Paris Peace Accords: Gateway to peace and lesson for national defence

The Paris Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam (Paris Peace Accords), which was signed in Paris on January 27, 1973, was the success of one of the toughest and longest negotiations in world diplomacy.

Recalling stories about the negotiations, diplomat Pham Ngac, 90, the youngest member of the Vietnamese team then, said that they took nearly five years from May 13, 1968 to January 27, 1973 with 202 open sessions, 36 private and secret sessions, 500 press conferences, and 1,000 interviews and talks.

Particularly, some talks lasted until 3am, right after that, the Vietnamese team had to take a flight home to make reports, carrying with them the minute of the freshly-ended meetings, he said.

However, despite difficulties, all members of the team always maintained a strong mind to complete their assigned tasks, the veteran diplomat said.

In the mind of Ngac, at 12:30 (Paris time) on January 22, 1973, the Paris Peace Accords were initialed by Special Advisor of the Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam Le Duc Tho and US Advisor Henry Kissinger. The deal was officially signed on January 27, 1973.

This is an internationally legal document affirming the great success of the war against the US of the Vietnamese people, with important provisions, including the US and other countries’ commitment to respecting independence, sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of Vietnam.

Ngac said that a large number of international friends gathered at the meeting venue to congratulate the Vietnamese delegation, considering the success as a common victory of justice.

Commenting on the historical significance of the agreement, Prof. Dr. Nguyen Xuan Thang, Politburo member, Director of the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics and Chairman of the Central Theory Council, said that it served as a strategic foundation for the Vietnamese people and army to launch the General Uprising in Spring 1975, liberating the south and reunifying the nation.

It also created favourable conditions and environment for Vietnam to establish diplomatic relations with other countries and take advantage of the support from international friends for its struggle for peace, justice and national reunification, said Thang.

He underlined that the agreement left a lesson on the close coordination between diplomatic activities and socio-economic and socio-cultural development in association with ensuring national security and defence, as well as another on combining Party and State diplomacy with people diplomacy, creating synergy for the protection of the nation early and from afar.

TB (according to VNA)