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CELEBRATING THE 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF DIEN BIEN PHU VICTORY
French Minister of the Armed Forces Sebastien
Lecornu’s presence in Vietnam to attend celebrations
of the 70th anniversary of Dien Bien Phu Victory
at Vietnam’s invitation reflected that spirit.
A grand ceremony and parade was held
in Dien Bien Phu city, the capital of Dien
Bien province in Vietnam’s northwestern
reaches, on the morning of May 7 to mark
the 70th anniversary (May 7, 1954 - 2024),
attended by Prime Minister Pham Minh
Chinh and other leaders and former leaders
of the country as well as international guests,
including Lao Deputy Prime Minister and
Minister of National Defense Chansamone
Chanyalath, Cambodian Deputy Prime Min-
ister Neth Savoeun, Deputy Chairman of the
Standing Committee of the National People’s
Congress of China Zhang Qingwei, and
French Minister Lecornu, among others.
Addressing the ceremony, Prime Minister
Chinh expressed his endless gratitude to
President Ho Chi Minh, General Vo Nguyen
Giap, the direct commander of the Dien
Bien Phu Campaign, predecessors, soldiers,
Heroic Vietnamese Mothers, heroes of the
people’s armed forces, pioneering youth,
frontline workers, war invalids, and martyrs’
families, along with the entire armed forces
and people nationwide for their utmost ded-
ication, bravery, and sacrifice in the historic
Dien Bien Phu Victory.
He also acknowledged the precious and
wholehearted assistance of China, the coun-
tries of the former Soviet Union, other socialist
nations, international friends, progressive
and peace-loving forces worldwide, and espe-
cially Laos and Cambodia and their contri-
bution to the alliance of the three Indochinese
countries, during the Dien Bien Phu Cam-
paign and the Vietnamese people’s struggle
for national liberation.
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SPECIAL REPORT
The Prime Minister described this tri-
umph as the peak victory of the Viet-
namese people’s resistance war and the
essence of Vietnam’s strength in the Ho
Chi Minh era, adding that victory at Dien
Bien Phu became a source of inspiration
for other national liberation movements
and marked the beginning of the collapse
of the old colonial order around the world.
Upholding the spirit of the Dien Bien
Phu Victory, Vietnam also recorded numer-
ous significant successes and glorious feats
of arms afterwards, such as the “Dien
Bien Phu in the Air” victory in 1972 and
the great victory in the spring of 1975,
the Prime Minister said, adding that after
its reunification, Vietnam concurrently
engaged in socio-economic reconstruction,
fought to defend its borders, and fulfilled
the noble international mission of helping
the Cambodian people topple and rid
themselves of the genocidal Pol Pot regime.
After nearly 40 years of the “Doi Moi”
(Renewal) process and global integration
under the Party’s leadership, Vietnam has
posted considerable and historic achieve-
ments. As Party General Secretary Nguyen
Phu Trong said, Prime Minister Chinh
recounted, the country has never experi-
enced such riches, strength, stature, and
reputation in the world as it has today.
He voiced a belief that the country
will continue to strongly promote the
spirit of “being determined to fight and
to win” witnessed in the Dien Bien Phu
Campaign, surmount any and all diffi-
culties and challenges, and exert every
effort to create new “Dien Bien Phu mir-
acles” in the building and safeguarding
of the country. %
May 15, 2024 Vietnam Economic Times 7