Vietnamese President Tran Duc Luong expressed his gratitude for the moral and material support given by China, the former Soviet Union and others during the nation's wars against France and the United States.

"The resistance of the Vietnamese people received the great support of international movements, especially from the Soviet Union, China and other then-socialist countries and friends all over the world," he said.

Delegations from China, Laos, Cambodia, Cuba and Algeria as well as other foreign diplomats attended the ceremony at Hanoi's Culture and Friendship Palace in the presence of Vo Nguyen Giap, the legendary general who masterminded the victory.

Significantly, the French ambassador to Vietnam was not present, choosing instead to attend a memorial service in Paris.

Hanoi has made it plain that the anniversary week will be a celebratory event rather than an occasion for both sides to honour their dead.

Standing alongside a large gold bust of Ho Chi Minh, the founding father of the Vietnamese Communist Party, Luong said the 56-day battle that ended on May 7, 1954 was a source of inspiration to other oppressed nations.

"Today we are celebrating the Dien Bien Phu victory... a historic victory that led to the fall of old-style colonialism and gave strong encouragement to national liberation movements around the world," he said.

On Friday, the actual anniversary date, victory celebrations will be held in Dien Bien Phu and other cities across the nation.

For the Communist Party, the battle is a key tool in its efforts to assert its legitimacy amid growing disillusionment amongst the population over rampant corruption within its ranks.

"The regime relies on the glories of nationalism past to shore up its legitimacy," said Carl Thayer, a Vietnam expert at the Australian Defence Force Academy.

Luong told the audience that the victory "highlighted the truth of Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh's ideology," and showed that any country, no matter how small or undeveloped, could also defeat a powerful oppressor.

The battle of Dien Bien Phu began on March 13, 1954 but it was not until May 7 that shell-shocked survivors of the French garrison hoisted the white flag to signal the end to one of the 20th century's greatest battles.

Around 3,000 French troops were killed or reported missing while some 10,000 Vietnamese died. The defeat led to the signing of the Geneva Accords on July 21, 1954 that split the country into North Vietnam and South Vietnam.

While the battle triggered the collapse of France's colonial empire, it took another two decades before Vietnam was finally able to expel the Americans.

Giap, now aged 92, told the assembled dignitaries that Vietnam had refused to "submit to slavery" but had "defeated all invaders and gloriously fulfilled the national liberation cause".

"The Dien Bien Phu victory has proved the truth of our era that oppressed and invaded nations will surely be victorious if they possess a strong will, a correct and creative policy, and the knowledge to unite and fight for independence and freedom, and for the right to live and pursue happiness."

The diminutive general, dressed in an egg-shell white military uniform, also called on younger generations to take up "the Dien Bien Phu spirit" to help the country modernise and to "leave backwardness behind".

All rights reserved. Copyright 2003 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

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