These days, the whole country is decorated with flags and flowers, people are excited and proud to celebrate the 47th anniversary of the April 30, 1975 event that completely liberated the South and reunified the country. Photo: Nhan Dan Newspaper

As the country is celebrating the 47^th anniversary of southern liberation and national reunification, hostile forces have still bucked the historic trend with plots against valuable peace and national unity of the Vietnamese people.

Several webpages and blogs like Việt Tân, Chân trời mới Media, BBC News Vietnamese, RFA Vietnamese and tiengdanbao, reactionary forces posted pieces distorting the history, calling the Southern Liberation Day on April 30 as the day of “national hatred”. Some loudly claimed that if without the April 30, 1975, southern Vietnam now was no less than South Korea and should have surpassed Thailand and that the Vietnamese nation’s resistance struggle against the US was merely a “civil war” and an “authorized war”. These distorted views aim at casting doubts and distraction in the society and creating a “viewpoint gap” in the public and younger generation.

Essentially, the April 30 1975 event which concluded the anti-US national salvation struggle is a victory of the rightness and national pride of “nothing more valuable than independence and freedom”, originating from the correct and creative resistance guideline by the Communist Party of Vietnam and the traditional heroism of the Vietnamese people. To achieve that victory, more than 3 million compatriots and soldiers sacrificed their life, thousands of villages and cities were flattened, dioxin aftermath has been reported in the 3^rd generation, and losses for the whole nation was unmeasurable. The victory has been a source of strength and confidence to strive for national renovation and development.

At 11:30 a.m. on April 30, 1975, tanks of the Liberation Army entered the Presidential Palace, the last stronghold of the Saigon puppet regime, liberated the South, and completely reunified the country. Photo: VNA

After 47 years, despite regional and global turbulence and domestic difficulties, hostile forces have increased sabotage against Vietnam in multiple fronts, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. But with the spirit of the April 30 1975 victory, the country has firmly progressed against the pandemic and been praised by the international community as an exemplary model in pandemic control. Its achievement in the dual targets of pandemic control and economic growth has elevated national image and credibility internationally.

The victory has promoted the humankind’s struggle for peace, national independence, democracy and social advancement, incentivizing nations to liberate themselves from imperialism, leaving valuable lessons for Vietnam and the world in national unity strength mobilization.

The victory is attributable to the talented leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam with an independent, correct and creative political and military policies, a lesson of aspiration for independence, freedom, peace and unity as well as an unyielding determination against invading enemy. It’s impossible to name Vietnam’s resistance war against invaders as performing an authorized role by some other political forces and it cannot be considered a civil war.

Hostile forces trying to bend the history must remember well known US politician’s acceptance that one reason for their failure was not having aware of Vietnam as a pioneer nation in self-determination with its right to select social regime and development path that is unshaken by any forces. Former US Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara, in his memoir published in 1995 wrote that “the US misjudged then -- as we have since -- the geopolitical intentions of our adversaries. We underestimated the power of nationalism to motivate a people to fight and die for their beliefs and values. We do not have the God-given right to shape every nation in our own image or as we choose.” Answering the US press about the Vietnam War, President Gerald Ford acknowledged failure and expressed his admiration to the bravery and determination of the Vietnamese people.

Vietnam does not allow any distortion of the historical significance of the April 30 1975 victory. Those doing so are the minority and they can only fool some but not the whole Vietnamese patriotic nation and people of conscience in the world. Their distorted views and rejection of history will surely be denounced vehemently.

The 4^th National Party Congress in December 1976 made clear that “time will pass but the Vietnamese people’s victory in the national salvation struggle against the US will be engraved in history as one of the most glorious pages and a beacon of victory of revolutionary heroism and human talent. It has been part of the world history as a great victory of the 20^th century, a major international event of time value.”