Vietnam's Traditional Diplomacy
During their history of national building and defense for thousands
of years, the Vietnamese people have always been confronted
with natural calamities and foreign aggressors. Through all ups
and downs, Vietnam's diplomacy has step by step taken shape
and developed with a combination of national identities and the
quintessence of mankind, giving Vietnam's diplomacy a distinctive
identity.
Vietnam's traditional diplomacy originates from the indomitable
spirit in the struggles for national independence and freedom with
exemplary figures like Ly Thuong Kiet, Tran Quoc Tuan and
Nguyen Trai, etc. and is built on many useful and profound lessons
about relations with neighboring countries and behaviours in
external affairs. It is also a manifestation of the desire for peace
and friendship and the fidelity stemming from the nature of deep
humanity and peace-loving tradition inherent in the Vietnamese
people. The history of undaunted struggle against foreign invaders
of the Vietnamese people has given Vietnam's diplomacy a heroic
fighting spirit and the nature of peace, friendship, benevolence
and faithfulness, "successfully we confronted barbarity with justice
and fought truculence with humanity."
Vietnam's modern diplomacy has developed since the birth of the
State of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945 and was honourably
and directly guided and trained by President Ho Chi Minh.
A skillful combination of the traditional diplomacy and Ho Chi
Minh's thoughts, Vietnam's modern diplomacy has been flexibly
and creatively applied in specific conditions. Having undergone
different periods of both war and peace, Vietnam's modern diplomacy
has inherited the traditions built by the ancestors and made
significant contribution to safeguarding national sovereignty, territorial
integrity and further prospering the country.