Скачать или смотреть VIETNAM: HANOI: GENERAL GIAP HOLDS PRESS CONFERENCE

(8 Apr 2000) Vietnamese/Nat

General Vo Nguyen Giap, the architect of Vietnamese military victories over the French and Americans, held a rare meeting with the foreign press on Saturday as the 25th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War looms, three weeks away.

The Vietnam War, which killed an estimated three million Vietnamese soldiers and civilians, freed the country from slavery, the war hero told the press.

SOUNDBITE: (Vietnamese)
"Vietnam has undergone the bloodiest and longest struggle in history."
SUPER CAPTION: General Vo Nguyen Giap

And the general did not have kind words for the Americans who lost the war, intimating that they were only the last of a series of forces that had unsuccessfully attempted to win over Vietnam - after the Japanese and the French.

SOUNDBITE: (Vietnamese)
"The Americans never understood Vietnam well."
SUPER CAPTION: General Vo Nguyen Giap

SOUNDBITE: (Vietnamese)
"It was a total and complete victory after more than 100 years of independence struggle."
SUPER CAPTION: General Vo Nguyen Giap

He described his feelings on entering Saigon at the war's end to hear the news that the South Vietnamese forces had surrendered.

SOUNDBITE: (Vietnamese)
"Many people have asked me about my feelings at that moment. I have to say that was the happiest moment of my life of struggle."
SUPER CAPTION: General Vo Nguyen Giap

Finally, reflecting on the ability of the Vietnamese to ward off even the fighting forces of the United States, Giap said unity and patriotism were Vietnam's strongest weapons against aggression.

SOUNDBITE: (Vietnamese)
"If the entire people fight we are always capable of protecting our motherland."
SUPER CAPTION: General Vo Nguyen Giap

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