0 - The Black Vault

THE BDM CORPORATION
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6 there had to be some form of accord with, Ho and the DRV government.
4/
a. French-Chinese Negotiations
The French undertook negotiations with the Chinese in Chungking
and, at the cost of major concessions, reached an agreement on February
28, 1946, permitting them to move military forces north of the 16th
parallel.
In this the French were probably assisted bl the fact that
Chiang Kai-shek needed his troops for operations against Thinese Communist
forces in China.5/ During this early period a series of conversations
between the French and Ho Chi Minh showed that there were compelling reasons
for tolerance and-compromise on both sides. For exemple, the French
were easier to deal with than the Chinese.
b., French-Vietnamese Negotiations
French-Vietnamese negotiations conducted from early 1946
through the Geneva Accords in 1954 were cnaracterized by French reluctance
to alter in any significant way the pre-war colonial perquisites they had
once enjoyea, At least 13 agreements, conferences or declarations suggested
progress tow.ards some form of Vietnamese independence, but little
real progress materialized.
These events are presented in brief in Appendix
A to this Chapter.6/
c. The Geneva Conference of 1954
Soon after the cease-fire in Korea, in July 1953, Ho Chi
Minh's new Chinese Communist allies began to increase the flow of combat
materiel and advisers to his Viet Minh forces fighting the French in Indochina.
Pressure began to build up in France for a negotiated settlement
along lines of the one being worked out in Korea.
At the Bermuda Conference
of December 1953, President Eisenhower, Prime Minister Churchill and
Premier Joseph Laniel of France decided to discuss the Indochina problem
* with the -ov;et Union at the foreign minister level, 7/
The foreign ministers met in February,
1954, and agreed to a
conference :if interested powers to discuss both Korea and Indochina,
to ne held at Geneva in April of that year. That was the signal for General
Vo Nguyen Giap. Ho's field combat commander, to deliver a crippling
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