The United States' Judgements And Countermeasures To The Involvement Of China In The Vietnam War(1964-1965)

The period of 1964 to 1965 was the crucial historical stage in the progress of America's local war in Vietnam. During this period, the United States made the decision of"war escalation"so as to "Save the South Vietnam," Apart from the bombing of North Vietnam, the U.S. sent multitudinous ground combat troops to South Vietnam. To American Policy-makers, preserving independence and stability of the South, maintaining the commitment and credibility of the United States was the basic strategic objectives. To achieve this target, the U.S. had to exert military pressure on North Vietnam, simultaneously, never provoke the Chinese directly involved in, never repeating the tragedy of the Korean War. American intelligence agencies made numerous analytical and synthetical judgments in the Assessment Reports and Forecasts, concerning about China's intentions, capabilities and trends, also, long-bitter-heated discussions among President Johnson and his senior advisers, ultimately, Johnson administration refused the infinite expansion of the war in a rational manner, China's intervention was successfully be hedged.As the U.S. involvement in the conflict, realized that more and more urgent threat from the South, the C.P.C leadership began to consider the possibility of the war with the United States, implemented important measures to counter the crisis. Due to American's limited goals in Vietnam and the Chinese leaders were reluctant to be involved in a direct military confrontation with the United States. Therefore, the actions of both sides were cautious, during the process of U.S. the policy-making over-stimulation the Chinese was avoidable, to convey to them in an appropriate way that the Johnson administration has no intention eliminating the North Vietnamese regime or invading China. Although domestic and foreign policy in China had a tendency to turn"left"during this period, however, for the issue on Vietnam, Chinese leaders did show solicitude for the conflict, through warnings and certainly the military deployment to deter and stop the escalation of the war. Lucky for this special "strategic interaction", large-scale military conflict between the two countries never break out.This dissertation was divided into four parts on the basis of major events, focusing on the cognition and judgments of U.S. intelligence and decision-making layer on China factors and the evolution of U.S. strategic process. Furthermore, made analysis to the actual Chinese strategic initiatives. Finally, demonstrated that Sino-US interaction and the accuracy adjustment of the U.S. strategy, maintaining the conflict at the local level to make elaborate war leading to a limited war.