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Documents

June 27, 1961

Record of Conversation between N.S. Khrushchev and Prime Minister Pham Van Dong of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam

Pham Van Dong thanks Khrushchev for the Soviet help to Vietnamese people. Khrushchev talks about politics around the world, particularly, in the socialist countries such as Albania and China. He claims that the relationship with China is improving. Khrushchev also mentions that he discussed Indian politics with Mao. He criticizes the politics of Stalin toward China. 

September 9, 1957

Gazette of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, 1957, No. 39 (Overall Issue No. 112)

This issue contains Mao Zedong's congratulations to the supreme head of the Malayan Union for its declaration of independence and Foreign Minister Zhou Enlai's acknowledgment of the new state. It also features sections on China-Vietnam economic exchanges, extending the China-Finland economic trade agreement, recommendations to ministry of supervision on dealing with civil affairs, public and private joints need to verify liquidation and capital ventures, and foreign loan control methods.

2003

Tran Quang Co: A Memoir

The memoir of Trần Quang Cơ (1927-2015), former member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) and First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), brings to light the intense diplomacy among great powers and regional players over the continued conflicts in Indochina after the unification of Vietnam as well as the bitter disagreements within the Vietnamese leadership over the country’s political priorities during the period of 1975-1993.

Cơ put together his memories and thoughts on “many sensitive developments” in Vietnamese foreign relations that he believed had been “intentionally or unintentionally” forgotten (rơi rụng) in the state-endorsed history “to ‘smooth over’ (tròn trĩnh) the historical record.”  Completed in Vietnamese in 2001 (updated in 2003) and informally circulated on the internet, Merle Pribbenow’s English-translation makes this valuable historical source available to wider audiences.

December 15, 1980

Speech Given by Comrade Le Duc Tho to the Leaders of Public Security’s Departments, Bureaus, and City and Provincial Offices during the Conference to Discuss the Three Specialized Drafts and to Implement Politburo Resolution 31 [Excerpts]

A speech given by Party Politburo Member Le Duc Tho during a three-day conference of the Ministry’s top Public Security officers along with the Directors of Public Security of all of the nation’s provinces and major cities, where the attendees received instructions on three new Ministry of Interior Party resolutions - one on “the struggle against Chinese spies”, one on “the struggle against American spies”, and one on  “the struggle against the enemy’s ideological attacks.” At the time of the speech, Le Duc Tho was viewed as Vietnam’s second most powerful leader, second only to Party General Secretary Le Duan. 

Le Duc Tho commented that while recruiting Americans would be easy, requiring only “money, women, and drinking and carousing”, recruiting Chinese would require a careful process of political education of the target

December 15, 1980

Resolution on the Status and Mission of Combatting Enemy’s Ideological Sabotage Efforts During This New Period

This resolution on combatting “ideological sabotage” lumps Chinese ideological propaganda, Western propaganda operations, international human rights and humanitarian relief activities, and religious radio broadcasts and religious missionary activities all together with the spreading influence of Western culture and music in Vietnam as part of a vast, insidious effort by Vietnam’s enemies designed to corrupt Vietnam’s society and to weaken its “revolutionary” spirit in order to cause the overthrow or collapse of the Vietnamese Communist Party and government. 

The over-the-top rhetoric used in this resolution illustrates the widespread paranoia that infected the upper ranks of Vietnam’s Party and security apparatus during this period of the Cold War.  It was not until six years later, in December 1986, that the pressures of growing internal dissension (even within the Party), the country’s desperate economic situation, and reductions in Soviet military and economic to Vietnam resulted in the decision by the Communist Party’s 6th Party Congress to shift to a policy of reforms, called “Renovation” [Đổi Mới] reforms and to new Vietnamese efforts to normalize relations with China and the United States.

December 15, 1980

Resolution on Policy Guidelines and Missions for the Struggle against Chinese Spies in the New Situation

A resolution on combatting “Chinese spies” in Vietnam. The resolution directs Vietnam's Public Security to establish a special interrogation center to which all known and suspected “Chinese spies” who had been arrested would be sent for detailed interrogation by trained professionals. The interrogations would help Vietnam to identify existing Chinese espionage operations and to obtain information on the Chinese intelligence organizations, their plans, and their targets. 

December 1980

Trần Đông, 'Key Issues in the Struggle against Chinese Spies and American Spies and in the Struggle against the Enemy’s Ideological Attacks' [Excerpts]

In a speech, Deputy Minister of Interior Tran Dong makes it clear that the Ministry of the Interior’s goal is to develop a massive network of secret informants throughout Vietnam’s civilian population, a network that would be every bit as extensive and intrusive as was the informant network established inside East Germany by the Stasi, or the East German Ministry for State Security.

December 25, 1979

Cable from the Foreign Ministry, 'Notice on the Cambodian Situation and Changes in the Government of Democratic Cambodia'

The Chinese Foreign Ministry provides an update on the leadership in Cambodia and the Cambodian-Vietnamese war.

August 30, 1979

Cable from the Foreign Ministry, 'On the Commemoration of Vietnam's National Day'

The Chinese Foreign Ministry proposes an olive branch gesture towards Vietnam.

June 30, 1979

Cable from the Foreign Ministry, 'More on the Term “Refugee”'

The Chinese Foreign Ministry issues a clarification on who can be considered a "refugee" in the context of the current confrontation with Vietnam.

Pagination