Soviet Foreign Policy and Southeast Asia (Routledge Revivals) by Leszek Buszynski

Author:Leszek Buszynski [Buszynski, Leszek]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Regional Studies, Political Science, International Relations, Diplomacy, Ethnic Studies, General
ISBN: 9781134480920
Google: 8YzcAAAAQBAJ
Barnesnoble:
Goodreads: 17242806
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 1986-12-31T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Four

THE SOVIET UNION AND VIETNAM: ALLIANCE FORMATION

The circumstances which permitted the Soviet Union to establish influence over Vietnam to the exclusion of China are exceedingly complicated and warrant detailed study in a separate volume. The historical factors relevant to the present dispute, which in many respects is a revival of a past conflict, include the complex relationship that has existed between Vietnam and China. Heavy Vietnamese borrowing of Chinese culture did not necessarily indicate the absence of a Vietnamese identity which found expression in Chinese culture, which was modified in some respects for local purposes.[1] Without due recognition of the ambiguity in Vietnam’s relationship with China which concealed a muted antagonism beneath Vietnam’s surface and customary obeisance towards the cultural centre the present conflict cannot be fully understood. The consequence for the modern era was the stimulation of a nationalism that was directed against China which for the Chinese was an unexpected and therefore unnatural development from all that which had preceded it. It has often been stated and too often presumed that cultural borrowing is a factor linking nations to the extent that common ties can contain conflict. In the era of modern nationalism, however, past cultural borrowing can be a factor provoking discord as the borrower nation asserts an autonomous identity against the cultural source.

China has provided inspiration and concrete assistance to the Vietnamese Communists in their struggle against the French and later the Americans. Chinese revolutionary experience significantly influenced the Vietnamese Communist strategy of adopting broad nationalist fronts in both the first and second Indochina Wars.[2] Indeed, Chinese support in offering a hinterland for the Vietnamese Communists during the war against the French and in terms of material assistance during the battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954 has been regarded as a significant factor in the Vietnamese success.[3] The land reform movement of 1953–56, promoted by the radical wing of the Lao Dong Party, at the forefront of which was Truong Chinh, drew upon the Chinese example. Chinese aid to Vietnam between 1955–1965 has been estimated as $457.5 million which was significantly more than the $365 million provided by the Soviet Union for the same period.[4] The Chinese claimed that 320,000 railway troops were sent to Vietnam over the period of 1965–1968, which was meant to illustrate the extent to which the Vietnamese were in debt to China; a more acceptable figure, however, was 35,000–50,000.[5] The massive support that the Chinese provided to the Vietnamese exacerbated the dilemma of their relationship with China. The Vietnamese Communists perceived that revolutionary debts can be weapons of exploitation in the hands of the Chinese which made it necessary for them to seek compensating support from the Soviet Union.

Considerable debate surrounds the issue of the role of the Soviet Union in Communist Vietnam’s early history. There are those who argue that Communism was the driving force behind the Vietnamese leadership and that Comintern as well as ordering the formation of the Indochinese Communist Party in 1930 was the major

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