Building Ho’s Army: Chinese Military Assistance to North Vietnam, written by Xiaobing Li

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-3
Author(s):  
Andrew Wiest
Keyword(s):  
Military Assistance ◽  
Chinese Military ◽  
North Vietnam

Building Ho's Army

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaobing Li
Keyword(s):  
Vietnam War ◽  
International Perspective ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Communist State ◽  
Documentary Sources ◽  
South Vietnam ◽  
Chinese Military ◽  
Political Objective ◽  
North Vietnam ◽  
Military Perspective

As a Communist state bordering Vietnam, China actively supported Ho Chi Minh’s wars against France in 1950–1954 and then America in 1965–1970. This book uses new Communist sources to offer an unprecedented Chinese military perspective on the Vietnam War. By documenting the level of Chinese military assistance to Vietnam, it reveals the extent to which the Chinese support of Ho’s military and political objective in the wars was a crucial and indispensable factor in North Vietnam’s victory. The study offers an overview and the particulars of Chinese aid to Ho’s army, or PAVN, in terms of training, weaponry, logistics, advisors, and technology during its transformative years of 1950–1956 in depth and detail based on a foundation of multiple documentary sources, memoirs, interviews, and secondary sources both in China and in Vietnam. With Chinese assistance, the PAVN experienced three important transformative changes from a peasant, rebellion force to a regular, national army. In retrospect, international Communist support to North Vietnam proved to be the decisive edge that enabled the PAVN, or NVA, to survive the American Rolling Thunder bombing campaign and helped the NLF, also known as the Viet Cong, to prevail in the war of attrition and eventually defeat South Vietnam. An international perspective may help students and the public in the West to gain a better understanding of America’s long war.

“China’s Military Assistance to North Vietnam Revisited”

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 226-256
Author(s):  
Chengzhi Yin
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Military Assistance ◽  
Armed Struggle ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
South Vietnam ◽  
Military Presence ◽  
Southern Border ◽  
North Vietnam

North Vietnam announced its intention to unify its country with armed struggle in 1959. Thereafter, Hanoi consistently requested military assistance from the People’s Republic of China (prc). However, Beijing did not grant Hanoi’s request until 1962. Why did the prc agree to provide military assistance to North Vietnam? This article argues that China did so because the United States greatly increased its military presence in South Vietnam in late 1961 and 1962. Therefore, Beijing provided military assistance to Hanoi to secure China’s southern border. Employing primary sources, this study traces changes in Beijing’s attitude toward its Vietnam policy from 1958 to 1962. It shows that when U.S. military presence was limited, Beijing paid more attention to the avoidance of war with the United States and maintaining a hospitable environment in neighboring Indochina. However, when the prc perceived the U.S. presence as a threat to its security, the objective of seeking security overwhelmed other objectives.

Postwar Transformation and New Geopolitics

2019 ◽  
pp. 154-177
Author(s):  
Xiaobing Li
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Vietnam War ◽  
Military Training ◽  
The United States ◽  
Southeast Asian ◽  
Air Defense ◽  
Chinese Military ◽  
The Vietnam War ◽  
North Vietnam

Chapter 7 explains Mao’s Cold War theory, in which a clash between China and the United States would inevitably occur sooner or later. The Chinese military should thus have its priorities and preparations established prior to this inevitable conflict. After the Indochina Settlement was signed at Geneva in July 1954, China continued to provide weaponry, equipment, and military training to North Vietnam. This chapter points out that, in June 1965, China began to send its troops to the Vietnam War. Between 1965 and 1968, China sent twenty-three divisions to Vietnam, including ninety-five regiments, totaling some 320,000 troops. Beginning in 1968, China also sent 110,000 troops to Laos to provide air defense, construct and repair highways, and maintain transportation and communication along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Nevertheless, the Vietnam War seriously tested the limits of the Communist alliance. Rather than improving Sino-Soviet relations, aid to North Vietnam created a new competition as each superpower attempted to control Southeast Asian Communist movements.

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