staying in their own country, inevitably like that, then sooner or later the Republic of Vietnam government would no longer exist. So they tried every way to hold on to the US, to attract the US, if they couldn't, they would oppose the US. Therefore, the conflict between the US and the Republic of Vietnam government during the negotiation process in Paris, was one of the most difficult problems and issues for the US President to solve.

Our viewpoint is very clear: This is Vietnam, Vietnamese people, no matter where they are in Vietnam, have the obligation and responsibility to participate in repelling the invaders. Therefore, our negotiating delegation received instructions to resolutely achieve the goal: The American troops will go out, but our troops will remain. Thoroughly implementing that directive, our diplomatic delegations have responded flexibly to reach the signing day. This is also the opinion of Associate Professor, Doctor Nguyen Ngoc Ha, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Communist Magazine.

"I think the unchangeable thing here is that the nation is above all, the Fatherland is above all. However, to achieve that principle, the style and content of diplomacy have specific provisions. We can be flexible, but in the end, the most important thing that cannot be deviated from is the national interest. Just like in the Paris struggle, we firmly maintained the principles from the beginning, that is, when the US brought troops to invade Vietnam, they were forced to withdraw their troops from Vietnam, the work of the Vietnamese people was decided by the Vietnamese people and they had the ability to decide," Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Ha added.

At 4:00 p.m. on March 29, 1973, at Tan Son Nhat Airport, the US Expeditionary Command held a flag-lowering ceremony to withdraw from South Vietnam. Photo: Archive

Two months after the Paris Agreement was signed, the US Expeditionary Command held a flag-lowering ceremony, marking the end of the presence of 2.6 million US troops who had been in Vietnam during 20 years of fighting. With the US troops withdrawing from the South, while the Northern troops continued to stay, it created a new and very favorable situation for us to continue our victory and defeat the puppet regime. Thus, the boundary dividing the two regions in theory and in practice was erased, and the American plot to divide our country turned into an illusion. To achieve resounding victories both on the battlefield and at the negotiating table, we always uphold the spirit of self-reliance and justice. And in reality, justice has triumphed over cruelty, and humanity has replaced violence./.

Truong Giang