Ho Chi Minh: A Life by Duiker William J

Author:Duiker, William J. [Duiker, William J.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: Autobiography / Political, History / Asia / Southeast Asia, History / Military / Vietnam War, Biography &#38
Publisher: Hachette Books
Published: 2012-11-12T16:00:00+00:00

Armed with the imprimatur of a new coalition government, Ho Chi Minh resumed his negotations with Sainteny in the first weeks of 1946. At first, it appeared that the gap might be too wide to bridge. Such at any rate was the concern of Kenneth Landon, a U.S. diplomat with extensive knowledge of Asian affairs in the State Department’s Division of Southeast Asian Affairs. When Landon arrived in Hanoi on a fact-finding mission in mid-January 1946, Sainteny assured him that the French government would adopt a conciliatory tone in its talks with the Vietnamese. But in his conversations with Ho Chi Minh, Landon found that the Vietnamese president was less optimistic about prospects for a settlement. Ho questioned the sincerity of the French and pointed out the depth of Vietnamese determination to achieve total independence from colonial rule. At the end of the visit, Ho handed Landon a letter addressed to President Truman. Noting that the United States was in the process of granting total independence to the Philippines, Ho appealed for U.S. support in his own country’s struggle for national liberation.

Ho Chi Minh’s skepticism about French intentions appeared justified when the Foreign Ministry in Paris told U.S. Ambassador Jefferson Caffery that although France would adopt a “liberal and progressive” attitude toward Vietnamese demands, total independence was not under consideration. Caffery responded with the hope that Paris would adopt an enlightened position on the question, noting to Washington that some “old-line military leaders” had heretofore exerted an “unfortunate influence” on government policies toward Indochina.16

Despite such signs of French intransigence, pressures on Paris to reach a settlement were increasing as the result of reports that Sino-French discussions were under way in Chongqing to bring about the departure of Chinese troops and their replacement by the French. To lubricate those talks, official sources in Hanoi hinted at a willingness to consider concessions to bring about a satisfactory settlement. There were similar signs of compromise in Paris, where the resignation of Charles de Gaulle in mid-January resulted in the formation of a new and potentially more conciliatory coalition government led by Félix Gouin of the Socialist Party.

De Gaulle left no suggestions to his successor on how to handle the situation in Indochina, although he later chastised High Commissioner d’Argenlieu that order should have been restored prior to the opening of talks. D’Argenlieu returned to Paris in January to confer with the new government, while leaving instructions with General Leclerc not to use the word “independence” in talks with Ho Chi Minh. But Sainteny reported that Ho insisted on the phrase “independence within the French Union.” Otherwise, he warned, there would be war. On February 14, Leclerc cabled Paris with the suggestion that if France agreed to include the word “independence,” the preponderance of the problem could be resolved. “The moment is opportune,” he proposed, “for a precise governmental declaration confirming the word independence.” Independence, he said, could be accorded “on a limited basis, within the context of the French Union, to all of Indochina.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.