The US And Soviet Factors In Chinese Policy Towards The Vietnam War(1961-1973)

On the basis of the summary of domestic and foreign scholars'research result, the purpose of this paper is to review the whole process of the Vietnam War by two parallel clues of Sino-US relation and Sino-Soviet relation. Making use of existing related materials at home and abroad we try to analyze and discuss the influence of America and Soviet Union on China's assisting Vietnam policy.We hold that the whole process of the Vietnam War can be divided into three periods: the beginning(1961-1964),the middle (1965-1969) and the end (1970-1973).From 1950s to 1960s, the international situation changes, especially the changes in US-Soviet relations had a h great impact on Vietnamese situation. Khrushchev and President Eisenhower held talks at Camp David in September 1959. US-Soviet relations were to ease on the surface, which was advocated as the spirit of Camp David by Khrushchev. During this period, China's foreign policy has also undergone a major change. Instead of seeking ways to develop relations with the United States and Western countries, China began to take a strong stand in support of world revolution.As a regional power in Southeast Asia, Vietnam became more and more important in the United States'Asian and even global strategies. Therefore, The United States increased the interference and the assistance in South Vietnam. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev went on with the policy of easing relations with the West, and tried to avoid direct conflict with the United States, so except the oral support under pressure of public opinion, there was little economic and military assistance. When the United States stepped up efforts to interfere in Vietnam in military way, made special warfare, The Soviet Union no longer restricted Vietnamese anti-US struggle with force. However, China actively supported the Vietnamese people's armed struggle, so the assistance before the year 1964 was mainly from China.From the year 1965 to 1969, the Vietnam stepped into the middle period. After the "Beibu Gulf incident" the United States went into war directly.The United States did not made any response even knowing that China was assisting Vietnam and the Chinese army were fighting in Vietnam.With the mutual constraints, China and the United States both kept self-restraint in dealing with the issue which might lead to a direct military conflict. The talk between Chen Yi and Hopson was an important step in "the transmission of massage", because with the help of the closest ally of the United States, Chinese convey the massage about what action will be taken under a certain condition to the United States. During almost the same time when they sending the warning massage, the Chinese government decided to step up assistance to North Vietnam, and directly sent troops to North Vietnam. The Sino-Soviet relations did not make a turnaround when Khrushchev was out of power. The Soviet new leader Brezhnev made a tougher response to China, and The Sino-Soviet relations entered the stage of sustained tension. After Brezhnev taking office, the Soviet attitude on Vietnam War changed. Soviet Union became the main provider of military assistance and advanced weaponry. China and the Soviet Union's common assistance to Vietnam should have been a good thing, but the continuing tension in Sino-Soviet relations partly affected China's policy in assisting Vietnam. Because over-estimating the threat from the Soviet Union, China would not share the task of assisting Vietnam with the Soviet Union. Hence, China showed a non-cooperative attitude when Soviet suggested cooperation.From June 1969 until early 1970, Richard Nixon put out the policy"Joint China inhibit the Soviet Union"which were so-called"Nixonism", so the United States took a series of more active steps in relations with China. The purpose of Nixon's'triangular strategy" was to get benefit when China and Soviet both struggled to promote the relations with the United States. At the same time China would like to use the US-Soviet conflict to ease Sino-US conflict, and open the door to Sino-US relations. In the search for common security interests, China could resist the Soviet hegemony in combination with the United States. In spite of the conflicts, the Sino-Soviet bilateral aid to Vietnam were considerable. Soviet leaders noticed the potential threat form China in Chinese leaders'non-cooperative attitude, which strengthen their determination to intervene in Vietnam. The continually strengthened military assistance made Vietnam-Soviet relations become close. In Chinese leaders'opinion, if Vietnam ,the regional power could stand together with China, China would break Soviet's attempt to encircle China from both north and south sides. But the final result was that the Soviet Union filled the gaps in Vietnam left by the United States.