Chinese Defense Minister Chi Haotian met Monday in Beijing with the relatives of the late Vietnamese General Hong Shui.
General Hong Shui was born in 1908 in Viet Nam, and came to China in 1925. He took part in the Red Army's Long March, and is the only foreigner who went through from the founding of the Chinese Red Army to the victory of China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. He was conferred the rank of Major General of the Chinese People's Liberation Army in 1955.
Chi, also vice-chairman of China's Central Military Commission and a state councilor, congratulated the Vietnamese and Chinese relatives of General Hong Shui who were in Beijing, and highly praised what General Hong Shui had done for China's revolution.
Chi said General Hong Shui was a good son of the Vietnamese people, as well as an intimate friend of the Chinese. Chinese People will never forget him.
Chi also briefed the guests on China's domestic situation and army building, and hoped that Sino-Vietnamese ties would be advanced in the new century.
General Hong Shui had two wives, one in China, one in Viet Nam. Chen Jian'ge, his Chinese wife, expressed her gratitude for Chi's meeting. She said General Hong Shui had devoted himself to the revolution and construction of China and Viet Nam since he arrived in China from Viet Nam at 17 years of age. She hopes the Sino- Vietnamese friendship exist forever.
Nguyen Thanh Ha, Hong Shui's Vietnamese daughter, said she was very happy to meet her Chinese relatives in Beijing, and said that as the children of General Hong Shui, she and her siblings will, just as their father hoped, make contributions to the development of relations between the two countries.
A bronze statue of General Hong Shui was donated to the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution yesterday by the General's relatives.
(Xinhua News Agency October 21,2001)
