After ten months of secret discussions, under the constant threat of a general massacre of the French, discussions which had the most diverse fortunes and all the alternatives of hope and discouragement, were signed by him and me, on March 6, 1946, the Franco-Vietnamese agreements whose essential lines of force were the following:
France recognized the Republic of Vietnam as a free state, having its own government, parliament, army and finances, being part of the Indochinese Federation and the French Union
The reunion of the Three Kys, i.e. the unification, would be the subject of 'a referendum
The French army coming to relieve the Chinese troops would be welcomed amicably
Hostilities would cease immediately, allowing the immediate opening of negotiations on the future status of Indochina.
These negotiations could take place in Hanoi, Saigon or Paris. We know that it is ultimately Fontainebleau that will be chosen.
A third signature appeared at the bottom of this protocol, that of Vu Hong Khanh, leader of the V.N.Q.D.D., thus associating the opposition to this agreement with France.
To this preliminary convention was annexed an agreement on the delicate problems raised by the relief of Chinese units and the cohabitation of French and Vietnamese forces.
It was the end of a long nightmare and the hope of a future rich in possibilities.
Leclerc, whose expeditionary force, embarked in Saigon, had collided at Haiphong , on March 7, to a violent Chinese opposition, in spite of the conventions signed with China in Tchong-King, on February 28, finally landed and, on March 18, reached Hanoi in a friendly atmosphere which could consolidate the hopes of a loyal understanding.
Through these agreements, through the peaceful resettlement of French troops, Ho Chi Minh averted the Chinese threat, while obtaining satisfaction on certain essential points of his aspirations.
He had also neutralized the opposition parties by reserving places for them in the government.
For its part, our country saw the fear of the massacre of its nationals dissipate and, the next day of a world war from which he emerged bloodless, the threat of a new conflict with a country entirely raised which, one should expect, China, its neighbour, would not have failed to provide full support.
Finally, this convention outlined the main lines of future French relations -Vietnamese within the French Union.
The Franco-Vietnamese agreement of March 6 was more or less warmly approved by the majority of world opinion. The Americans, whose eyes were beginning to open, welcomed with favor and relief this solution which, although described as French Victor;’. averted the threat of new hostilities.
Only certain Chinese circles, whose plans and hopes were ruined by this agreement, undertook to mobilize the population against what was presented to them as treason. On March 7, the day after the signing of the agreements with France, Ho Chi Minh had to justify himself in front of a considerable crowd, gathered in the Place du Théâtre and duly led by the pro-Chinese parties. He did so with consummate skill, but if he could, on that day, assess the prestige which he already enjoyed personally among the population as a whole, he also understood that the opposition would not disarm and would return to him. life singularly difficult.
A Franco-Vietnamese cohabitation was thus established in Indochina. Things were
obviously not without clashes or difficulties, but everyone awaited with more or less hope the conference which, in France, was to definitively set the terms of future Franco-Vietnamese coexistence.
It was agreed that a commission of good relations would first go to France. It was led by Pham Van Dong, one of Ho Chi Minh's most loyal lieutenants, still Prime Minister of the D.R.V.N. It was agreed that it would be he who would then chair the Vietnamese delegation to the conference which was to open on July 6 and whose headquarters had, in the end, been set in Fontainebleau.