Soon after the fall of Saigon , the Socialist Republic of Vietnam was established . In the new government , Giáp maintained his position as Minister of National Defense and he was made Deputy Prime Minister in July 1976 . In December 1978 he oversaw the successful Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia which drove the Khmer Rouge from power and ended the Cambodian genocide . In retaliation , Cambodia 's ally China responded by invading the Cao Bang province of Vietnam in January 1979 and once again Giáp was in overall responsibility for the response , which drove the Chinese out after a few months . He finally retired from his post at the Defense Ministry in 1981 and retired from the Politburo in 1982 . He remained on the Central Committee and Deputy Prime Minister until he retired in 1991
Cambodian genocide
Cambodian genocide
Võ Nguyên Giáp