North Vietnam launched another offensive in March 1975 and quickly shattered South Vietnam’s defenses. The man ended their discussion by remarking, “Does President Thieu know who his real friends and foes are?”Īccording to Phong, various messages from the Chinese were passed to him seeking to establish a dialogue with Thieu, but the South Vietnamese president did not respond. There Phong was introduced to a Chinese official from Zhou Enlai’s office who wished to meet with Phong. Shortly before Henry Kissinger’s historic trip to Peking in July 1971, Phong had been invited to attend a reception at the Burmese embassy in Paris.
If true, this fascinating story upends the accepted history of the war’s final days. Although no direct documentary proof has been released to substantiate Phong’s claims, considerable tertiary evidence does seem to substantiate his account.
Phong served as the deputy for the Republic of Vietnam negotiating team in Paris from 1968 until 1975, and he claimed to have been in contact with the Chinese in order to save South Vietnam.įor over 30 years, Phong told no one of his last clandestine mission to save his country. This revelation was drawn out from over a decade of interviews and email exchanges that I conducted with Nguyen Xuan Phong before his death in July 2017. The People’s Republic of China, a long-time ally of North Vietnam, may have sought to create a neutral South Vietnam in 1975 and deny Hanoi its long-sought victory. Careers, Fellowships, and Internships Open/Close.Wahba Institute for Strategic Competition.Science and Technology Innovation Program.Refugee and Forced Displacement Initiative.The Middle East and North Africa Workforce Development Initiative.Kissinger Institute on China and the United States.Nuclear Proliferation International History Project.North Korea International Documentation Project.Environmental Change and Security Program.
Hyundai Motor-Korea Foundation Center for Korean History and Public Policy.
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