• General Giap in foreign media spotlight

The article said that General Vo Nguyen Giap celebrated his 100th birthday at a military hospital in the capital city of Hanoi

General Vo Nguyen Giap is one of the most important military strategists in Vietnamese history. In 1954, he forced the French army to suffer a humiliating defeat in Dien Bien Phu valley, which marked Vietnam’s road to independence and put an end to the invasion of French colonists in Indochina.

After the Dien Bien Phu victory, General Giap continued to guide the army to fight against the US imperialists and its allies in southern Vietnam until Vietnam’s total liberation on April 30, 1975. Although General Giap has not engaged in political activities over the past 30 years, he always remains a symbolic and dominant figure in the hearts of Vietnamese people.

In addition, the Algerian newspaper quoted Australian researcher Carl Thayer as saying that General Giap is a legendary and historical figure of Vietnam.

US congressman Jim Webb, a war veteran in Vietnam, who had recently come back from Vietnam, also described Mr Giap as a historical figure to whom he conveyed his best wishes.