The son of late Prime Minister Pham Van Dong talks about negotiating the 1954 Geneva Agreement

On April 25, in Hanoi, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs coordinated with the Ministry of National Defense and the Central Propaganda Department to solemnly organize a ceremony to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the signing of the Geneva Agreement with the participation of ambassadors and ambassadors’ representatives. foreign shops in Hanoi, experts and historical researchers.

The anniversary is also a meaningful reunion for many leaders, former leaders of the Party and State, and representatives of families of members of the negotiating team in Geneva 70 years ago. Among them there are Major General Pham Son Duong – the son of the late Prime Minister Pham Van Dong, who was also the head of the negotiating team for the 1954 Geneva Agreement.

Advice from President Ho Chi Minh

“I was fortunate to live with my father and Uncle Ho in the Presidential Palace, so my father told me stories about my beloved Uncle Ho, including stories about diplomatic lessons at the Geneva Conference,” Major General Pham Son Duong recalls.

On May 8, 1954, one day after the Dien Bien Phu victory, the Geneva Agreement on Indochina officially opened. The Vietnamese delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister Pham Van Dong entered the conference with the mindset of a winner.

“My father told me that as an experienced man, Uncle Ho predicted that Vietnam attending the Geneva Conference would face great pressure. Although the victory at Dien Bien Phu and the transformation in the French Government and National Assembly were favorable opportunities for us, but the biggest difficulty is the intervention of big countries in the conference,” Mr. Pham Son Duong shared.

The policy of the Party and Uncle Ho is to both fight and negotiate to end the war and restore peace in Vietnam. The Geneva Agreement is a synchronous political and military solution to achieve that goal.

Mr. Pham Son Duong also said that his father once told him that the Democratic Republic of Vietnam planned to appoint Minister of Foreign Affairs Hoang Minh Giam, but after getting Uncle Ho’s opinion, the Government decided to appoint Deputy Prime Minister Pham Van Dong as Minister of Foreign Affairs. team manager.

Joining the delegation were Deputy Minister of Defense Ta Quang Buu, Minister of Industry and Trade Phan Anh, Deputy Minister of Justice Tran Cong Tuong, Director of the Department of Operations Ha Van Lau and many other comrades and experts.

During the conference, delegation leader Pham Van Dong regularly reported and asked for Uncle Ho’s direct opinions.

Among the major countries participating in the Geneva Conference, there are countries that oppose Vietnam but there are also countries that support; However, all sides have in common that they want to take advantage of the conference to achieve their benefits. Therefore, the conference is no longer a private matter between the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and France.

“My uncle told my father to be right in negotiations resolutely protect the interests of the nation and people, steadfast in principles, flexible in strategies and steps to achieve the goal of forcing France to recognize the independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia,” Major General Pham Son Duong continued.

After 75 tense and complicated days, with the participation of 9 parties including major countries, the Geneva Conference ended with results “beyond the original intentions of major countries”, according to Mr. Pham Son Duong. .

In particular, politically and legally, the countries participating in the conference recognized and committed to respecting the basic national rights of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, which are sovereignty, independence, unity and integrity. territory.

Geneva Agreement: The humane ideology of the Vietnamese people

Present at the 70th anniversary of the signing of the Geneva Agreement, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang Affirming the current complex and volatile world context, this is an opportunity to review the nation’s heroic history, and at the same time strongly arouse in each of us patriotism, national pride and thirst. hope and strive to improve.

It is also an opportunity to continue to deeply grasp and flexibly and creatively apply the ideology, style and art of the diplomacy of the Ho Chi Minh era imbued with the identity of “Vietnamese bamboo” – “solid roots, Steady trunk, flexible branches.

Previously, speaking at the opening ceremony, Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son Emphasizing that throughout the thousands of years of history of building and defending the country, independence, autonomy and territorial integrity are the immutable principles of the Vietnamese people.

Recalling President Ho Chi Minh’s assessment that “The Geveve Conference has ended. Our diplomacy has had a great victory”, Mr. Bui Thanh Son explained that if in the 1946 Preliminary Agreement, Vietnam was only recognized recognized as a free country, with the Geneva Accords, Vietnam’s basic national rights of independence, sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity were affirmed in an international treaty with the participation of signed and recognized by major powers.

“This is a victory of great historical significance for Vietnam, the result of the stubborn and persistent struggle of our army and people under the leadership of the Party during the 9-year long resistance war against colonialism.” invasion”, Minister Bui Thanh Son affirmed.

With the decision to launch the Winter-Spring strategic offensive in 1953 – 1954, our Party advocated using peace negotiations as a method to end the conflict, thereby opening the way to negotiate an end to the war in Indochina.

“This correct policy comes from the ideology of peace and humanity that has penetrated deeply into the culture of the Vietnamese people, ‘using the pen to replace armor’, finding every way to prevent the epidemic of soldiers and swords.

Promoting this fine tradition of the nation, Vietnam consistently implements a foreign policy of peace, friendship, cooperation and development, is a friend, a reliable partner, and an active and responsible member. responsibility of the international community. Vietnam supports resolving disagreements and conflicts in the world by peaceful means,” the Minister of Foreign Affairs emphasized.

Affirming that the Geneva Agreement is “a milestone in the history of Vietnam’s revolutionary diplomacy”, Minister Bui Thanh Son said that the process of negotiating, signing and implementing the Geneva Agreement is a handbook containing many lessons. profound, expressing the unique identity of the Vietnamese school of foreign affairs and diplomacy.

The Geneva Conference also trained leaders who were also excellent diplomats in the Ho Chi Minh era such as comrades Pham Van Dong, Ta Quang Buu, Ha Van Lau and many outstanding diplomats. other elite, according to Minister Bui Thanh Son.

Many valuable lessons from the Geneva Agreement need to continue to be researched, evaluated and summarized to inherit, apply and develop in building a school of foreign affairs and diplomacy imbued with the identity of “Vietnamese bamboo”. .