Delegation of Chinese Advisers And Veterans Visits Vietnam

At the invitation of the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations (VUFO)，Jing Dunquan, vice president of the CPAFFC, led the delegation of Chinese advisers and veterans who had participated in China’s aid mission to help Vietnam fight against French and US aggression visited Vietnam from May 3 to 9.

The delegation members came from Beijing, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and Guangdong and Hunan Provinces, who had either worked as military and political advisers, or fought in the war in Vietnam. During their visit to Vietnam, the delegation attended a welcoming reception held by the VUFO and had a gathering with Vietnamese veterans. Participants of the two countries recalled the special history together and renewed their friendship forged during the war, which was of great significance for the people of the two countries to carry on the tradition and face the future, and to continue to promote the sound development of Sino-Vietnamese relations.

The Vietnamese side attached great importance to the delegation’s visit. Phung Quang Thanh, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Vietnam and minister of defence, Nguyen Thi Doan, vice president of Vietnam, and Nhu Thi Hong Lien, vice president of the People’s Committee of Quang Ninh Province, met with the delegation respectively. Vu Xuan Hong, president of the VUFO, Ngo Xuan Lich, deputy director of the General Political Department of the Ministry of Defense, Doan ManhGiao, president of the Vietnam China Friendship Association, and Pham Cong Chinh, deputy general manager of the Vietnam Railway Company, met with and entertained the delegation.

Praising and expressing gratitude for the great contribution by the advisers and the troops of the Chinese aid mission to help Vietnam against French and US aggression. During the meetings, Phung Quang Thanh, Nguyen Thi Doan and other Vietnamese leaders highly praised and expressed sincere gratitude to the CPC, the Chinese Government, army and people for their support and assistance in manpower, material resources and spirit during the war of the Vietnamese people against the invasions. The fact that the delegation came to Vietnam just at the 55th anniversary of the victory in Dien Bien Phu and the 34th anniversary of the liberation of South Vietnam fully shows the traditional friendly sentiments of the Chinese people towards the Vietnamese people, which is of great importance.

The VUFO specially held a ceremony to confer the medal of “For Peace and Friendship Among Nations” on each member of the delegation to commend and thank the Chinese advisers and veterans for their contribution to Vietnam. Speaking at the ceremony, President Vu Xuan Hong said, in the middle and late periods of the last century, more than 3,000 fine Chinese people came to Vietnam and fought side by side with the Vietnamese people to support them in their revolutionary struggle, making great contribution to the country’s national independence and unification and to consolidating and carrying on the traditional friendship and the “Comrade and Brother” relationship between Vietnam and China. They are benefactors of Vietnam and the Vietnamese people, as well as “precious stones” of the traditional Vietnam-China friendship. The Vietnamese people will always be grateful to and never forget them.

Speaking highly of the traditional friendship, the relations and cooperation between Vietnam and China, and hoping that the younger generations of the two countries will carry forward the traditional friendship. During the meetings, Phung Quang Thanh, Nguyen Thi Doan and other Vietnamese leaders spoke highly of the traditional friendship and the “Comrade and Brother” relationship between Vietnam and China, cultivated by President Ho Chi Minh and Chairman Mao Zedong and generations of leadership of the two countries. They pointed out, now the two countries have formed an all-round strategic cooperative partnership, signifying a new height of the bilateral relations. They hoped that the veterans and senior comrades would actively educate the younger generations of the two countries to promote the development of Vietnam-China friendship in a deeper, wider and more effective way. They also hoped that young people of the two countries would take the older comrades as their models, inherit their fine tradition and carry forward the traditional friendship between the two countries so that this friendship would be passed on from generation to generation.

On behalf of the Chinese veterans and senior advisors in the delegation, Vice President Jing Dunquan expressed sincere gratitude to the Vietnamese hosts for their warm invitation and generous hospitality as well as to the Vietnamese Party, government, army and people for their support to the revolution and development of China. He said, China and Vietnam are linked by common mountains and rivers, share common cultural tradition and have identical social systems. The Parties, governments, armies and people of the two countries have forged a deep friendship during their revolutionary struggles, a friendship which is defined as “Comrade and Brother” relationship. During the visit, the delegation members felt deeply the friendly sentiments of the Vietnamese people towards the Chinese people. The senior advisors and veterans were very excited when they revisited this land. They cherished profound feelings for the places where they used to work, fight and live with Vietnamese comrades, and took Vietnam as their second hometown. Vice President Jing also said, Sino-Vietnamese relations have witnessed a sound development with frequent high-level exchanges between the two sides and extensive cooperation in various fields. As important countries of Asia and in the world, China and Vietnam ought to make contributions to the regional stability and cooperation as well as to world prosperity. The younger generations of the two countries should, on the basis of the “Comrade and Brother” relationship, inherit the fine tradition and revolutionary spirit of the older generations and develop the traditional friendship between the two countries.

Cherishing the memory of heroic martyrs and deepening Sino-Vietnamese traditional friendship at the reunion of comrades-in-arms. During its visit in Vietnam, the delegation also had a reunion gathering with Vietnamese veterans and comrades who had fought with their Chinese comrades on the battlefields. When the comrades-in-arms, old friends and colleagues who had not seen each other for over half a century met again, everyone on the scene was deeply moved. They embraced each other excitedly and chatted intimately. They told touching stories of the foreign aid mission during the war against French and US aggression, and recalled the years when they fought and worked together as well as their revolutionary comradeship. They sang old songs of the revolutionary struggle and Sino-Vietnamese friendship, shedding tears in excitement.

In Hanoi, the delegation paid homage to the tomb of President Ho Chi Minh and visited his former residence. With deep respect for President Ho Chi Minh, the members recalled his simple life and whole-hearted service to the people as well as his cultivating the traditional Vietnam-China friendship together with Chairman Mao Zedong. During the meetings with Vietnamese hosts, the delegation members emotionally spoke about how President Ho came to visit their troops at the Spring Festival. In Quang Ninh, owing to the host’s arrangement, the delegation went to Mong Duong and held a memorial service at the Cemetery of the Revolutionary Martyrs’ of the Chinese Aid Mission to Vietnam. After the delegation solemnly placed a wreath in front of the monument, Bui Viet Thin, vice president of the Quang Ninh Provincial Union of Friendship Organizations, delivered a memorial speech, and burned incense with his colleagues before each of the martyrs’ tombs. Vice President Bui Viet Thin told the delegation that a memorial pavilion would be built by this October.