Vietnam

In reading the chapter titled Reconstruction and Resistance in the book Ho Chi Minh, there are indications of how Ho Chi Minh wanted to handle the other forces coming into Vietnam. At the beginning of the chapter, he gives a glimpse of how he believes that the French are coming, not with hostility, but in a friendly manner. What I mean by this is, that the French did not solely seek to come in and conquer the Indochinese area. The United States had spoken about neutrality in Indochina, but they became unmasked. The United States had already secretly helped the French, by letting them borrow ships to send their troops to Indochina. On one hand, the United States was trying to compete with Great Britain and France for the advantages in Indochina and Southeast Asia. On the other hand, the United States also wanted to cooperate with Great Britain and France in order to establish an alliance to encircle the Soviet Union, so that they might be willing to sacrifice some of its interests in Southeast Asia (Duiker p. 351).
Jean Sainteny was sent solely to obtain Ho’s agreement for the return of French military forces to Tonkin, where 30,000 Chinese troops still resided (Duiker p. 354). Saintenty had a feeling that Ho Chi Minh was pro-French at heart, and the two were fond of each other. He also knew that if the French came in and completely invaded, the Vietnamese people would surely resist, and also the Chinese occupation troops would do the same. The Chinese occupation troops were taking part in the disarming of the 30,000 Japanese. Saintenty strongly advised the French government against coming in and trying to take over Tonkin by force. He knew what would come of it, and it would not be a pretty sight. Ho Chi Minh soon became aware that Saintenty had some advantages on his end. The Vietminh military forces were very weak, and Ho knew it. There would be absolutely no way the Vietminh would be able to make the Chinese leave on their own. It would take much help from…