Cambodia
Main article:
Cambodian–Vietnamese War
Although the Vietnamese Communists and the Khmer Rouge had previously cooperated, the relationship deteriorated when Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot came to power and established
Democratic Kampuchea on 17 April 1975. The
People's Republic of China, on the other hand, also supported the
Maoist Khmer Rouge against
Lon Nol's regime during the
Cambodian Civil War and its subsequent take-over of Cambodia. China provided extensive political, logistical and military support for the Khmer Rouge during its rule.
[42] After
numerous clashes along the border between Vietnam and Cambodia, and with encouragement from Khmer Rouge defectors fleeing purges of the Eastern Zone, Vietnam invaded Cambodia on 25 December 1978. By 7 January 1979 Vietnamese forces had entered Phnom Penh and the Khmer Rouge leadership had fled to western Cambodia. The offensive took the Chinese by surprise, and its Phnom Penh embassy fled to the jungle with the Khmer Rouge where it remained for 15 days.
[43]
However, the fall of the Khmer Rouge was not a surprise, but from China's perspective, Vietnam's occupation of Cambodia threatened China's interests on the Indochina peninsula and its position among non-communist
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) states of Southeast Asia.
[44] Members of ASEAN saw Vietnam's invasion of Cambodia as a blatant violation of international borders and an act of aggression.
[45]
Ethnic minorities
Main articles:
United Front for the Liberation of Oppressed Races,
FULRO insurgency against Vietnam,
Degar, and
Hmong insurgency
China supported the ethnic minority
United Front for the Liberation of Oppressed Races against Vietnam during the
FULRO insurgency against Vietnam.[
citation needed]
The Vietnamese executed collaborators who worked for the Chinese, regardless of ethnicity.
[46]
The Chinese received a significant number of defectors from the
Thu Lao ethnic minority in Vietnam during the war.
[47] During the war China received as migrants the entire A Lù based population of the
Phù Lá ethnic minority.
[48] China received so many defectors from the ethnic minorities in Vietnam that it raised shock among Vietnam which had to launch a new effort to re-assert dominance over the ethnic minorities and classify them.
[49] Post Vietnam War, an
insurgency against Vietnam lasted among the indigenous Mon-Khmer and Malayo-Polynesians of the Central Highlands.
[50] Assistance was sought from China by the
Hmong ethnic minority.
[51] The border was frequently crossed by Chinese, Lao, Kinh, Hmong, Yao, Nung, and Tai.
[52] The
Laotian Hmong and
FULRO were both supported against Vietnam by China and Thailand.
[46][53]
China attacks Vietnam
China, now under
Deng Xiaoping, was starting the
Chinese economic reform and opening trade with the West, in turn, growing increasingly defiant of the Soviet Union. China grew concerned about the strong Soviet influence in Vietnam, fearing that Vietnam could become a pseudo-
protectorate of the Soviet Union.
[54] Vietnam's claim to be the world's third largest military power following its victory in the
Vietnam War also increased Chinese apprehensions.
[54] In the Chinese view, Vietnam was pursuing a regional hegemonic policy in an attempt to control Indochina.
[54] In July 1978, the
Chinese Politburo discussed possible military action against Vietnam in order to disrupt Soviet deployments and, two months later, PLA General Staff recommended punitive actions against Vietnam.
[54]
The major breakdown in the Chinese view of Vietnam occurred in November 1978.
[54] Vietnam joined the CMEA and, on 3 November, the Soviet Union and Vietnam signed a 25-year mutual defense treaty, which made Vietnam the "linchpin" in the Soviet Union's "drive to contain China"
[55] (however, the Soviet Union had shifted from open animosity towards more normalized relations with China soon after).
[56] Vietnam called for a special relationship between the three Indochinese countries, but the Khmer Rouge regime of Democratic Kampuchea rejected the idea.
[54] On 25 December 1978, Vietnam invaded Democratic Kampuchea, overrunning most of the country, deposing the Khmer Rouge, and installing
Heng Samrin as the head of the new Cambodian government.
[57] The move antagonized China, which now viewed the Soviet Union as capable of encircling its southern border.
[58]
On 29 January 1979, Chinese Vice-premier Deng Xiaoping visited the United States for the first time and told U.S. President
Jimmy Carter: "The child is getting naughty, it is time he got spanked" (小朋友不听话,该打打屁股了).
[59] Deng sought an endorsement from the United States in order to deter the Soviet Union from intervening when China launched a punitive attack against Vietnam.
[58] He informed Carter that China could not accept Vietnam's "wild ambitions" and was prepared to teach it a lesson.
[58] According to United States National Security Advisor
Zbigniew Brzezinski, Carter reserved judgment, an action which Chinese diplomats interpreted as tacit approval.
[58]
Deng returned to China on 8 February 1979, and on 9 February, made the final decision to invade Vietnam.
[60] On 15 February, the first day that China could have officially announced the termination of the 1950
Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance, Deng Xiaoping declared that China planned to conduct a limited attack on Vietnam. Thus, he further developed China's burgeoning cooperation with the United States against the Soviet Union and would take a similar stance later regarding
Afghanistan.
[61]According to academic
Suisheng Zhao, "The proximity in the timing of the military thrust [against Vietnam] to take advantage of the normalization to bluff the Soviets with a nonexistent US endorsement."
[60]
The reason cited for the attack was to support China's ally, the Khmer Rouge of Cambodia, in addition to the mistreatment of Vietnam's
ethnic Chinese minority and the Vietnamese occupation of the
Spratly Islands which were claimed by China. To prevent Soviet intervention on Vietnam's behalf, Deng warned Moscow the next day that China was prepared for a full-scale war against the Soviet Union; in preparation for this conflict, China put all of its troops along the Sino-Soviet border on an emergency war alert, set up a new military command in
Xinjiang, and even evacuated an estimated 300,000 civilians from the Sino-Soviet border.
[62] In addition, the bulk of China's active forces (as many as one-and-a-half million troops) were stationed along China's border with the Soviet Union