On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the signing of the Geneva Agreement, Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son gave an interview to the press.
Could you please evaluate the results and significance of the 1954 Geneva Conference?
On July 21, 1954, the Geneva Agreement was signed after 75 days of intense and complicated negotiations. As President Ho Chi Minh assessed, “The Geneva Conference has ended. Our diplomacy has achieved great success”, for the first time in the history of our nation, Vietnam’s basic national rights of independence, sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity were affirmed in an international treaty, recognized and respected by the countries participating in the Geneva Conference.
This is the result of the indomitable struggle of our people under the leadership of the Party throughout the long resistance war against colonialism, culminating in the Dien Bien Phu victory that "resounded throughout the five continents and shook the earth".
Along with the Dien Bien Phu victory, the Geneva Agreement completely ended the nearly 100-year colonial rule in our country, opening a new chapter in the cause of national liberation and national unification of our people. That is, building socialism in the North, while simultaneously carrying out the people's national democratic revolution in the South to fully realize the goal of national independence and national unification.
The signing of the Geneva Agreement was not only a historical milestone for our nation, but also had epochal significance. Because this was a common victory for the three Indochinese countries and peace-loving peoples around the world. This Agreement, together with the Dien Bien Phu victory, strongly encouraged oppressed peoples to rise up and fight for national liberation, opening the period of the collapse of colonialism around the world.
For our country's diplomacy, the Geneva Agreement is the first multilateral international treaty that Vietnam participated in negotiating, signing and implementing, not only affirming Vietnam's position as an independent and sovereign nation in the international arena, but also an important milestone in the development of Vietnam's revolutionary diplomacy, leaving many valuable lessons and training many outstanding diplomats in the Ho Chi Minh era.
Could you please tell us what lessons the signing of the Geneva Agreement has left for Vietnamese diplomacy, especially when we are striving to build a comprehensive, modern diplomacy imbued with the identity of "Vietnamese bamboo" today?
It can be said that the process of negotiating, signing and implementing the Geneva Agreement is a valuable handbook on Vietnam's foreign policy and diplomacy, which has been inherited, creatively applied and developed by our Party in negotiating, signing and implementing the 1973 Paris Agreement later as well as in implementing foreign affairs work today.
Besides lessons on principles such as ensuring the Party's unified and absolute leadership, firmly maintaining independence and autonomy on the basis of national interests, the Geneva Agreement left many valuable lessons on diplomatic methods and art imbued with the identity of Vietnamese diplomacy in the Ho Chi Minh era.
That is the lesson of combining national strength with the strength of the times, national solidarity combined with international solidarity to create "an invincible strength". During the negotiation of the Geneva Agreement, we constantly expanded international solidarity, enlisting the support of the people of the world for the just struggle of the Vietnamese people.
That is a lesson in being steadfast in goals and principles, yet flexible and adaptable in strategies according to the motto “remaining constant, responding to all changes”. Throughout the process of negotiating, signing and implementing the Geneva Agreement, we have always adhered to the principles of peace, national independence and territorial integrity, yet been mobile and flexible in strategies appropriate to the balance of power and the international and regional situation to achieve strategic goals.
It is a lesson about always valuing research, evaluating and forecasting the situation, "knowing oneself", "knowing others", "knowing the times", "knowing the situation" in order to "know how to advance", "know how to retreat", "know how to be firm", "know how to be gentle". This is a profound lesson that remains valuable in the context of today's complex and unpredictable world.
It is a lesson on using dialogue and peaceful negotiations to resolve disagreements and conflicts in international relations. This is a lesson of the times, especially when many complex conflicts are taking place in the world as it is today.
How does the Minister evaluate the support, assistance and assistance of progressive friends around the world for the Vietnamese people during the process of participating, negotiating and signing the Geneva Agreement?
Our people's just struggle for peace, national independence, unity and territorial integrity is in line with the trend of the times and the common aspirations of progressive people around the world.
Therefore, in the cause of national liberation and reunification in general, and in the negotiation, signing and implementation of the Geneva Agreement in particular, we have always received great and valuable support, both material and spiritual, from international friends, first of all from Laos, Cambodia, socialist countries and peace-loving people around the world.
In the process of Renovation and implementing the Party's correct foreign policy, we continue to receive valuable support and cooperation from the international community on the basis of equality and mutually beneficial cooperation.
Our Party, State and people always appreciate and forever remember the support and assistance of international friends, and within our capacity, always support and actively and responsibly contribute to the common efforts of the international community for peace, independence, democracy and progress in the world.
Geneva Agreement and the lesson of independence and sovereignty
From the Geneva Agreement, the Paris Agreement, thinking about the Ho Chi Minh school of diplomacy
Ho Chi Minh School of Diplomacy: The creativity of the national leader; The philosophy of “All seas are brothers” through actions and words; The method of “Responding to all changes with the unchanging”; The combined strength of diplomacy; Ho Chi Minh’s style and ethics.
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