THE BIRTH OF A NATION
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Before President Bill Clinton departed for a trip visiting Vietnam, many people of the Vietnamese overseas community had been worrying that he would possibly do something inappropriate to the dignity and honor of the United States. Some even expressed their concern that Clinton might apologize to the Vietnam Communist Party leaders for the Vietnam War. Fortunately, Clinton is not so bad.
Many people criticize President Clinton that he made too many concessions to the Communist leaders in his plan of action for his visit, even allowing Hanoi officials to censor his speech before he delivered it at Hanoi National University. But he proved he was good in some parts of the address.
In his speech, Clinton didn't once refer to the Communist leader Ho Chi Minh. That gives him an A+. He deserves another A+ for his assertion that the Americans "had never any imperialist designs here," and "The conflict here was over what self-determination for the Vietnamese people really meant, and what freedom and independence really meant." That were what he talked about the "nice little debate" with Vietnam Communist Party (VCP) general secretary Le Kha Phieu.
Similarly, responding to Phieu's insistence that Vietnam will go on to socialism and improve the state sector, President Clinton said during his visit to Saigon, "I think that the trend toward freedom is virtually irreversible."
However, at one point of the speech, Clinton said, "In 1945 at the moment of your country's birth..." He repeated that notion in another paragraph, "Both our nations were born with a Declaration of Independence." (He referred to the Declaration of Independence proclaimed by Ho Chi Minh on September 1945).
It appears that the White House speech writer has made an error.
It's true that the United States of America was born in 1776 from the former 13 colonies. But Vietnam was born as a nation a long time ago, not on September 2, 1945.
Vietnam has been recorded in very old Chinese books as a small kingdom, a true nation however small it might have been, under the legendary King Hung Vuong of Hong Bang dynasty, the founding fathers of Vietnam since 2879 B.C. The Vietnamese people were living for long periods under Chinese domination and several times gained independence after bloody uprisings and governed by kings and queens (Trung Sisters). But the Vietnamese have always existed as an identical people in a separate country.
According to more accurate written history, Vietnam became a nation and as a sovereign state with defined border and kingdom title since 544 A.D. under Ly Nam De of the Early Ly dynasty. Then followed a long era as a colony of China, which has been marked with many rebellions against the Chinese.
In 938 A.D., Ngo Quyen came to the throne after the great victory on Bach Dang River, defeating the Chinese invading army. The Ngo dynasty left the first written records of administration system and other governing institutions of the nation.
The first Declaration of Independence of Vietnam may be the proclamation by the famous General Ly Thuong Kiet of the Later Ly dynasty (1010 A.D.) in poetic form. It begins with: "The Southern Emperor resides in Southern Mountains and River (Nation), That is affirmed by the God's Book..."
Since 1884, the last agreement between France and the Emperor of Vietnam divided the country into three parts ruled as three states in the French Colony of Indochina, along with Laos and Cambodia. But to the Vietnamese, Vietnam is always one country, one people.
The events in August 1945 only helped reunite the country, not giving birth to it.
On March 9, 1945, Emperor Bao Dai issued a declaration to claim the country independence right after the Japanese military in Vietnam overthrowing the French Colonial government. Although the new government of Emperor Bao Dai was under Japanese influence, his declaration can be taken as a declaration of independence.
On September 2, 1945, Ho Chi Minh did the same, only with much more fanfare and blare. However, the non-Communist Vietnamese patriots do not recognize the Communist regime Ho established.
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In a number of news reports, the conflict between the Communist and the non-Communist (or nationalist) Vietnamese has been mistaken as a war between the Vietnamese nation against the Americans.
Fairly speaking, the Vietnam War was a conflict between the Communist camp and the capitalist camp. The Vietnamese on both sides were fighting their own war with support from outside. The difference was that the two Communist powers - Soviet Union and China - only sent war material supplies, propaganda support and technical personnel, while the USA sent combat troops besides military aids.
Russians, Chinese and North Koreans were flying air force intercepters; Russians were operating anti-aircraft missile launchers; Chinese engineer units took care of quick repair of bridges and at least two infantry divisions stationed somewhere about 100 kilometers north of Hanoi.
Nominally, this conflict could be called The Vietnam Civil War. The Americans wouldn't have remained in Vietnam if they had won the war, neither would the Russians and the Chinese. Whatever happened, it has been the war mainly between two sides of the Vietnamese who are still fighting today, although without guns, bombs, shells, knives, machettes and terrorism.
That's why only some politicians and scholars could tell people to forget the war and put aside the past. The non-Communist Vietnamese, most of whom have suffered so much with the Communist brutality may only put aside animosity on condition that the Communists do so first. So far, the Communist leaders haven't showed their least willing to.
But as putting aside the tragic past and painful animosity could be accepted, it is impossible for the millions of non-Communist patriots to forget what the Commnists did to their relatives, friends and compatriots for the last 55 years, as long as history is still taught at schools all around the world.
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