Quick questions on Role of China and the Soviet Union: HSC Modern History Indochina

Mao Zedong's victory in the Chinese Civil War on 1 October 1949 brought a friendly power to the northern Vietnamese border. The PRC was the first state to recognise the DRV (18 January 1950), ahead of the USSR (30 January 1950). The Chinese Military Advisory Group, under General Wei Guoqing, arrived in Vietnam in April 1950.

The Soviet relationship was more distant in the 1950s. Stalin valued the European theatre over Asia and was cautious in Indochina. The USSR co-chaired Geneva (Molotov with Eden) and pressed Hanoi to accept partition and elections. Khrushchev's "peaceful coexistence" doctrine after 1956 made the Soviet leadership uncomfortable with armed liberation struggles.

The split of 1960 to 1963 (Khrushchev's de-Stalinisation, the Sino-Soviet withdrawal of advisers, the polemics of 1961 to 1964) created an opportunity and a problem for Hanoi. Both communist powers wanted to be seen leading the anti-imperialist struggle; Hanoi could play them off.

Khrushchev's ouster on 14 October 1964 brought Leonid Brezhnev's leadership. Premier Aleksei Kosygin visited Hanoi on 6 to 10 February 1965. The visit coincided with the Pleiku attack and the launch of Rolling Thunder. Kosygin pledged substantial Soviet aid.

PRC aid responded to the Soviet challenge. Mao authorised the deployment of around 320,000 Chinese troops to Vietnam (1965 to 1971), the largest Chinese foreign deployment between the Korean War and the 1979 invasion. The Chinese force was: - engineering units (railways, roads, bridges, anti-aircraft positions), - around 150,000 anti-aircraft artillery troops (around 1,000 PRC AAA dead), - support units in the northern provinces.

The DRV accepted aid from both and refused to align. Le Duan and Le Duc Tho navigated the polemics. Le Duan's October 1957 visit to Moscow had begun the relationship; his March 1971 visit reconfirmed it during the period of US-China rapprochement.

Nixon and Kissinger turned the Sino-Soviet split against Hanoi. Kissinger's secret visit to Beijing (9 to 11 July 1971) opened the China relationship. Nixon's Beijing visit (21 to 28 February 1972) and Moscow summit (22 to 30 May 1972) made the US the swing power between the two communist capitals.

After 1975 Hanoi tilted decisively toward Moscow. Vietnam joined the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON) on 28 June 1978. The Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation between the USSR and Vietnam was signed in Moscow on 3 November 1978, providing for "immediate consultations" in the event of attack.

Qiang Zhai (China and the Vietnam Wars, 2000) is the standard on PRC involvement.

Hanoi balanced; that was its strategy.

Around 320,000 PRC troops served in north Vietnam from 1965 to 1971.

17 February to 16 March 1979 is the end-point of the Indochina conflict in the dot point.