Communist party leaders gathered in Hanoi on Friday to mark the 40th anniversary of the Paris Peace Accords, the culmination of painstaking talks that ended America’s direct military involvement in Vietnam.
Thousands of people attended the ceremony in the country’s capital to celebrate the signing of the 1973 deal, which ended decades of war with the US and brought a temporary halt to fighting between North and South Vietnam.
Speaking to a packed hall of communist party delegates President Truong Tan Sang described the negotiations as “the longest, most difficult diplomatic struggle for Vietnam”.
The deal, signed on January 27, 1973 – 40 years ago this Sunday – represents “Vietnam’s diplomatic victory in its struggle against the United States”, Sang added after watching a dance re-enactment of the communists’ wartime victories.
Talks to end the US-Vietnam war opened in Paris on May 10, 1968, with the US delegation hopeful of reaching a quick deal.
Instead, negotiations dragged on for five years, during which the war escalated as both sides adopted a strategy of “fighting while talking”, hoping to translate battlefield wins into bargaining power.