Too many empty noises, too much sorcery, for this 2-paragraph letter from PM Phạm Văn Đồng to PM Zhou En Lai on Sept. 14, 1858.

China threw it onto the Internet, crowning it as Công Hàm. I am not sure what Công Hàm really means, but it sounds important and mysterious. Someone translated the name into Diplomatic Note.

And the Chinese, masters in the art of smoke blowing, said the Công Hàm meant that Prime Minister Phạm Văn Đồng agreed to China’s sovereignty over the Paracels and the Spratlys.

Unfortunately, a bunch of anti-commie overseas Vietnamese picked it up after the Chinese, and advertised the letter as Công Hàm Bán Nước (Công Hàm to sell the country). So, the letter became famous, thanks to Chinese propaganda.

But indeed, all the scholars I know (including the non-lawyer scholars) agree that the letter said only one simple thing, that Prime Minister PVĐ agreed to the 12-mile territorial sea adopted by the Chinese in 1958.

I wrote the following imaginary trial between Counsel for China (Cch), Counsel for Vietnam (Cvn) and a five-judge arbitration panel, talking mainly through one judge (J), to show what PM PVĐ intended to write in his letter. Đọc tiếp Letter of PM Phạm Văn Đồng to PM Zhou En Lai on September 14, 1958 →