Cold War alignments: Moscow, Hanoi, Beijing and Phnom Penh

H1 History - syllabus 8838, 2027

What this lesson teaches

  • I can judge which factors shaped the Second and Third Indochina Wars.

    Syllabus 8838, Theme III, Learning Outcomes. evaluate the factors that shaped the development of Cold War conflicts in Southeast Asia

Make a guess

In 1978 Vietnam signed a friendship treaty with the USSR. How do you think China saw this?

  1. As minor, because it covered trade.
  2. As Soviet encirclement, with a Soviet ally now on its southern border.
  3. As good news, since China and the USSR were close allies.
Show the answer

As Soviet encirclement, with a Soviet ally now on its southern border.

China already faced Soviet forces to its north. It answered by backing Democratic Kampuchea and cutting aid to Vietnam.

By 1978 Indochina had split into camps, with the USSR backing Vietnam and China backing Democratic Kampuchea.

After 1975, Vietnam leaned towards the USSR, which could provide more aid. In June 1978 Vietnam joined Comecon, the Soviet-led economic bloc. On 3 November 1978, it signed a Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation with the USSR.

China saw this as Soviet encirclement. It already had Soviet forces to its north; now it had a Soviet ally to its south. China backed Democratic Kampuchea as a buffer and sent it advisers and aid.

Relations between Vietnam and China collapsed in 1978. Vietnam pressured its ethnic Chinese population, and around 250,000 fled to China. China cut all aid to Vietnam.

The USA chose China. Talks on normalising US-Vietnam relations stalled in 1978, while the USA normalised relations with China on 1 January 1979. A CIA assessment in November 1978 described the conflict as rooted in the clashing ambitions of China and Vietnam, each wanting paramount influence in Indochina.

Comecon
Vietnam joined in June 1978.
Soviet-Vietnamese treaty
3 November 1978.
Ethnic Chinese exodus
Around 250,000 fled to China in 1978.
US-China normalisation
1 January 1979.

Real examples to use

China ends aid, July 1978

Beijing stopped all aid to Vietnam as ethnic Chinese fled, a month after Vietnam joined Comecon.

Salvation Front, December 1978

Hanoi set up the Kampuchean United Front for National Salvation, with Heng Samrin, weeks before invading.

Worked example: Tracing the camps

Explain how the Cold War divided Indochina by 1978.

  1. USSR and Vietnam: Comecon in June and the treaty in November 1978.
  2. China and Democratic Kampuchea: aid and advisers.
  3. USA and China: normalisation in January 1979.
  4. Result: a local conflict became part of the Sino-Soviet rivalry.

Watch out for this

The Third Indochina War was simply a proxy war between the superpowers.

Great-power rivalry shaped it, but Vietnam, Democratic Kampuchea and China pursued their own aims. China, not the USA, was Vietnam's main opponent.

Check your understanding

Why did the Soviet-Vietnamese treaty of November 1978 alarm China?

  1. China saw itself as encircled by the USSR and its ally.
  2. It gave Vietnam a claim to Taiwan.
  3. China wanted to join the treaty but was left out.
Show the answer

China saw itself as encircled by the USSR and its ally.

Right. China then backed Democratic Kampuchea more strongly.

Sources and context

Background reading for this chapter.

  • A CIA assessment of the conflict

    Paraphrase of the key judgments of an Interagency Intelligence Memorandum, "Sino-Soviet Competition in Indochina", prepared in the CIA, 14 November 1978.

  • A State Department analysis of Vietnam's motives

    Paraphrase of a briefing memorandum from the Acting Director of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research to Secretary of State Vance, 8 January 1979, the day after Phnom Penh fell.

  • Thailand watches the Vietnamese advance

    Paraphrase of a telegram from the US embassy in Bangkok to the State Department, 4 January 1979.

  • China prepares to attack

    Paraphrase of the minutes of a US National Security Council meeting on the Sino-Vietnamese conflict, 16 February 1979.

  • Lee Kuan Yew writes to Carter

    Paraphrase of a letter from Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew to President Carter, 1 March 1979.

  • a Vietnamese diplomat explains the Soviet treaty, November 1978

    Extract from the US record of a meeting in New York, 30 November 1978, between US official Robert Oakley and the Vietnamese representative (named "Co" in the record) in talks on normalising US-Vietnamese relations, four weeks after Vietnam signed its treaty with the USSR. Secret. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1977-1980, volume XXII, document 33. A US government document in the public domain.

  • Deng Xiaoping briefs President Carter, 29 January 1979

    Extract from the US memorandum of conversation of a meeting between President Carter, Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping and their senior advisers, Washington, 29 January 1979, a month after Vietnam invaded Cambodia. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1977-1980, volume XIII, document 205. A US government document in the public domain.

  • Carter reports Deng's private message, 30 January 1979

    Extract from a US memorandum of conversation, Washington, 30 January 1979, in which President Carter reported to his advisers on his private talk with Deng Xiaoping. China attacked Vietnam on 17 February 1979. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1977-1980, volume XIII, document 207. A US government document in the public domain.

  • the UN General Assembly on Kampuchea, November 1979

    Extract from United Nations General Assembly Resolution 34/22, "The situation in Kampuchea", adopted at the 67th plenary meeting, 14 November 1979, on a draft sponsored by the ASEAN states. A UN record.

  • a cartoon about the conflict, 1979

    An original cartoon drawn for these notes in the style of a Southeast Asian newspaper cartoon of 1979, after the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia and the Chinese attack on Vietnam. It is not a copy of a real cartoon.

The Wise Otter

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