Communist view
At the time of the Vietnam War, Europe was halved. The Eastern half was under the influence of the Soviet Union, while the Western one was in sympathy with the USA, such as the UK. The former Soviet member-states were still part of the Soviet Union, furthermore, Soviet troops stayed in Middle-East-Europe. On these areas, people had to think what the Moscow thought to be right, so the press just gave information speaking highly of the Vietcong (VC), although many people had other thoughts. They agreed with the US, condemned communism and wanted democracy. In these countries, the leadership was communist and the press were thoroughly censored. The employees of the Ministry of the Interior were forced to organize solidarity actions, and supported the VC morally and financially. People couldn't tell his own opinion, only if it was consonant with the politics. Politicians regarded the South Vietnamese as freedom fighters. In the end of 1964, when a delegation of the VC came to Hungary, a communist country at that time, the press wrote:
'The representative of the South Vietnamese National Liberation Front described the heroic combat that the South Vietnamese people fight for their homeland and their independence.'
The US was named imperialists, was thought to be conqueror and they didn't agree with the goal of the US. It was defamed at the general assembly of the solidarity action this way:
"The ambassador of the DRV (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) in Budapest, Hoang Bao Son, appreciated the freedom-fight of the Vietnamese people. As result, the important Geneva Agreements was signed on the 20th July, 1954. This ordered to hold a general and free referendum to unite the country. The imperialists and their South Vietnamese servants halved Vietnam arbitrarily, however. Responding the American aggression, the South Vietnamese gathered round the flag of the national liberation battle-front with one voice."
"The Hungarian people condemn the bloody South Vietnamese war of the Pentagon, protest against the American imperialism aggression, claim the immediate end of the war and the entire implementation of the Geneva Agreements in accordance with the idea of the proletarian internationalism."
The only solution was the withdrawal of American troops from South Vietnam and leaving the destiny for the inhabitants. They thought that the USA had no rights to interfere in Vietnam's internal politics.
People had the same opinion in the two communist Great Power, the Soviet Union and China. The heroic fight against the American aggression had to be supported. On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the signing the Geneva Agreements, the Chinese government declared:
'China supports the DRV's point of view entirely, and express the hope of the Chinese government that the parties of the Geneva Agreements and the other concerned countries assess the situation in South Vietnam as required and take the necessary actions to prevent its deterioration.'In an article about the Tonkin Gulf incident, the distrust to the Americans was visible.
'On the American side, it's claimed that the 3 torpedoes were launched at the Maddox and it was shot between the North Vietnamese coast and Hajnan Island with cannons. 4 aircraft from an aircraft carrier gave assistance for the destroyer. The alleged attacker then withdrew.'
They highly entrusted the North Vietnamese reports that was about the attempts of the USA, it enters the territorial waters of Vietnam to take fishing vessels to take spies and subversors ashore, who pursue subversions in the coastal regions. To solve the Indochina problem, the Soviet Union agrees with the secretary general of the UN, and the Soviets demanded a conference with 16 countries. Of course the war was good for them as well, they could test their weapons, their new developments, they supported the DRV and the VC with a value of 1 billion dollars a year. They also had political and economic concerns. They wanted to be not only in Middle-East-Europe, but also in Southeast Asia. According to the Soviet opinion, they were the winner of the war. They had advantage in the Cold War, but later it turned out to be diminished since the USA remained a Great Power in the 90s while Russia was in trouble.