Due to the recent escalation of tensions between Vietnam and China in the South China Sea, the Sino-Vietnamese war has begun receiving renewed media attention after almost 43 years where Vietnamese people use social media for expressing anger and condemning Beijing for inflicting war on Vietnam.
Notably, February 17 marked the 43 years of the 1979 Sino-Vietnam war and the Vietnamese people with the help of social media platforms expressed anti-China sentiments as well as a veiled criticism of the Vietnamese government, reported Geo Politica.
The fight left many civilians and soldiers killed in Vietnam's border provinces. This outburst shows that the Vietnamese people may forget the physical wounds but not the deception and emotional hurt inflicted by the Chinese.
Besides the contemporary maritime territorial disputes, security concerns and geopolitical competition, the unpleasant reality of the history between these two countries continues to linger on.
In Vietnam, low-profile anniversaries of the fierce fight against the Chinese invasion are organised each year in local cemeteries in the Northern border provinces while small-scale demonstrations take place in other parts of the country including Hanoi.
However, many Vietnamese veterans, military enthusiasts, historians and diplomats have urged the government to become vocal about the past atrocities of China on Vietnam.
In 2013, Major-General Le Van Cuong, former director of the Strategy Institute under the Ministry of Public Security, and other retired politicians told state media that it was time to review the official commemorations of the war and that government must include it in textbooks.
Young academicians were also concerned over the ignorance of most of the students about the 1979 war, even as information about Vietnam's just and defensive stand against the Chinese 1979 aggression remains vague.
Vietnamese youth have also been shown movies projecting Chinese culture and history. The wounds left by the 1979 war still haunt the Vietnamese people, reported Geo Politica.
( With inputs from ANI )
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