Veterans recall the 1979 fight for national border defense in Lai Chau province, February 16, 2019.

The veterans and witnesses gathered in Lai Chau on Saturday to commemorate the 40^th anniversary of the war against the northern invaders.

During 17 battles, local soldiers and people killed thousands of enemy troops, forcing the invaders to withdraw from Lai Chau province on March 13, 1979.  

At a discussion in Saint Petersburg, Russia, Professor Vladimir Kolotov, Head of the Ho Chi Minh Institute, reviewed Vietnam’s struggle against much stronger northern invaders. He said that Vietnam’s just war with support from the former Soviet Union in 1979 is still fresh in the minds of people who experienced that historic period and remains valuable for military research.

Russian General Porfiry Ivashko reaffirmes Vietnam's just war against Chinese forces in 1979. (Photo: VNA)

In an interview with the Vietnam News Agency, Russian General Porfiry Ivashko asserted the just struggle of Vietnamese people. Ivashko, one of the first former Soviet Union experts and advisors sent to Vietnam right after the northern border defense war began on February 17, 1979, highlighted the time-honored friendship between Vietnam and the Soviet Union, and the Soviet Union’s support to Vietnam during resistance wars against foreign invasion as well as their comprehensive assistance to the country in the northern border defense war.