Home › Books & Reviews › Capsule Reviews › China and the Vietnam Wars, 1950-1975

China and the Vietnam Wars, 1950-1975

Qiang Zhai
Reviewed by By Lucian W. Pye
July/August 2000
Print Email
Login or Register to leave a comment.

Sign-up for free weekly updates from ForeignAffairs.com.
Qiang Zhai
University of North Carolina Press
2000
304 pp.
0807848425
$49.95

Recently declassified archival material in China has shed much light on China's participation in Vietnam's wars. In this account, Qiang Zhai argues that Chinese support was essential for the victory over the French and quite substantial against the Americans; in the war against the United States, China provided 320,000 support troops, more than 1,000 of whom were killed. Focusing on Beijing's military and diplomatic advice to Hanoi, the author depicts Zhou Enlai as a leading hawk who opposed any Vietnamese negotiations with the Americans, often pushed to escalate the fighting, and tried to sabotage the peace process from 1965 to 1968. Beijing was still pressing Hanoi to keep up the war even as Kissinger and Nixon went to China in 1972. Ironically, the very successes of the Vietnamese compelled the Chinese to reverse directions when they found that they had a power on their southern flank that was growing closer to China's adversary, the Soviet Union. For their part, the Vietnamese happily accepted China's assistance but resented its attempts to mastermind Indochinese developments.

Related

Essay, Jul 1972
China Afloat
John R. Dewenter

A Great deal of information has been published about the military strategy and forces of the People's Republic of China, some through official Chinese publications, much more through the writings of Western analysts. Most of this information concerns China's massive ground forces, with a respectable amount of coverage given to her air arm and even to her nascent nuclear missile forces. What about China's navy? "Didn't know they had one," is the derisive response one is most likely to receive.

Read
Essay, Nov/Dec 1998
The Problem of Memory
Nicholas D. Kristof

As economic crisis plunges Asia into chaos, old wounds may reopen. The continent still fears Japan, thanks to its World War II brutalities. By refusing to apologize, Tokyo only makes matters worse. A power vacuum results: an unrepentant Japan will never be allowed to lead a suspicious Asia. Instead, flash points may ignite, and East Asia and even America could be dragged into a war. To defuse tensions, America must push its ally to show remorse and Japan must pay its World War II debts. In turn, China and Korea -- age-old enemies of Japan -- must learn to look forward, not back.

Read
Essay, Jul/Aug 2001
Crisis in the Taiwan Strait?
Kurt M. Campbell and Derek J. Mitchell

The simmering dispute over the status of Taiwan may soon explode in violence. The Chinese regime sees Taiwan's recent democratization as an implicit challenge to its own authority and legitimacy and thus continues to threaten and intimidate the island. Meanwhile, Taiwan has procured advanced defensive weapons from the United States. Growing tensions across the Taiwan Strait, along with the lack of military and diplomatic communication, make conflict -- possibly involving the United States -- increasingly likely. To avoid such an outcome, Washington should actively facilitate cross-strait dialogue and deter provocations by either side. But it must do so soon, for both China and Taiwan are growing impatient.

Read