General Võ Nguyên Giáp (second, from right) and leaders of the Central Military Commission keep a close watch on the developments of the Ho Chi Minh Campaign in 1975. VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — A national scientific conference was held via videoconference on August 25 to highlight the military talent and the prestige of General Võ Nguyên Giáp.

The event, jointly organised by the Ministry of National Defence, the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Information and Education, the Government Office and the Party Committee of Quảng Bình Province (the home province of the late General), saw the participation of more than 600 delegates. 

President Nguyễn Xuân Phúc sent flowers to the event.

Opening the conference, Sen. Lieut. Gen Nguyễn Trọng Nghĩa, head of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Information and Education underlined that the over 80-year revolutionary career of General Võ Nguyên Giáp was closely linked with significant milestones of the Vietnamese revolution.

With his sharp mind and strategic vision as well as rich experience, General Giáp made great contributions to the success of the country’s revolution.

He is also a model of the morality and personality of a communist, said Sen. Lieut. Gen Nghĩa.

Meanwhile, Defence Minister General Phan Văn Giang underlined that General Giáp is one of the great leaders of the Vietnamese revolution and an outstanding military talent who played an important role in the formation and development of the Vietnam People’s Army.

His name is associated with many victories of Việt Nam in the Hồ Chí Minh Era. 

General Giang suggested that participants focus on analysing General Giáp’s contributions to the country’s victory in the war against American imperialists and French colonialists, and clarifying General Giáp’s ideology on people-based war and people-based defence as well as the Vietnamese military art.

At the same time, General Giáp is also a great man of culture and a typical example of revolutionary ethics, he added.

The defence minister said that the outcomes of the conference will support the education of patriotism and national pride among military officers and soldiers as well as the public, especially young people.

General Võ Nguyên Giáp, whose real name is Võ Giáp (alias Văn), was born in Lộc Thủy Commune, Lệ Thủy District, the central province of Quảng Bình on August 25, 1911. He passed away in Hà Nội on October 4, 2013 at the age of 103.

He once served as a Politburo member, Secretary of the Central Military Commission, Standing Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of National Defence, Commander-in-Chief of the Vietnamese People’s Army and a National Assembly deputy from the first to seventh tenures.

The General, whose military career started with his appointment to lead the first Vietnamese revolutionary army unit with only 34 soldiers in 1944, led the Vietnamese people's army from victory to victory during the resistance war against French colonialists and then American imperialists. VNS