Today, 50 years ago, was the day the North-South border ceased to exist forever, the country was reunited! Millions of hearts burst into joy of unification when the Ho Chi Minh Campaign was completely victorious, the Liberation flag flew on the roof of the Independence Palace, flew in the Truong Sa archipelago, the seas and islands, the sacred territory of the Fatherland. The long resistance war of our nation was victorious, the burning desire for the North and the South to reunite as one family became a reality.
That is the victory of justice, of the people's hearts, of the independent and autonomous political line for the national interest, not accepting to bow down to slavery, not accepting foreign countries to divide and separate the mountains and rivers of our ancestors.
That is the failure of more than one hundred years of colonialism, more than twenty years of neo-colonialism's invasion and domination of the Vietnamese people, Vietnamese history, and Vietnamese culture.
The glorious journey to bring the national flag, the flag of the vanguard Party, of beloved Uncle Ho to the final destination, is the crystallization of blood, tears, sweat, and intelligence of generations of compatriots, cadres, and soldiers. That is a new milestone of the Ho Chi Minh era, continuing the glory of Bach Dang, Chi Lang, Dong Da, and Dien Bien .
The Political Report of the 4th Party Congress in February 1976 affirmed the heroic and completeness of that long march: “Years will pass, but the victory of our people in the resistance war against the US to save the country will forever be recorded in our national history as one of the most brilliant pages, a shining symbol of the complete victory of revolutionary heroism and human intelligence, and will go down in world history as a great feat of the 20th century, an event of great international importance and profound contemporary significance... bringing confidence and excitement to hundreds of millions of people around the world who are fighting for peace, national independence, democracy and socialism”.
Speaking at a huge rally in front of the Hanoi Opera House on the morning of May 1, 1975, Prime Minister Pham Van Dong sent a message of peace to the other side of the Atlantic: "We send to the American people greetings of peace and friendship." (Nhan Dan Newspaper, May 2, 1975). That is the consistency of the love for peace and justice, and the thousand-year-old tradition of wanting to be friends with the peoples of the world of the Vietnamese people. Letters from President Ho Chi Minh sent to the US President over time is a testament to a priceless legacy of peace. The good cooperation and assistance with the Allies before and after the difficult August Revolution of 1945 of the young republic laid a reliable foundation for the future. In the midst of the escalating destructive war in the North, President Ho Chi Minh still expressed his "respect for the American people, intelligent people, who love peace and democracy", and expressed that, instead of coming to this land as soldiers carrying weapons, "if they will come here to help us as technicians, we will welcome them as brothers". B52s carrying bombs and ammunition to Hanoi inevitably had to pay a price, leaving evidence at Huu Tiep Lake, but the flights to evacuate Americans in the sky of Saigon in April fifty years ago were still guaranteed peace amidst artillery fire.
The long journey of searching for missing Americans, providing documents, searching for Vietnamese martyrs who died in the war; overcoming the consequences of bombs and mines, detoxifying old battlefields, providing humanitarian aid to victims of Agent Orange/dioxin, education and training... is to confirm trust and test the sincerity between the two nations and peoples.
A long, arduous journey with many twists and turns, but still persistently reaching the destination - the journey of reconciliation, healing, and cooperation between former enemies to upgrade to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between Vietnam and the United States has become a model for international relations in the new era. To overcome sad memories, painful memories! To not forget, but to understand them to continue writing a new history, more responsible, better.
In July 2015, when US President Barack Obama had a historic meeting with General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong at the White House, marking the US recognition of Vietnam's political system, a new era of cooperation and development opened after persistent efforts to overcome barriers and obstacles, although there were still differences in "political thinking and political systems between the two countries".
In April 2025, General Secretary To Lam had a phone call with US President Donald Trump right after Mr. Trump announced the decision to impose reciprocal tariffs on Vietnamese goods exported to the US in the midst of a heated global trade war. The proactive and decisive steps to discuss bilateral trade relations, import tariffs of the two countries and to soon sign a bilateral agreement further demonstrate that the era of cooperation, mutual respect, persistent dialogue, negotiation, willingness to share differences, resolve disagreements, and mutual benefit on the principle of taking national interests as paramount in a world with many conflicts, competition, and contradictions, continues to be a living space, a space for survival that requires us to adapt, adjust, proactively respond to situations, and actively engage.
To date, Vietnam has established Comprehensive Strategic Partnerships with 12 countries, including four permanent members of the United Nations Security Council: the United States, China, Russia, and France. We are striving to set a GDP growth target of 8% or more in 2025 and double-digit growth in the 2026-2030 period; promoting a breakthrough strategy for science and technology development, innovation, and national digital transformation. Vietnam is transforming itself in an unprecedented revolution of streamlining the organization of the political system to create a new space for the country to develop to its full potential. We continue to promote the work of building and rectifying the Party and the political system in a synchronous manner, along with the fight against corruption, negativity, and waste, "fighting against what is old and corrupt to create new and fresh things" as Uncle Ho wrote in his Testament.
Another half century has passed on the land of the Hung Kings after the unification. 50 years is not long but not short either, enough for a nation to become a dragon, enough to turn a developing country into a developed one. Opportunities do not wait for us. Non-traditional challenges are ready to overwhelm us if we do not anticipate and prepare. If we do not innovate, do not make breakthroughs in development commensurate with the price we have to pay for national unification, and are complacent and self-satisfied, it means we are guilty before history, before our ancestors, before the blood of many heroic martyrs and the people's wish for a strong Vietnam. If peace and stability cannot be maintained; the economy is underdeveloped, falling into the middle-income trap, the material and spiritual life of the people is not improved, national defense and security are not consolidated and solidly built, then not only will the borders and territories not be firmly maintained, but the foundation for development will also be at risk of being threatened.
In the article “Vietnam is one, the Vietnamese people are one” commemorating the 50th anniversary of the liberation of the South and the reunification of the country, General Secretary To Lam called for: “We cannot let the country fall behind. We cannot let the nation lose opportunities. We cannot let the vortex of history repeat itself. Therefore, we must put the interests of the nation above all else. We must act for the long-term future, not for short-term achievements.”
To achieve that goal, the greatest thing is not only in human strength, or financial strength, resources or investment, but in the solidarity and unity of the Vietnamese people "without distinction of religion, party, or ethnicity" as President Ho Chi Minh called upon during the founding of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam: "As long as you are Vietnamese, you must stand up to fight the French colonialists to save the country" (Call for National Resistance).
Before 1975, “we followed the fire from our hearts” for a peaceful, unified Vietnam from Ai Nam Quan to Mui Ca Mau. The unification after half a century must become the Vietnamese strength for a powerful fatherland with measurable values, criteria, and numbers.
With the new motto "all Vietnamese people must unite and join hands to build a strong and prosperous Fatherland". On that path, the most fundamental and important thing, according to the General Secretary, is to unify concepts and thinking: "National reconciliation does not mean forgetting history or erasing differences, but accepting different perspectives in a spirit of tolerance and respect" for the sole purpose of "building a peaceful, unified, powerful, civilized, and prosperous Vietnam", so that future generations will no longer be haunted by "war, separation, hatred, and loss as our ancestors faced".
We have pointed out the bottleneck of the bottleneck in development to have a direction for handling, which is the institution. In the overall "bottleneck", we still have to frankly admit that there is still a "bottleneck of people's hearts". Keeping a Hien Luong bridge as a witness to tourism, history, and culture is a wonderful thing for future generations to understand the price of war, division...
But certain “borders” that are still hidden in people’s hearts need to be continuously named and erased. By policies and guidelines! By mechanisms and policies! By unity between words and actions; between central and local levels; between domestic and foreign countries. By non-discrimination, not only in the economic field but also extending to other areas of political, cultural and social life... The resources, intelligence and contributions of Vietnamese people, regardless of whether they are from the private or public sector, within the Party or outside the Party, within the country or abroad, must be respected, equally, openly and appropriately utilized to shine and make worthy contributions to a rich and powerful Fatherland.
Because as a rule, the goal and destination of many generations is peace and unity, which in turn must become the launching pad, the foundation, and the requirement for values to reach new heights: Rich people, strong country, democracy, fairness, and civilization!
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