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China and the Vietnam Wars, 1950-1975 / Edition 1 - Paperback | Diverse Reads

China and the Vietnam Wars, 1950-1975 / Edition 1

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In the quarter century after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Beijing assisted Vietnam in its struggle against two formidable foes, France and the United States. Indeed, the rise and fall of this alliance is one of the most crucial developments in the history of the Cold War in Asia. Drawing on newly released Chinese archival sources, memoirs and diaries, and documentary collections, Qiang Zhai offers the first comprehensive exploration of Beijing's Indochina policy and the historical, domestic, and international contexts within which it developed.

In examining China's conduct toward Vietnam, Zhai provides important insights into Mao Zedong's foreign policy and the ideological and geopolitical motives behind it. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, he shows, Mao considered the United States the primary threat to the security of the recent Communist victory in China and therefore saw support for Ho Chi Minh as a good way to weaken American influence in Southeast Asia. In the late 1960s and 1970s, however, when Mao perceived a greater threat from the Soviet Union, he began to adjust his policies and encourage the North Vietnamese to accept a peace agreement with the United States.

ISBN-13: 9780807848425

Media Type: Paperback

Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press

Publication Date: 04-03-2000

Pages: 320

Product Dimensions: 6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.73(d)

Series: New Cold War History

Qiang Zhai is professor of history at Auburn University Montgomery in Alabama.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

The key role of Mao's China in arming and guiding the thirty-year struggle has only now been clarified by the researches of Qiang Zhai. . . . Zhai makes . . . many illuminating disclosures.—London Review of Books



[A] thorough and detailed study. . . . Zhai skillfully illustrates how a nation's self-interest is at the heart of its foreign policy.—Choice



As groundbreaking as it is clear. Scholars who seek a model on how to state, construct, and support an argument can do little better than this.—Intelligence and National Security



An engaging account of the thoughts and actions of the decision makers on both sides of the Sino-Vietnamese connection, the book constitutes a fresh and important contribution to the historiography during a crucial period of China's foreign policy.—American Journal of Chinese Studies



Deploying an impressive array of Chinese archival, memoir, and secondary sources, Qiang Zhai's outstanding study details the roles and illuminates the motives of China's involvement in the first and second Indochina wars between 1950 and 1975. . . . Fair-minded, clearly written, and deeply researched, Zhai's study supersedes all previous works on the subject and merits a broad readership by students of cold war international relations.—Journal of Military History



A must for those working within the field of Cold War history.—Journal of Peace Research



A useful and provocative book.—China Information



Sweeping in scope and rich in detail, [this] book provides the most authoritative account yet published of Chinese policymaking and the ever-changing relationship between Beijing and Hanoi during the period of U.S. entanglement in Vietnam. . . . Anyone interested in Chinese foreign policy, the international history of the Cold War, and the Vietnam wars will be deeply in Zhai's debt.—Journal of Cold War Studies



Chen Jian and Qiang Zhai have established themselves as the leading authorities on Chinese policy . . . . Zhai's study looks set to remain the standard work on the subject from some time to come.—Journal of Contemporary History



A valuable contribution, not only to the Vietnam saga, but also to an understanding of the Cold War and U.S. policies during that time.—International Law and Politics

Table of Contents

Contents

Foreword
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction
Chapter 1. Recognition and Assistance, 1950-1953
Chapter 2. From Dien Bien Phu to Geneva, 1953-1954
Chapter 3. Consolidation and Unification, 1954-1961
Chapter 4. The Geneva Conference on Laos, 1961-1962
Chapter 5. Deeper Entanglement, 1961-1964
Chapter 6. Confronting U.S. Escalation, 1964-1965
Chapter 7. Vietnam Peace Talks, 1965-1968
Chapter 8. From Tet to Cambodia, 1968-1970
Chapter 9. Sino-U.S. Rapprochement and Vietnam, 1970-1975
Conclusion: The Duality of China's Policy
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Maps

Indochina
North Vietnam in 1950

Illustrations

Luo Guibo
Luo Guibo poses with Vietnamese Communist leaders
Luo Guibo and his wife, Li Hanzhen, with Ho Chi Minh and other Vietnamese Communist officials
Vo Nguyen Giap greets Luo Guibo
Luo Guibo inspects a Vietnamese factory
Luo Guibo poses with Vietnamese factory workers
Luo Guibo and other Chinese advisers in Vietnam
Prince Norodom Sihanouk accompanies Premier Zhou Enlai during his visit to Cambodia
Mao and Ho Chi Minh at Beijing airport
Mao hosts a banquet in honor of Ho Chi Minh during Ho's visit to China
Zhou Enlai and Ho Chi Minh at Beijing airport
The Chinese delegation at the Geneva Conference on Laos
Chen Yi meets with Prime Minister Souvanna Phouma and Prince Souphanouvong
Mao meets with Nguyen Thi Binh
Mao greets Le Duan
Zhou Enlai greets Sihanouk at Beijing airport

Table

Table 1. China's Military Aid to the DRV, 1964-1975