HCM City (VNA) – Leading experts and scientists ofVietnam gathered at a symposium in Ho Chi Minh City on April 5 to look intosome issues about the war defending the country in the southwestern border.

The event was organised by the VietnamAssociation of Historical Sciences, the University of Social Sciences andHumanities under the Vietnam National University - HCM City, and the HCM CityAssociation of Historical Sciences.

In the opening remarks, Chairman of the HCM CityAssociation of Historical Sciences Prof. Dr Vo Van Sen affirmed that Vietnam’smove came from the legitimate demand for self-defence. Facing the provocationof the Khmer Rouge genocidal regime in the southwestern border, Vietnamexercised utmost restraint and showed the goodwill and the wish for peacefuland friendly cooperation between the nations.

That Vietnam’s voluntary soldiers came toCambodia to perform the international duty was necessary to prevent therecovery of the genocidal regime, which was confirmed by Cambodian leaderslater, he noted.

More than 50 reports sent to the symposium andopinions of experts and scientists clarified the necessity and inevitability ofthe war protecting Vietnam in the southwestern border (1977 – 1979). They madeclear that the war (before January 7, 1979) and Vietnam’s international missionin Cambodia (1979 – 1989) are two different issues which had differenthistorical backgrounds, causes and developments but were logically connected.

At the event, participants also proved that thewar in the southwestern border was directly linked with the national protectionwar in the northern border, and that the fights greatly changed Vietnam’sinternational relations and affected the country’s post-war situation.

Assoc. Prof. Dr Tran Ngoc Long, former DeputyDirector of the Military History Institute of Vietnam, said these historicalevents should not be considered as two separate fights but they should becalled the “war to protect the Fatherland in the two ends of the border”.

Many other participants said the nationalprotection war in the southwestern border happened as fast as a self-defendingcounter-attack of the Vietnamese armed forces.

Assoc. Prof. Dr Ha Minh Hong from the Universityof Social Sciences and Humanities said it was a just war and obtained manysuccesses of national and international significance, including defeating thewar machine of the Khmer Rouge, annihilating the genocidal regime, firmly protectingthe country’s border, and helping Cambodia to revive its revolution.

The workshop also analysed many aspectsregarding the background, causes and developments of the national protectionwar, the art of military and diplomacy of Vietnam, and lessons from thefight.-VNA