In 1945, after fourteen years of bloody resistance between the Chinese military and the people, Japan announced its unconditional surrender, and the Second World War, which lasted for six years, finally came to an end. On September 2 of the same year, in Vietnam, on the border of China, Ho Chi Minh led a group of aspiring young people in the country to launch the August Revolution, forcing the last emperor of Vietnam to abdicate and establishing the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
However, at this time, the real problem facing Vietnam's independence has not yet been solved, for Vietnam, the international situation at that time was very complicated, after the surrender of the Japanese army, the British army and the Chinese national army each occupied half of Vietnam's territory, no one wanted to leave, and some other countries behind them were also looking at the tiger, all wanting to bite the vietnamese meat to make up for their losses in World War II.
Faced with a complex international situation, Ho Chi Minh made a move that shocked everyone at the time, personally visiting France in 1946 and expressing to the French chief that he was willing to join the French Federation as his colony and did not want his territory to be occupied by Chinese troops. What is the inside story of this visit? Why did Ho Chi Minh make such a "next move"?
A strategy to slow down the army
On the sixth day after Vietnam's "independent statehood", the Chinese Xiang Army occupied the northern territory of Vietnam, and the British occupied the remaining southern territory. At this time, Vietnam had just experienced an internal revolution, and in the face of the covetousness of many powerful countries, Ho Chi Minh knew that relying solely on the strength of his own country to fight against these surrounding powers had no chance of winning, so he decided to "surrender" to a strong country and help him eliminate the threat of other foreign forces to the national territory.
France has become the best choice in the eyes of Ho Chi Minh, France as a Western power as a whole is not weak, but in World War II was occupied by Germany, the vitality was seriously injured, if you pretend to turn to France, in the future, the opportunity to win the victory from France and establish an independent country is also relatively large.
After several deliberations and considerations, Ho Chi Minh did two things, first of all, using the media at home to spread the message that "the Chinese army has no military discipline" and deepening the resentment of the Chinese garrison in the country, and then, Ho Chi Minh personally visited France in 1946, and revealed to the French leader during the conversation that Vietnam would rather join the French Federation than be occupied by the Chinese garrison, as long as France can find a way to get the Chinese army to leave Vietnam, then Vietnam is willing to become a French colony.
France was severely damaged in World War II, and its interests in the Far East suffered huge losses, and in order to win more interests for itself in the Far East to make up for the losses of the country in the critical period just after the end of World War II, France has long been looking forward to Vietnam. France was naturally ecstatic about Ho Chi Minh's proposal and immediately began negotiations with China.
Finally, on February 28, 1946, China and France signed the Sino-French Treaty on France's Renunciation of Extraterritorial Jurisdiction in China and Its Related Privileges, the Sino-French Agreement on Sino-Vietnamese Relations, and the "Exchange of Letters on the Acceptance of Chinese Troops in Northern Vietnam by French Troops", and France voluntarily returned Canton Bay and French privileges in China, but on the condition that Chinese troops must immediately withdraw from northern Vietnam.
On March 1, 1946, all Chinese troops withdrew from Vietnam, and on March 6, Ho Chi Minh signed the "36 Agreement" with France, and Vietnam officially became part of the French Federation.
According to the agreement, France sent 15,000 soldiers to northern Vietnam to "maintain vietnam's stability" and swear sovereignty, while France had helped Vietnam to withdraw Chinese troops, and other European countries, led by Britain, had abandoned their idea of Vietnamese territory, so that both sides were happy. Ho Chi Minh's "delaying tactics" can also be regarded as a perfect implementation.
Sino-Vietnamese grievances
Although Ho Chi Minh's intentions are generally understood, there is still a place where people are full of doubts about his strategy. Frankly speaking, Ho Chi Minh is an out-and-out close to China faction, he has longed for Chinese culture since he was a child, and after participating in the revolution, he formed a deep friendship with the early leaders of the Ccp, and China and Vietnam live next to each other, and the relationship between the two countries should be more intimate than between Vietnam and France.
First of all, at that time, China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression had just ended, and this fourteen-year war of anti-aggression had caused great losses to China, and the great strength shown by the Communist Party in the War of Resistance had made Chiang Kai-shek wary of the Communist Party, and the relationship between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party was gradually tense, and Ho Chi Minh also knew that the domestic situation in China was not stable, and there was no leisure to help Vietnam against the major powers in Europe.
The most important point is that ho chi minh refused to join China rather than a refusal to join China under Chiang Kai-shek. In 1942, Ho Chi Minh, then chairman of the Viet Cong, personally visited the headquarters of the Commander of the Fourth Theater of Operations in Liuzhou, and because he was worried about his alliance with the Chinese Communist Party, Chiang Kai-shek secretly ordered Zhang Fakui to put Ho Chi Minh under secret house arrest.
However, Chiang Kai-shek knew that Ho Chi Minh was a friend of our party, and he had a close personal relationship with Zhou, and he hated it to the bone and deliberately delayed it. It was not until August 9, 1944, under the pressure of international public opinion, that Ho Chi Minh, who had been imprisoned in Liuzhou for nearly two years, was finally freed.
This encounter naturally made Ho Chi Minh full of hatred for the Chinese Nationalist Party led by Chiang Kai-shek. After the end of World War II, the Kuomintang sent the Xiang army led by Lu Han to occupy the territory of northern Vietnam, which caused dissatisfaction among the Vietnamese military and people, and it was understandable that they did not want to join China.
Charge back
After nearly a year of recuperation, in December 1946, Ho Chi Minh brazenly tore up the treaty and issued a letter to the people calling for a nationwide war of resistance, and the vietnamese battle against France officially began.
The war between the two sides burned for nine years until 1954, when China reached out to Vietnam. At that time, the Kuomintang headed by Chiang Kai-shek had fallen, and the communist-led new China was established in the expectation of all, whether it was Ho Chi Minh or the ordinary people of Vietnam, they all had a good feeling for new China and the Communist Party, and after China's independence, it had always encouraged the independence of the colonized countries.
In 1954, with the help of China, Vietnam won a decisive victory against France. France and Vietnam held a peace negotiation in Geneva, through the signing of the Geneva Agreement, France agreed to withdraw from Vietnam, after a long period of maneuvering and resistance, Vietnam finally ushered in true independence, and France was only the instrument of Vietnam's independence after all.
brief summary:
It has to be admitted that Ho Chi Minh was a great statesman, whether he led the Communist Party to overthrow the feudal regime in Vietnam, or his "procrastination strategy" of using France to sweep away the troubles, or his courage to challenge France with the strength of a country, all showed his excellent political qualities. After he became independent of Vietnam, he chose to make friends with China and push Sino-Vietnamese relations to a close and easing, which is also a good story.
In 1969, Ho Chi Minh died in Hanoi, and his last words did not forget to mention the cherishing of friendship with China: "No matter how many hardships and difficulties we encounter, our people will cooperate with our Chinese comrades and will surely win a complete victory." After Ho Chi Minh's death, Premier Zhou personally went to Hanoi to mourn and cry. The leadership relationship between the chinese and Vietnamese generations is really very close, and the relations between the two countries are also in the honeymoon period, and I hope that the Sino-Vietnamese relations in the new era can also be eased for a long time, reduce the outbreak of contradictions, and jointly build a good country.