After having reached an agreement with French negotiators on recognition of an independent Vietnam—within the French Union—in exchange for French military occupation for five years, Ho Chi Minh, political leader of the Vietminh, argues with his compatriots:

       You fools!  Don’t you realize what this means if the Chinese remain?  Don’t you remember your history?  The last time the Chinese came, they stayed for a thousand years.  The French are foreigners.  They are weak.  Colonialism is dying.  The white man is finished in Asia.  But if the Chinese stay now, they will never go.  As for me, I would rather sniff French s___ for five years than eat Chinese s___ for the rest of my life.

       [added 5/16/2025]