70 years ago, under the leadership of the Party headed by President Ho Chi Minh, our people and army won the historic Dien Bien Phu Victory, effectively ending 9 years of the country’s resistance war against French colonialists.

This victory is seen as a “golden epic” and a brilliant milestone in the Vietnamese nation’s history in the 20^th century, which has been likened to Bach Dang, Chi Lang and Dong Da victories and thrilled the people across the country. In the wake of that historic moment, the words, namely Vietnam – Ho Chi Minh – Dien Bien Phu resounded throughout the Vietnamese nation and the world, becoming an unremitting source of pride for the whole nation and providing tremendous impetus to anti-colonial struggles the world over.

The “Determined to Fight – Determined to Win” Flag flies over General De Castries’ bunker, marking the Victory of Dien Bien Phu on 7 May 1954 (file photo: vnanet.vn)

Proudly, it was the first time in the war history of mankind that an Asian colony launched a large-scale military operation, succeeding in destroying and capturing alive all French soldiers stationed at the supposedly “impregnable” heavily fortified entrenched camp in Indochina, despite US imperialists’ full support for the latter. Dien Bien Phu Victory made the world astonished and impressed; it shocked and panicked the enemy; it led to the collapse of the colonial system which had existed for hundreds of years on a global scale, thus fundamentally changing the global geostrategic landscape.

The glorious Victory not only ruined the Navarre Plan and the enemy’s last-ditch efforts on the battlefield, but also completely broke French colonialists’ will to invade, forcing the French to sign the Geneva Accords on ending the war and acknowledging the independence, unification and territorial integrity of the three Indochinese countries.

Words cannot express all the significance of the decisive battle of Dien Bien Phu, a pitched battle during our resistance war against French colonialists. It goes without saying that Dien Bien Phu victory was the continuity and development of our August Revolution, providing an important prerequisite for our resistance war against US imperialists for national salvation, thereby gloriously fulfilling the cause of national liberation and taking the whole country to socialism.

What are the reasons for Dien Bien Phu Victory? What are the lessons for the current and future cause of Fatherland construction and protection learnt from Dien Bien Phu Victory?

It is not difficult for our Vietnamese people to find the reasons for Dien Bien Phu Victory, namely Vietnam’s strong willpower, wisdom and strength manifested in grasping and flexibly applying the sound guidelines on the people’s war and all-people, all-round resistance war set by our Party and President Ho Chi Minh to achieve unity and solidarity among the entire Party, people and army for the sake of national independence, freedom and happiness. They also include lessons on making the people’s armed forces and the Vietnam People’s Army (VPA) infinitely loyal to the Party, State and people; on applying and developing the art of creatively, effectively conducting the people’s war; on employing the resolute offensive thinking, “pitting the small against the big”, “pitting the few against the many”; on carrying out resistance war and national construction simultaneously against an imperial invader. It is worth mentioning the lessons on taking advantage of great support from the people around the world, friendly countries and socialist countries, especially the close-knit bond between Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia to fight the common enemy. The Party, State, and people of Vietnam always remember and value such sincere support.

Dien Bien Phu victory is an immortal epic profoundly demonstrating strong willpower, wisdom and strength of Vietnam in the Ho Chi Minh era. But for strong willpower and the spirit of determination to fight and determination to win, our people and troops would not have been able to overcome countless hardships and difficulties during the battle of Dien Bien Phu. Without wisdom and creativity, we could have hardly opportunely shifted our combat motto from “rapid attack, rapid victory” to “steady attack, steady advance” – one of the deciding factors in the victory of the strategic battle. Without bringing into play the synergy and combining the strength of the nation with the strength of the times, we would not have been able to win the battle of Dien Bien Phu, the resistance war against the French, and later the resistance war against the US for national salvation. Those core factors did not come naturally. Instead, they were forged through thousands of years of fighting foreign invaders as well as through the process of education and training by the Party and President Ho Chi Minh during the resistance war. That is the pride of generations of Vietnamese people, serving as a strong incentive for the entire Party, people, and army to firmly move towards to the future.

70 years have elapsed, but Dien Bien Phu Victory remains valuable for the country’s renovation cause under the Party’s leadership. More importantly, valuable lessons learnt from Dien Bien Phu Victory should continue to be researched, applied, and effectively brought into play in the current cause of building and protecting the socialist Vietnamese Fatherland for the goal of “wealthy people, strong nation, democracy, equality, civilisation”.

The world is now experiencing major changes with rapid, complex, unpredictable developments that profoundly influence all countries. The cause of national renovation has obtained tremendous achievements but is encountering new difficulties and challenges. The four risks pointed out by our Party have remained and to some extent become far more serious. More demanding requirements have been imposed on the cause of Fatherland construction and protection as well as the task of maintaining peace and stability for national development. That necessitates the entire Party, people, VPA and political system upholding, applying and creatively developing Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh Thought; adhering to the goal of national independence and socialism, the Party’s renewal guidelines and the principle of being “Firm in objectives, flexible in strategies and tactics”; being proactive in cooperation and struggle in international relations for the sake of national development and the protection of national independence, sovereignty, unification and territorial integrity.

Furthermore, it is necessary to synchronously implement and closely combine tasks. In this regard, socio-economic development and environment protection represent the central task, Party building is the key, cultural development serves as the spiritual foundation, and maintaining national defence and security is a crucial, routine task. At the same time, it is important to be proactive and active in international integration and cooperation, particularly with our neighbours, ASEAN members, strategic partners and traditional friends in order to promote internal strength and exploit external strength for Fatherland construction and protection.

In response to the new situation and task requirements, it is crucial to enhance the Party’s leadership, ruling capacity, and combativeness, bring into play the strength of national great unity block, arouse patriotism, self-reliance and aspirations for a prosperous, happy Vietnam. We will strive to turn Vietnam into a socialist-oriented developed country by the mid-21^st century. In the medium term, the whole political system and nation should stand united, join our strength, be of one mind and take full advantage of every opportunity so as to overcome every difficulty and challenge, thereby achieving goals set in the Resolution of the 13^th National Party Congress, unceasingly increasing the country’s potential and synergy and fully preparing for all-level party congresses towards the 14^th National Party Congress.

Playing its core role in the cause of national liberation and Fatherland protection, over the past 80 years, the VPA has always been absolutely loyal to the Fatherland, Party, State, and people, bettered itself and achieved many brilliant feats of arms to deserve to be a heroic army of a heroic nation. In the new period, under the Party’s absolute, direct leadership, inheriting and bringing into play glorious traditions of the nation, VPA as well as major lessons learnt from Dien Bien Phu victory, the entire army will continue making itself “revolutionary, regular, seasoned, gradually modern, with a number of its services, corps, and forces advancing straight to modernity” as per the Resolution of the 13^th National Party Congress. To that end, emphasis should be placed on building a lean, compact, strong VPA as a firm prerequisite for a modernity-oriented army and its strength in terms of politics, ideology, morality, organisation and personnel. Due attention should be paid to making party committees, party organisation and a contingent of cadres and party members pure, comprehensively strong, loyal to the Party’s goals and revolutionary ideals, and capable of meeting their task requirements in any circumstance. In the upcoming time, the whole VPA will further grasp and implement the Resolution of the 13^th Party Central Committee’s 8^th Plenum on the Strategy for Fatherland protection in the new situation, while realising three breakthroughs set by the Resolution of the 11^th Military Party Congress and the year 2024’s theme designated as: “Fundamental organisational restructuring in a lean, compact, strong manner”. At the same time, the VPA will always remain vigilant and proactively cooperate with other forces and all people in thwarting all plots and artifices of “peaceful evolution” as well as violations of national independence, sovereignty, unification, and territorial integrity, firmly safeguarding the Fatherland in any situation.

Commemorating the 70^th anniversary of Dien Bien Phu victory (7 May 1954 – 7 May 2024), we respectfully pay tribute to our heroes, martyrs, especially beloved President Ho Chi Minh – the genius leader of our Party, people and nation. He symbolises the spirit of national solidarity and strong will to fight and to win. At this moment, the most meaningful, practical action for our Party, people and VPA is to keep bringing into play the spirit of Dien Bien Phu victory and the two resistance wars against French colonialists and US imperialists for the sake of new achievements in the cause of building and protecting the socialist Vietnamese Fatherland.