China and the Vietnam Wars, 1950-1975 (The New Cold War History) - Softcover

Zhai, Qiang

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0807848425 ISBN 13: 9780807848425

Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press, 2000

Synopsis

In the quarter century after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Beijing assisted Vietnam in its struggle against two formidable foes, France and the United States. Indeed, the rise and fall of this alliance is one of the most crucial developments in the history of the Cold War in Asia. Drawing on newly released Chinese archival sources, memoirs and diaries, and documentary collections, Qiang Zhai offers the first comprehensive exploration of Beijing's Indochina policy and the historical, domestic, and international contexts within which it developed.

In examining China's conduct toward Vietnam, Zhai provides important insights into Mao Zedong's foreign policy and the ideological and geopolitical motives behind it. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, he shows, Mao considered the United States the primary threat to the security of the recent Communist victory in China and therefore saw support for Ho Chi Minh as a good way to weaken American influence in Southeast Asia. In the late 1960s and 1970s, however, when Mao perceived a greater threat from the Soviet Union, he began to adjust his policies and encourage the North Vietnamese to accept a peace agreement with the United States.

About this title

Book Description:

"The key role of Mao's China in arming and guiding the thirty-year struggle has only now been clarified by the researches of Qiang Zhai. . . . Zhai makes . . . many illuminating disclosures."-- London Review of Books

From the Inside Flap:

Drawing on newly released Chinese sources, Qiang Zhai traces the rise and fall of the Sino-Vietnamese alliance in the quarter century after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949.

About this edition

• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0807848425
• ISBN 13: 9780807848425
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320