Note by the East German Embassy in Hanoi on a Conversation of Comrade Jarck with the Attache of the Czechoslovak Embassy, Comrade Freybort, on 2 June 1965, from 10:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., in the East German Embassy [Excerpts]

The conversation happened on our request.

[…]

Afterwards we talked about the current situation in the DRV. Comrade Freybort made the following comments:

1. During the talks, which Comrade Le Duan had in Beijing following his visit to Moscow [18-23 April], he was accused by the Chinese side that he has joined hands with modern revisionism too much.

Apparently Le Duan replied that the CCP had even entered into a pact with Jiang Jieshi [Chiang Kai-shek] against the Japanese,1 and that he did not understand why the DRV cannot expand and strengthen its relations to a socialist country.

2. During the same talks, Le Duan proposed to coordinate aid supplies from the USSR and the PRC in trilateral negotiations. Such negotiations could lead to the joint coordination among all socialist countries. The Chinese side rejected the proposal with the justification that the ideological differences in opinion with the CPSU are so big that it is not possible to sit at the [same] table.

3. Following Le Duan’s return to Hanoi it was attempted to convene trilateral talks between the DRV, the USSR, and the PRC on the coordination of aid measures once more. For that purpose, Ho Chi Minh apparently had been in Beijing and had talked with Liu Shaoqi and other old revolutionaries with whom he had personal relations.2 Even these talks did not lead to an agreement on the coordination of aid measures.

4. The PRC apparently increased its aid offers to the DRV significantly. Apart from military aspects, the PRC supposedly offered to the DRV:

- bigger aid supplies in the sphere of transport, i.e. railroad tracks, sleepers, track workers, repair corps, etc.

- an increase of deliveries of artificial fertilizer

- bigger supplies of food, etc.

5. At the moment, the railroad from the Chinese border to Kep (halfway on the way to Hanoi) is being reconstructed, so that in the future it will have three rails, that means, it will be useable for Chinese-gauge as well as for Vietnamese-gauge railroad cars.3

The highways from Hanoi to the Chinese border via Lao Cai and Lang Son are supposed to be renewed and widened.

6. 100 to 130 Korean specialists, who wear the uniform of the DRV air force, allegedly have been living in the hotel for foreign specialists “Kim Lien” in Hanoi for some time. It is assumed that they are ground personnel and technicians.

1. This refers to the so-called 2nd United Front of 1937 between the Nationalist Government of the Republic of China and the Chinese communists in the anti-Japanese War.

2. Ho Chi Minh was in Beijing on 16 and 17 May 1965. For excerpts of these conversations, see Westad, et al., eds., “77 Conversations,” p. 86-87.

3. China uses the a rail gauge of 1435 millimeters, while Vietnam uses a 1000 millimeter standard.