To: Ilaine who wrote (85149 ) 8/9/2000 6:40:39 PM From: Dayuhan Read Replies (1) | Respond to The division of Vietnam was neither complex nor the product of any international conference. The surrender of Japan caught everyone by surprise: the nuke was a secret even to allied and US forces. Arrangements for the surrender of Japanese forces outside Japan and for custody of territories still under Japanese occupation had to be made quickly and with little preparation or study. The French desperately wanted control of Indochina, but had no means; they supported the British as temporary custodians, knowing that the Brits would support their efforts to recolonize. (The British, of course, wanted their own empire back, and didn't want any precedents for independence.) Chiang Kai-Shek, anticommunist but also fervently anticolonial, also wanted to take on the role of custodian. The solution was to divide the area. The north was occupied by Nationalist Chinese troops under General Lu Han, who did nothing to stop Ho Chi Minh from organizing a provisional government. The south was occupied by the British under General Gracey, who immediately and violently repressed the pro-independence forces and brought French forces into the country.
