PANO – The house at 30 Hoang Dieu Street, Hanoi, witnessed many meetings between General Vo Nguyen Giap, the first Commander-in-Chief of the Vietnam People’s Army, and heads of state and famous generals worldwide.
On July 31st 2006, Venezuela’s late President Hugo Chavez paid a friendly visit to Vietnam. For him, the meeting with General Vo Nguyen Giap was a successful visit. After getting off the car, he rushed to the living room of the general’s house, showing what he expected and also wanting to save time for a longer talk with the general.
Colonel Tran Hong, former photographer of the People’s Army Newspaper, was also present at the meeting. He said that the special and unique meeting bypassed diplomatic protocol and looked more like a get-together between close friends.
General Vo Nguyen Giap said that Vietnam’s people and army have long regarded President Hugo Chavez as a dear brother and a soldier of Bolivar’s activist revolution who ceaselessly contributed to Venezuela’s development and to a just and equitable world. Vietnamese people keep in their mind his sentiment to Vietnam. The general affirmed that he wholeheartedly applauded measures to tighten the friendship between the two countries, as well as to boost their trade cooperation, especially in oil and gas.
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| General Vo Nguyen Giap and President Hugo Chavez |
Assigned to help develop the Lao revolutionary cause, General Vo Nguyen Giap worked jointly with officers in charge of Zones I, X and XII to train Lao youths.
In mid-1948, he arrived in Van Lang commune, Dai Tu district, Thai Nguyen province, to meet with Kaysone Phomvihane. The Lao guest hoped Vietnamese troops could help him return to his homeland and said that he would find other people with the same purpose to fight against the enemy.
The historical meeting left a deep impression on General Vo Nguyen Giap. He said that later he worked many times with Kaysone Phomvihane in Sam Neua, Vientiane, Viet Bac and Hanoi, when the Lao figure held the posts of Minister of National Defence, General Secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party, and State President and Prime Minister of Laos. “We had many profound memories,” said General Vo Nguyen Giap.
On the 55th anniversary of the Dien Bien Phu victory in 2009, General Vo Nguyen Giap received a delegation of foreign Defence Attachés to Vietnam. They represented many countries, such as Russia, China, Cuba and Laos, which had helped and supported Vietnam in the two national resistance wars against foreign invaders. The US Defence Attachés to Vietnam also attended the reception.
The general affirmed that in the new context, the foreign Defence Attachés should continue to cultivate the friendship between Vietnam and other countries from all over the world. He also presented some books with his signature to the guests. For their part, the attachés congratulated the General on achievements by Vietnamese people, and promised to further disseminate Vietnam’s image to international friends.
Governments and people in African countries also admired General Vo Nguyen Giap, not only for his command talent contributing to Vietnam’s reunification, but also his care for promoting Vietnam-Africa ties. Under the framework of the first Vietnam-Africa Seminar in May 2003, delegates from 20 African countries paid a visit to General Vo Nguyen Giap.
During their visit, Namibian delegate K. Angola, Head of the mission, said that in the resistance war in Namibia, Namibian leaders always carried a book on revolutionary struggle written by General Vo Nguyen Giap. For his part, Mr. Angola spent time reading books and documents on the contributions of the Vietnamese revolution to the African liberation cause, including the Dien Bien Phu victory in 1954 that marked the important role of General Vo Nguyen Giap.
General Vo Nguyen Giap said that the cooperation relationship has developed, but does not match its potential. He urged the delegates to do their best to broaden Vietnam-Africa cooperation ties in various fields.
The general also presented to the African guests the slogan "Solidarity, Solidarity, Great Solidarity. Success, Success, Great Success” by President Ho Chi Minh that led to the final victory of the national resistance wars.
After the national reunification in April 1975, General Vo Nguyen Giap visited Algeria. At the reception for him, the general held talks with local people in French. He said that if they did not have a heroic nation and a heroic army, they could not gain any achievements.
Both encyclopedias of France and the US Department of Defence praised General Vo Nguyen Giap’s command talent. Despite a lack of formal training on military affairs like other well-known generals worldwide, his command talent was proved through each battle against the enemy.
Through the above commendations to General Vo Nguyen Giap by foreigners, we are more proud of the legendary general of Vietnam, and the Vietnam’s People Army.
Translated by Van Hieu
Đăng ký: VietNam News
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