Cable from the Chinese Embassy in the Soviet Union to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ‘The Situation of the Responses from Vietnamese Students’

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Level: Extra Urgent Advance / From the Moscow Desk / Received (65) No. 419

On the Situation of Responses by the Vietnamese Students

Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

According to reports from one of our students studying abroad at Moscow University, one of the Vietnamese students at the university said that he was very happy listening to the Russian language broadcast from Beijing on March 6th and invited three Soviet students to listen with him. After listening, the Soviet students expressed complete agreement with the contents of the broadcast, saying that the Soviet side was in the wrong. They went on to say that the USSR currently doesn't have any real leaders and referred to their leadership as male reproductive organs. This Vietnamese student said to our student, "Your report was very thorough, but we can't do the same. We're in a very difficult situation where we have to agree with both China and the Soviet Union because when the Vietnamese people hear that they have China's support, they feel empowered, and when they hear that they have the support of the Soviets, they also feel empowered. If we report on the events of this protest, the Vietnamese people will feel helpless. What we need now is friends and support. I think that if we report on the events of this protest, we can only say that the anti-American invasion protest held at the American embassy was powerful, but we can't mention that the protesters were beaten by Soviet police. However, if we are victorious in the end, we will bring everything to light. Another Vietnamese student said, "I was very happy to hear the Russian language broadcast from Beijing. This is a huge show of support for us and is sure to have a large impact on the entire world." He also said that we should include in our reports the situation of students from other countries that were harmed in the protest because the excuse on the soviet side is to say, "It was just the Chinese and Vietnamese students that were out of line. Otherwise, why didn't the police beat students from other countries?" If we report that students from other countries were also harmed, then it will be a huge discredit to the Soviet Union.

From the Embassy in the USSR

8 March 1965