Brief Summary: The Sino-Vietnamese War of 1979 was a border conflict between Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the People’s Republic of China. After Vietnam’s military occupation of Cambodia, tensions increased rapidly between the two, which later contributed to the course of the war. On February 17, 1979, hundreds of thousands Chinese troops amassed the border of Vietnam. Thousands of unarmed civilians were killed in the conflict. After a month of clashing, Beijing claimed their victory and withdrew their troops from Vietnam.

The Sino-Soviet Split: In 1953, Stalin passed away. Upon the political struggle, Nikita Khrushchev emerged victorious, becoming the First Secretary of the CPSU (Communist Party of Soviet Union). During Stalin’s reign, Mao Zedong and his officials often promoted Stalin’s ideas to their system. However, the newly elected Secretary, Nikita Khrushchev, started to irritate China. Khrushchev announced the policy of De-Stalinization to put an end to the political repression within the Party. Thus, on February 14, 1956, the secret speech was delivered, commencing the controversial policy. Soon later, he enacted a new foreign policy which was to solve the growing tensions in the Cold War: Peaceful Coexistence with the Western Bloc. From Mao’s perspective, he perceived this as a threat, since it would geopolitically isolate them. All of discontents and bitterness ensued afterward. Subsequent Soviet’s policies angered China’s officials, gradually deteriorating their friendship. Tensions continued to grow, when the Soviet government decided to ignore a request from the P.R.C (People’s Republic of China). Beijing sought an acknowledgement from the Soviet Union about the unfair treaties that were imposed on them after the Boxer Rebellion. Yet, no responds were heard from Moscow, causing suspicions between the two. In the beginning of the 1960s, the Soviet Union massed along the Sino-Soviet border, stationing twelve divisions and hundreds of airplanes to mobilize their army. China soon later responded back by regrouping their military along the border as well. As a result, in 1968, Beijing failed to negotiate with Hanoi. Therefore, the P.R.C began to withdraw support for North Vietnam (Vietnam War) for the sake of an upcoming clash between them and the Soviet Union. Consequently, on March 2, 1969, the Sino-Soviet border conflict ignited, which was fought at the Ussuri River, Zhenbao or Damansky island, and Tielieketi. Following their bitter border conflict, their ties worsen significantly. The split eventually turned Cold War into a tripolar situation. As China and the Soviet Union were the leading nations within the Communist Bloc, other communist states were heavily affected by this and so was Vietnam. Until 1991, when the Soviet government collapsed, the split came to an end.

The Vietnam War: During the Vietnam war, North Vietnam was supported by its communist allies which included the Soviet Union, China, and other communist allies. Although heavily depended on foreign assistances, Vietnam’s ambiguous position during the Sino-Soviet split still remained as a concern for China. As the split started to emerge between China and the Soviet Union, Beijing failed to negotiate with Hanoi. Therefore, the People’s Republic of China declared to withdraw all of its support for North Vietnam. In 1974, they declared their sovereign on the Paracel Islands. Soon, China successfully took away the Islands from South Vietnam. The battle was a major triumph for China ,as they inflicted heavy casualties on South Vietnam’s navy. On April 30, 1975, the Southern government was defeated, and the National Liberation Front (Vietcong) temporarily seized the power. A year later, Democratic Republic of Vietnam and National Liberation Front was united under one banner, changing their name to Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Vietnam’s stand in the Sino-Soviet split soon unveiled, when Hanoi rejected to side with China during the split. This infuriated Chinese officials. Thus they condemned Vietnam for its betrayal. After reunification, Vietnam sought for the Paracel Islands back from China. Nevertheless, China refused to cede them. These political tensions later played as an important role that ultimately contributed to the Sino-Vietnam border that happened in 1979.

The Sino-Vietnamese

War of 

1979 

The Transition of Power in China: As China was experiencing a dire economic situation after its perpetual failures in reforming, it sought a leader who could uplift China from the ruins.

The purge of Lin Biao and his political allies was a move to consolidate the power of the aging ruler, Mao Zedong. Yet, a figure called Deng Xiaoping emerged. While in exile, Deng wrote to Mao twice to condemn Lin Biao’s coups and express his hopes to return to the Party. In February 1973, Zhou Enlai brought Deng Xiaoping back to reconstruct the wrecked Chinese economy. After successfully convincing Mao, Zhou also brought Deng back into politics and let him serve as First Vice-Premiere. Deng quickly rose to power and avoided going astray from Maoism. In January 1975, he was elected as the Vice-Chairman of the Party. Following Mao’s death, Deng leveraged this to officially become the paramount leader of the People’s Republic. Deng’s reign focused on shifting China’s isolated economy to a globalized one. His reform is known as the Chinese Economic Reform or the “Chinese Economic Miracle”, often referring to the notion of the economy built based on its Chinese Socialism characteristics. From 1978 onwards, China experienced economic booms, making it become the second largest country with a share of 17.86% of the World Today’s GDP. Deng Xiaoping was also referred to as “The Architecture of Modern China” due to his staggering achievements during his career.

Deng Xiaoping (left) and Zhou Enlai (right).

Irritations Coming From The Neighbor: An unified Vietnam was always a concern for China at the very beginning. Everything worsened, when political disagreement happened between the two. After Hanoi rejected to support China, The People’s Republic perceived Vietnam as a foe rather than a friend: from a fraternal comrade to a traitor. Vietnam also expressed its wishes to stand with the Soviet Union, which even escalated the tensions between China and Vietnam. Following its reunification, the newly formed Communist government in Vietnam was alerted by the vast number of Vietnamese of Chinese descents. This minority group contributed up to 4% of the Vietnamese population back in the 1970s. Before the collapse of South Vietnam, this group of people owned multiple of businesses and were dominating the South’s market. Regardless, things changed, when the Communists triumphed. The de-facto government, National Liberation Front government and the Communists North, started to confiscate any owned private property and wealth. They required civilians, soldiers, and former politicians to attend one of their mandate classes, teaching the basic principles of Marxism-Leninism and the newly formed government. This was enforced to prevent any upcoming uprisings or civil unrests across the country. As situations weren’t benefiting for the people with Chinese descent, they began to return to China. Furthermore, in North Vietnam, bullying and boycott against anything related to this group started to become the norms. Around 1978 , hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese of Chinese descent fled Vietnam. An already deteriorated relationship between the Peoples’ Republic and Vietnam now scattered into pieces. Although Vietnam did not decree any official policies to expel the minority, the expulsion was built on the fear of Chinese’ dominance over the country. Vietnam was frightened whether if this group was plotting conspiracies or having affiliation with the Chinese government. The large scale of returned people into China was also a justification for China to declare war on Vietnam. The exasperation of the P.R.C was well founded, when Vietnam refused to withdraw its military from Cambodia. According to China, they believed that Vietnam’s ambition was to assert its power over the region, annexing both Laos and Cambodia into their ambitious union, and threatened China’s sovereignty. What’s worse, Vietnam’s conspicuous stand in the split terrified them. Many officials in China visualized a major threat to their geopolitics, as they were being tied around by the Soviet Union to the north and Vietnam in the south.

Preparations for the Limited War: Knowing that they had to take action, Chinese Politburo started discussing a military action against Vietnam. Only 2 months later, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) General Staff recommended punitive actions against the country. Prior to the invasion of Vietnam, Deng Xiaoping sought endorsement from the United States to prevent Soviet’s intervention. That’s why, on January 29, 1979, Deng Xiaoping visited the U.S and informed Jimmy carter about his wishes in Vietnam: Vietnam’s “wild ambitions” was not tolerable, said Deng. He went on telling Carter that: “The child (Vietnam) is getting naughty, it is time he got spanked”(小朋友不听话，该打打屁股了). Deng’s first time visiting the United States was also the period in which the Normalization of two countries’ relationship occurred, transforming Cold War into a tri-polar conflict. After acquiring the US’ approval, Deng returned to China and confirmed his invasion of Vietnam. Nonetheless, he and his General Staff decided to just conduct a limited war against its neighbor. Deng Xiaoping also warned Moscow about a full-scale invasion between the two countries, if they dared to get involved during their neighbor skirmish. On February 17, 1979, Chinese troops crossed the northern border of Vietnam. The People’s Liberation Army swiftly took the advantages and overrun Vietnam’s northern city of Lạng Sơn, a strategic ploy, as well as other provinces. After around three weeks of bloodshed, Beijing claimed to have achieved its main goals and withdrew their forces away. Simultaneously, Hanoi called for a national mobilization in case, if China were to come back. Both sides claimed their victory, and they all had reasonable evidences to advocate so. Despite the war ended on March 16, skirmishes along the Sino-Vietnamese border lasted all the way until 1991.

China and Vietnam map in 1979.

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