March 6, 1946
Early in the morning, the French fleet made its way from the Tonkin Gulf into Haiphong harbour. At 8.30, their first landing craft appeared on the Cua Cam river. The Chiang troops stationed along the river opened fire. Fifteen minutes later, the French fired back. The Chiang ammunition depot in the harbour blazed up. Several French ships were hit. Many French troops were killed or wounded. The gun battle lasted till nearly 11 a.m.
The Chiang militarists and their agents had wanted to turn to account the conflict between us and the French. But, by an irony of circumstances, they were the first to clash with the French. The Viet Nam Nationalist Party and the Viet Nam Revolutionary Alliance had made preparations for great disruptive activities should there be an arrangement between us and the French. But this arrangement was now needed by their own masters. On the same morning, the Chiang men again suggested that we should come to an early agreement with the French in order to avoid a possible large-scale war.
There was still a great deadlock: We resolutely rejected the “autonomy” proposed by the French; but independence was something the French government could not yet recognize.
President Ho found it was time to come to a decision. After consulting the Standing Bureau of the Party Central Committee, he put forward a solution: “France recognizes Viet Nam as a free state...”
The French mission agreed.
The French negotiators later recalled that those moments of waiting had been a time of extreme tension for them.
Thus, in circumstances of utmost confusion and complication, the negotiations between us and the French led to a preliminary agreement. That was the first international agreement signed by the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam with a foreign power.
The signing ceremony was held at 4 p.m. at 38, Ly Thai To Street.
The representatives of France, commanders of the Chiang Army in northern Indochina, representatives of the American mission, and the British consul arrived one after another at a villa separated from Bac Bo Palace by a park.
The room was small and simply furnished; no flags were shown.
Hosts and guests stood around a large table.
Present were men who belonged to all the “big powers” of the capitalist world after the Second World War. A slender old man with a black beard, in a faded khaki suit and indigo cloth shoes, stood in great contrast to the crowd of big, fat and well-dressed men, most of whom were military men. That was a miniature picture of the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam encircled by imperialism.
Comrade Hoang Minh Giam successively read aloud the Preliminary Agreement and the annex, the contents of which could be summarized as follows:
— France recognizes the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam as a free State, having its own government, parliament, army and finances, within the Indochinese Federation and the French Union.
— The French Government undertakes to recognize the decisions of the referendum on the reunification of the three ky.
— Viet Nam agrees to let 15,000 French troops come into North Viet Nam to replace the Chinese troops in their duties. Those French troops must be withdrawn completely after a specified time.
— Both sides will observe a ceasefire in order to open official negotiations. While the negotiations are going on, the troops of both sides will remain in place.
When the reading was over, all eyes turned toward President Ho. He glanced over the articles of the agreement. As President of the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam, he signed first.
Then, he handed over the agreement to Vu Hong Khanh who was standing near by. Under pressure of his Chiang masters, Vu Hong Khanh had to swallow his bitterness and sign the document, as special representative of the Council of Government.
Sainteny, who was empowered to represent the government of the French Republic, signed last.
Sixty-three years before, with some artillery pieces and a few thousand troops of aggression, a certain Harmand had handed to the Nguyen Court a 27-point draft peace treaty, telling the latter to take it or leave it but not propose any changes. The Nguyen King and mandarins had to bow their heads and accept the shameful 1883 peace treaty. One year after, the Hue Court again signed the Patenôtre peace treaty. That was the sell-out treaty which placed our country fully under the domination of French colonialism. Since then, all the national rights of independence and freedom had been lost, including that of conducting foreign affairs.
The August Revolution had brought about wonderful changes. The whole Vietnamese people had risen up from misery, slavery and suffering. The enslaved Vietnamese had become free Vietnamese. The newborn Democratic Republic of Viet Nam stood firm in the midst of raging tempests.
That day, the enemy, who had large armies supported by aircraft, warships and armoured cars, had to conduct negotiations with us on an equal footing. The French government was forced to accept a situation which they did not want in their heart of hearts.
Indeed, the first to recognize the free Viet Nam were those who had deprived her of all freedom sixty-three years before.
We agreed to let 15,000 French troops into North Viet Nam for a specified time in order to drive out of the country the 180,000 Chiang troops who would otherwise stay on indefinitely as they had declared.
President Ho had, on behalf of our people, expressed to the world’s people our sincere desire for peace, a genuine peace in independence and freedom. And if peace could not yet be secured because of the greediness and blindness of imperialism, those were moments gained to prepare for a protracted resistance war which, we believed, would end in victory.
The signing ceremony was over.
The French representative raised his glass in a toast to President Ho and expressed his joy at having driven away the spectre of an armed conflict. In a calm but firm voice, President Ho said: “We are not yet satisfied because we have not yet won complete independence, but we will achieve it”. The enemy had yielded on a basic point. But for us, that was only an initial success. Complete succcess was still far ahead. President Ho had warned the opposite side that our fight would continue till final victory.