Many people camped overnight to watch the spectacular show commemorating 80 years of independence as Vietnam celebrated National Day on Tuesday. With its biggest military parade in decades, thousands of people lined the streets of the capital, Hanoi, reported AP.The procession took place in Ba Dinh Square, where on September 2, 1945, revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh proclaimed the country’s independence from French colonial rule.Soon after, Vietnamese forces fought the French again in the First Indochina War, which concluded in 1954 when the nation was split into the US-backed South and the Communist North. The Communist North fought the South and its American allies in the ensuing Vietnam War. On April 30, 1975, Saigon fell to Communist forces, ending the war and uniting the nation. In remarks reported by state media, Vietnam’s top leader, Communist Party General Secretary To Lam, honored those who lost their lives in the country’s struggle for independence and reaffirmed the ruling party’s objective that Vietnam become a “powerful, prosperous, and happy nation” by 2045, referring to it as “the aspiration of the entire nation, the oath of honor before history.”
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Tanks, armored vehicles, and missile systems thundered by as columns of soldiers marched past. Above, helicopters trailed enormous Vietnamese flags, then jets, and below, a military band played martial music.Nearly 16,000 soldiers participated in the event, according to officials, including those with modernized tanks, amphibious vehicles, big artillery weapons mounted on vehicles, and missile systems manufactured by a Vietnamese state-owned corporation. Additionally, it hosted a broadcast naval display with warships, submarines, helicopters, and seaplanes off the coast of Cam Ranh, a port city in southern Vietnam, for the first time.
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Vietnamese official media said the spectacle, which included honor guards from China, Russia, Laos, and Cambodia, demonstrated the nation’s “international friendships.”Days in advance, crowds started to arrive in Hanoi, and on Monday night, thousands of people set up camp on the pavements.Videos of the parade went viral, and many of the people there were in their twenties, shouting enthusiastically as soldiers marched by while sipping iced boba tea and sporting red shirts with yellow stars. People painted the nation’s flag on their faces and waved it. The parade was televised on giant screens at crossroads, and more flags were strung over the city on balconies. After spending the night close to Ba Dinh Square, 22-year-old Nguyen Thi Thu Huyen told AP, “It’s something to be proud of. This is what our grandparents battled for. Life is better now.”One of the most notable changes in Asia has occurred in Vietnam. The nation has developed into a major center for the production of electronics, textiles, and footwear since opening its economy in the late 1980s, providing international names such as Nike and Samsung. The middle class is expanding quickly, and poverty has decreased.
