HANOI - Vietnam mounted its biggest-ever celebration of the fall of Saigon on its 50th anniversary, including Chinese troops for the first time after Xi Jinping visited to portray Beijing as a more reliable partner than Washington.
A lotus-shaped float carrying a portrait of revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh was near the front of the parade in the city renamed after him, AFP journalists saw, and fighter jets and helicopters carrying flags flew overhead.
Thousands of people -- many wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the Vietnamese flag -- including families with young children and the elderly, stayed out overnight in the streets, sharing food and waiting for the display.
The celebrations come half a century after tanks of communist North Vietnam crashed through the gates of the city's presidential palace, defeating the US-backed South and delivering a painful blow to American moral and military prestige.
Around 13,000 people, including veterans, soldiers and members of the public, were to march down Ho Chi Minh City's Le Duan Street, a major thoroughfare which leads to the Independence Palace.
For the first time, more than 300 soldiers from China, Laos and Cambodia took part in the spectacle.
More than 300,000 Chinese troops were involved in the bloody conflict, according to state media, providing crucial anti-aircraft defence support and helping with logistics and supplies.
But this year is the first time Chinese soldiers have ever been part of large-scale commemorations.
Only four years after the end of the Vietnam War, China itself invaded the country, only to be pushed back by Hanoi's troops.
After years of fighting that ended on 30 April 1975, the United States and Vietnam have rebuilt ties to become strong trade partners.
But Hanoi also follows a "bamboo diplomacy" approach, striving to stay on good terms with both Beijing and Washington.
"We owe our success... to huge support from the Soviet Union, China... and solidarity from Laos and Cambodia," top party leader To Lam said in a speech before the parade.
He also credited "progressive people all over the world including American people".
The celebrations come after Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Hanoi this month.
Beijing is trying to position itself as a stable alternative to Washington as Vietnam confronts a threatened 46 percent US tariff and American foreign aid cuts that could jeopardise war legacy programmes.