The Vietnamese people do not want, and cannot abide foreign domination or administration any longer,” Bao Dai wrote in a letter to Charles de Gaulle in Paris. “I implore you to understand that the only way to safeguard French interests and the spiritual influence of France in Indochina is to openly recognize Vietnam’s independence and to disavow any idea of reestablishing sovereignty or a French administration here in any form. We could understand each other so well and become friends if you would stop pretending that you are still our masters.”9
