Student name: Phan Thị Yến Nhi

Student ID: 2006080092

Topic 2: One of the HCM’s Thoughts in VNFP was “Using invariables to deal
with thousands of variables''. How was it applied in the period of 1945 to 1975?
I. Introduction
President Ho Chi Minh is a genius leader, a great teacher of the Communist Party of
Vietnam and the Vietnamese people, a national liberation hero, a brilliant soldier of
the international communist and workers' movement, and a world cultural celebrity.
His life and revolutionary career have left invaluable legacies for our Party and nation,
namely the cause of national independence and the construction of a rich, strong, and
democratic Vietnam, justice and civilization, standing shoulder to shoulder with the
great powers of the five continents, friendship with countries all over the world for
peace, independence, and social progress. And Ho Chi Minh's Thought - with
Marxism-Leninism as the foundation ideology, a guideline for the Vietnamese
revolution's actions.
Ho Chi Minh’s thought is a comprehensive and profound system of views on basic
issues of the Vietnamese revolution. Ho Chi Minh's diplomatic thought is an important
part of Ho Chi Minh's thought and is the key to successfully and effectively deploying
our Party and State's line, strategy, and foreign policy through various periods of
revolution. “Using invariables to deal with thousands of variables'' is one of the 6
important and unique principles of Ho Chi Minh's thought in diplomacy. Because of
the correct and creative application of that philosophy to real life has helped our
nation overcome all difficulties and challenges, moving from one victory to the next,
particularly between 1945 and 1975. This essay will analyze the "correct and creative"
when applying Ho Chi Minh's principle to Vietnam's foreign policy.
II. Body
1. Ho Chi Minh’s Thought in Vietnam’s foreign policy
There are 6 principles in the system of Ho Chi Minh’s Though in foreign policy. The
first principle is “Independence is associated with Socialism”: one must have the
independence to achieve Socialism and Socialism is the path to National
independence. According to Ho Chi Minh, national independence is a direct objective,
as well as a prerequisite for progressing to socialism. He said that the Vietnamese
revolutionary path has two stages: the people's democratic national revolution and the
socialist revolution (Báo điện tử Đảng Cộng sản Việt Nam, 2015). The
national-democratic revolution has two basic strategic tasks, in which national
liberation is the top task, the democratic task is carried out step-by-step, and the
national liberation task is obeyed. Uncle Ho also affirmed, establishing and
strengthening the leadership role and fighting strength of the Communist Party is the
basic condition for national independence associated with socialism.
The second principle is combining the nation's power with the power of the times in
foreign affairs. According to Ho Chi Minh, national power is the synergy of a
country's national and ethnic communities. That power manifests itself in the strength
of political institutions, economic potential, politics, national defense, and security, as
well as the strength of the great national unity bloc. The power of the times is the
power of mankind's truth, reason, faith, conscience, and wisdom; it is the power of
socialism's superiority and the social progressive factors of the times.
The following principle in Ho Chi Minh's thoughts is "Heart-to-Heart diplomacy"
(affecting people's hearts), clearly distinguishing between enemies and friends in order
to have appropriate behaviors to arouse the peace and love feeling of people all over
the world, calling for support for Viet Nam in its struggle to protect national
independence.
Highly appreciating harmony and respect has always been Ho Chi Minh's consistent
motto in foreign affairs. Stemming from the love of people and respect for human life,
President Ho Chi Minh sought every way to prevent armed conflicts, taking advantage
of all possibilities to resolve conflicts by peaceful means.
President Ho Chi Minh also expertly applied the motto "Using invariables to deal with
variables," which means using unchanged things (invariables) to cope with all changes
(variables). As a result, "invariables" refers to the interests of the country, and the
people, the core of which are national independence, sovereignty, unity, territorial
integrity of the Fatherland...etc. The "variables" is skillful, flexible responses; a
harmonious combination of flexibility and determination, policies and strategies,
hardness and softness, activeness and creativeness in specific situations; however,
regardless of any level of difficulties, we should hold firm to our principles to gain the
"invariables" (Lam, 2021). In particular, in terms of strategy, determining the limits of
concession is essential in order to devise suitable and effective policies, and methods
to firmly hold the strategic principles: national independence is associated with
socialism.
And the last principle is step by step to achieve victories, fighting and negotiating at
the same time. It is the art of combining military and diplomatic conflict in order to
defeat the aggressor on both the battlefield and at the negotiating table. Present Ho
Chi Minh said "Diplomacy only wins when our revolution wins," the master says
(Lam, 2021).
2. The period from 1945 to 1975
2.1. The period from 1945 to 1946
Following the proclamation of independence, Vietnam's history entered a period
marked by both advantages and challenges. First and foremost, in terms of benefits to
the world, following WWII, the circumstances in the world region changed
dramatically for the Vietnamese revolution. As the Soviet Union became a socialist
stronghold, the national freedom movement in colonial Asia and Africa grew.
The domestic benefit is that Vietnam becomes autonomous and free, and the
Vietnamese people are liberated from slavery and oppression to become owners of a
new democracy. The Communist Party rose to power and led the revolution
throughout the nation, proposing domestic and foreign policy goals that included
national reconstruction, liberation, and independence. President Ho Chi Minh has
become a symbol of independence and freedom in Vietnam, and he is the focal point
of the country's vast national unification bloc.
The challenge is that in the world, the imperialist faction has nurtured a new
conspiracy to "re-divide the world colonial system," attempting to attack and suppress
the global revolutionary movement, including the Vietnamese revolution. There are no
major countries that support the independent position and acknowledge the legal
status of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
About in Vietnam, the newly established revolutionary government system was young
and incapable in every way, and the 1945 famine caused widespread devastation. The
most crucial is a new danger gradually came, according to the decision of the Potsdam
conference (7-1945), the Republic of China army entered North Vietnam from the
16th parallel and the British army from the 16th parallel upwards to disarm the
Japanese army. The French planned with the help of Britain to return to invade
Vietnam, in the immediate future to restore the old ruling apparatus in the South and
South Central.
During this period, for foreign policy, our Party and State set two main and most
important goals. Firstly, reaffirming DRV’s independence and requesting countries to
respect the “clear truth”. Secondly, maintaining peace and preserving the proclaimed
independence. To affirm the legal status of the State of Vietnam, the Party, and Ho Chi
Minh held a nationwide election and established the official government (Bộ Ngoại
Giao, 2015). Moreover, in order to defeat the plot of "killing the Communists, holding
Ho, destroying the Viet Minh" of the army and the Ho Chi Minh government, the
Party and the government of Ho Chi Minh implemented a strategy of détente and
principled concessions to the Chiang army, perform friendly communication, behave
flexibly and flexibly with the claims of the Chiang army. We agreed to ensure the
supply of food and necessary food for the 20,000 Chiang army when in Vietnam and
to make concessions to the Chiang army when using the gold coin, the national
currency in parallel with the Indochinese silver coin. President Ho Chi Minh also
accepted to expand 70 National Assembly seats for some parties of Viet Cach and Viet
Quoc (Cuong, 2022). This is one of the flexible policies of our State, temporarily
suspending and giving concessions to Chiang in order to have time to build and
strengthen the fighting force against the French. However, in early 1946, France and
the Republic of China signed the Sino-French Treaty, which agreed that France would
send troops to the north of the 16th parallel to replace 20,000 Chiang troops. Facing
the rapid and complicated change of the situation, the Party flexibly implemented the
policy of "peace with France", signing a preliminary agreement. The agreement stated
that the French Government recognized Vietnam as a free country, Vietnam agreed to
let 15,000 French troops go to the North to replace the 200,000 Chiang troops who
withdrew back home and gradually withdrew within 5 years. During his 4-month visit
to the French Republic, Ho Chi Minh signed a temporary treaty with France on
September 14. We can temporarily suspend the hostilities in the South and extend the
Vietnam-France negotiations until January 1947 (Hoa & Khanh, 2017). Although it is
a contingency measure, the September 14 Modus Vivendi has the effect of preserving
the Preliminary Agreement, and at the same time, creating the possibility of
resumption of formal negotiations, which means salvaging some hope for the future. a
fragile peace. It can be said that following the Preliminary Agreement, the Temporary
Agreement of September 14, 1946, was a calculated step backward, the last
concession of the DRV, but at the same time it was also the "final limit" of the
concessions. That is also the way that President Ho Chi Minh and our Party
thoroughly understood the dialectical relationship between the "invariables" and the
"variables", carefully balancing the near and far benefits of the nation of the two paths
to independence, chosen the one that is less costly but also more certain.
2.2. The period from 1947 to 1954
The period from 1947 to 1954 was marked by the intensification of the Cold War
between the United States and the Soviet Union. The two superpowers engaged in a
global struggle for influence and power, which led to proxy wars in Korea and
Vietnam, as well as a nuclear arms race. In Asia, there are 3 outstanding wars: The
Chinese Civil War between the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Nationalist
Party (KMT), which eventually resulted in the Communist victory in 1949, and the
establishment of the People's Republic of China. In 1950, North Korea invaded South
Korea, which led to a three-year conflict that involved the United States and China.
The war ended in a stalemate, with the division of Korea into two separate countries.
The period from 1947 to 1954 was a time of great turmoil and conflict in Vietnam, as
the country was engaged in a struggle for independence against French colonial rule.
The United States increased its aid to France and intervened directly in the Indochina
war, making our war against the French even more difficult.
During this period, the Party continues to set two goals for Vietnam's foreign affairs:
The first is calling for recognition of DRV as an independent state. The second is
struggling for national independence, fighting against French colonialism (Bộ Ngoại
Giao, 2015). In the context of the Cold War and socialist orientation, the DRV highly
valued the establishment of diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union and China. In
early 1950, Ho Chi Minh secretly visited China and the Soviet Union to call for
recognition of Vietnam's independence. And then, China, the Soviet Union, the
Eastern European People's Democratic States, and North Korea established diplomatic
relations with the DRV. Thanks to that, in the process of struggling and building the
country, Vietnam has received a lot of help from other countries in terms of military
and economy.
In the period 1947-1954, Vietnam experienced two typical wars: the Autumn – Winter
Border Campaign of 1950 and the Battles of Dien Bien Phu 1954. These two wars
caused great resonance and marked many changes in politics. and foreign relations
with the DRV. The Party Central Committee's Standing Committee decided to launch
a border campaign in the autumn and winter of 1950 to destroy an important part of
the enemy's vitality, expand the Viet Bac base, and create a corridor to open trade
relations with China and socialist countries, thereby promoting the development of
resistance to a new stage (Bộ Giáo dục và Đào tạo, 2019). In the 1954 Dien Bien Phu
campaign, the Vietnam People's Army captured the French commander alive and
destroyed all enemy troops after 56 days and nights of fighting and three waves of
attacks. The Dien Bien Phu War marked Vietnam's complete victory over the French
colonialists.
In July 1954, after the victory of Dien Bien Phu's campaign, Vietnam went to the
Geneva Conference with the posture of a victorious nation. However, before the big
countries affected the process of resolving the first Indochina war, and at the same
time, the strength and power of the Vietnamese revolution still had certain limitations,
it necessary concessions for the Conference to reach final agreements, in order to
restore peace on the Indochinese peninsula and contribute to easing the situation in
Asia. The victory of the Geneva Agreement was that we had half of our country
liberated, forcing the other side to recognize the unchanging rights of fundamental
independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity. The Geneva Agreement is a living
example of Ho Chi Minh's diplomatic philosophy of “Using invariables to deal with
thousands of variables'', winning step-by-step, toward complete victory, imbued with
Vietnamese identity and imprint.
2.3. The period from 1954 to 1975
Internationally, the socialist system is vital in terms of economy, military, science, and
technology, and the national liberation movement also continues to develop. At the
same time, the powerful US imperialists plotted to dominate the world, the world
entered the period of an arms race, and there were disagreements and divisions in the
socialist system, especially between the Soviet Union and China.
In the country, the advantage was that the North was liberated entirely, serving as a
local base for the whole country. The will of the people to be independent and unify
the entire country has risen. However, we still have difficulties when the country is
divided into two regions, with different political regimes, the empire controls the
South, and the North's economy is poor and backward.
Based on the above-mentioned complicated situation, our Party has developed a
strategic line appropriate for the country's situation. To begin with, the general line of
the Vietnamese revolution is also the goal of foreign policy, which is a resistance war
against the US in order to save the country in the South and build socialism in the
North. In the North, the Party has implemented policies to develop the North's
economy in a variety of fields, including agriculture, industry, and transportation, and
as a result, the North's economy has been consolidated, serving as a solid backbone
for the Vietnamese revolution. People in the South resorted to armed struggle against
the US. Before going to the war of Hanoi- Dien Bien Phu in the air in 1972, Vietnam
had to fight against strategic wars of the US such as “Special War”, “Local War”,
Vietnamization, etc.
During this period, from 1968 to 1973, in Paris Accords, Vietnam effectively and
creatively applied Ho Chi Minh’s principle of “ Using invariables to deal with
variables”. At the Paris Conference, our negotiating delegation was resolutely
uncompromising on matters of principle. Respecting the basic national rights of the
Vietnamese people and the people's right to self-determination, the US and foreign
troops must withdraw from South Vietnam, and our troops will stay. In order to
achieve those "invariables" issues, our negotiators are always active, proactive,
flexible, and wise in choosing methods and forms of diplomatic struggle, making
concessions to the other side on issues that arise (Sau, 2023). To begin with, it was the
victory at the end of 1968 that forced the United States to stop bombing the North and
join the Four-Party Conference. By mid-1969, Vietnam had forced the United States
to de-escalate the war, gradually withdrawing US troops and contributing to a
changing situation and comparing forces on the battlefield that was increasingly
beneficial to our army. Because of the successful completion of that task, the US was
forced to withdraw over 30,000 troops unilaterally at the end of 1971, and at the same
time, the US abandoned its claim to demand the withdrawal of North Vietnamese
troops, which was the most important and immutable principle of Vietnam. The
Politburo decided to shift from a war strategy to a peace strategy in July 1972. The
two sides essentially agreed on the "Draft Paris Agreement on ending the war and
restoring peace in Vietnam" in early October 1972 and planned to sign the Agreement
on October 30, 1972. However, in early November 1972, the US side reversed course
and demanded that the Agreement be amended to favor the US. From December 18 to
29, 1972, the US conducted air raids with B-52 strategic aircraft on Hanoi, Hai Phong,
and other northern cities to put pressure on us to accept. In protest, Vietnam declared
the end of negotiations on December 21, 1972. The campaign failed, and the US had
to return to the negotiating table. Seizing this opportunity, our two diplomatic
missions stepped up their offensive, forcing the US to accept the Draft and on 23-23-
1-1973, then, on the morning of January 27, 1973, the Agreement "On ending the war
and restoring peace in Vietnam" was officially signed. (Sau, 2023)
III. Conclusion
"Using invariables to deal with variables" is not only a historical principle and method
for Vietnam in the revolutionary struggle, but it is also a principle for effectively
resolving new problems with Vietnam's foreign affairs in the current integration
process. The context of opportunities and challenges is intertwined, necessitating the
highest level of determination from the Party and State, as well as the efforts of the
entire people, to overcome challenges and turn difficulties into opportunities for
development. The recent Russia-Ukraine conflict has marked a watershed moment in
modern international relations. In response to this new international political
development, Vietnam has used the motto "always invariables" in its behavior at the
United Nations General Assembly. Three times the General Assembly held a vote on
the Ukraine issue, each time on a different topic and purpose; This is the "variable".
Similarly, Vietnam voted three times differently. Vietnam, on the other hand, always
affirms its consistent stance when it does not stand for one side against the other, but
always stands for justice, justice, and international law (Long et al, 2022). This is what
"invariables" means.
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