The Evening Star (June 1, 1946)
New Cochin-Chinese independent republic announced by French
SAIGON, Indo-China – Jean Henri Cedile, French commissioner for Cochin-China, today announced the formation of an “independent Cochin-Chinese Republic in the Indo-Chinese Federation and the French Union.”
The first work of the new republic, he said, would be to organize a referendum on the question of joining Viet Nam, the free state of Annamite nationalists of Hanoi, which was recognized by the French last March as an independent republic within the Indo-Chinese Federation and French Union.
A part of the agreement reached with the Annamese who had claimed Cochin-China in the extreme southern part of Indo-China, provided that the question be settled at a referendum. Cochin-China has been directly administered as a colony by the French for 84 years.
The new president of the council of ministers of Cochin-China, Nguyen Van Thinh, a civil doctor, was to address a mass meeting later today outside Saigon Cathedral.
Ho Chi Minh, president of Viet Nam, meanwhile announced he was accompanying a delegation leaving for Paris today to engage in negotiations with the French government.
He urged his followers to avoid incidents and friction with the “French, Chinese and other strangers.”
Clashes between Vietnamese soldiers and armed civilians on the one hand and French soldiers on the other have been reported occurring the last three days. An attack by armed Vietnamese against a Chinese detachment also was reported. The Chinese, who occupied Hanoi until the French took over last March, were said to have returned the fire and taken prisoners.