COSVN Party Current Affairs Committee Issues Information Bulletin No. 06/TT 73 on the Le Duc Tho-Kissinger Talks (17 to 22 May 1973)

After summarizing the points on which agreement had been reached during the talks and after predicting the date that the Joint Statement will be issued, the COSVN Party Current Affairs Committee stated:

“As a result of the struggle conducted by our people and by the people of Laos and Cambodia, of public opinion around the world, of the many problems that the U.S. is experiencing domestically, and of the U.S.’s having also become bogged down in Cambodia, the Americans have been forced to reach an agreement with us on measures needed to continue to implement the Paris Agreement in order for them to find a way to rid themselves of their Vietnam problem and out of all of Indochina.

“However, we must also clearly recognize that:

“-The basic American plan to implement the U.S. policy of neocolonialism has not changed. The U.S. is still strengthening and reinforcing the South Vietnamese puppet army and puppet government in order to use them as tools in their efforts to sabotage the Paris Agreement.

“-If the Joint Statement is signed, that will be a victory for our side and will be another step backward for the U.S. on the path to America’s defeat. The Americans are facing many problems in their overall situation, so they are being forced to find a way to assuage the worries of their people and to trick both U.S. and world public opinion.

“-We must be constantly vigilant against any and all duplicitous plots by the American imperialists and against any blatant, risky acts of sabotage by them.

“-The COSVN Party Current Affairs Committee has set forward a number of concrete, immediate missions that need to be carried out and it asks that our soldiers, civilians, and Party Chapters at all levels in the South aggressively carry out these missions as soon as the Joint Statement is signed.”

Source: Document Held in the Party Central Committee Archives

P 42 (66-49) - DV 351.