Soviet-Vietnam Relations and the Role of China 1949-64: Changing Alliances

by Olsen; Mari

• ISBN13: 9780415384742
• ISBN10: 0415384745
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-01-13
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

This book analyzes Chinese influence on Soviet policies toward Vietnam and shows how China, beginning in the late 1940s, was assigned the role as the main link between Moscow and Hanoi. Drawing on new information on Sino-Soviet-Vietnamese relationship in the early 1960s this volume offers a fascinating insight into communication within the communist camp. As long as this functioned well, Beijing's role as Moscow's major partner in Vietnam was a success. Moscow could focus on other, more pressing, issues while Beijing took care of Vietnam. With the Sino-Soviet split in the open, especially from 1963 onwards, Moscow was forced to make the vital decision on whether to support the Vietnamese communists. This book shows how the Soviet failure to understand the Vietnamese commitment to reunification, combined with the growing tensions between Moscow and Beijing, reduced Soviet influence in Hanoi in a significant period leading up the U.S. intervention in Vietnam. The author has used two particularapproaches, the leverage of smaller states on superpower politics and the validity of ideology in foreign policy analysis, to explain the dynamics of Soviet perceptions of the Chinese role in Vietnam, as well as to determine from what point Moscow began to perceive Beijing as a liability rather than an asset in their dealings with Vietnam. This book will be of great interest to students of Cold War history, International History and Asian politics in general.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	ix
List of Abbreviations	xi
Introduction	xiii
1 Choosing sides: The Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the World, 1945-1949	1	(12)
The DRV's search for allies	1	(3)
Soviet strategies in Southeast Asia	4	(1)
Vietnamese diplomatic initiatives in Bangkok and Moscow	5	(6)
Renewed Soviet interest in Asia	11	(2)
2 Setting the stage: The Soviet Union, China and the First Indochina War, 1949-1953	13	(15)
Moscow and the Communist victory in China	14	(2)
Recognition	16	(5)
The Franco-Vietnamese War	21	(5)
Recognition and new challenges	26	(2)
3 The end of the war and the Geneva conference, 1953-1954	28	(20)
Preparing for the conference	29	(7)
The final offensive	36	(2)
Negotiating in Geneva	38	(6)
Geneva and the future of Soviet–Vietnamese relations	44	(4)
4 Together for Communism? Sino-Soviet cooperation and the rebuilding of North Vietnam, 1954-1957	48	(24)
Reconstruction and consolidation in Vietnam	49	(4)
Military cooperation and Chinese withdrawal	53	(2)
Sino-Soviet relations and the Geneva agreement	55	(4)
Hanoi and the Twentieth Congress	59	(3)
Land reform and its critics	62	(4)
Moscow, Beijing and Hanoi's new Southern strategy	66	(4)
A balancing act	70	(2)
5 Reunification by revolution? The Soviet and Chinese role in Vietnamese reunification plans, 1957-1961	72	(22)
Accepting two Vietnams	73	(3)
Renewed interest in the Geneva agreement	76	(1)
Sino-Soviet cooperation	77	(2)
The Lao Dong debates its policy on reunification	79	(5)
Embarking on a new Southern strategy	84	(4)
Mediating the emerging Sino-Soviet conflict	88	(2)
Moscow and the new Southern strategy	90	(2)
The end of diplomacy?	92	(2)
6 The fight over Laos, 1961-1962	94	(19)
The civil war in Laos	95	(2)
Calls for a Geneva conference on Laos	97	(3)
Negotiations begin in Geneva	100	(5)
A temporary setback	105	(3)
Assistance to Laos	108	(3)
Geneva: A power struggle?	111	(2)
7 From disinterest to active support, 1962-1965	113	(23)
Soviet perceptions of China in Vietnam	114	(4)
Tougher frontlines within the Communist camp	118	(3)
Attempts to improve Soviet-Vietnamese relations	121	(4)
Hanoi's turn to China	125	(4)
Moscow and the result of the 9th Plenum of the Lao Dong	129	(3)
The tide is turning	132	(1)
From disinterest to active support	133	(3)
Conclusions: Changing alliances	136	(15)
Appendix 1: Politburo and Secretariat of the Lao Dong Central Committee	151	(4)
Appendix 2: Economic assistance and specialists from the Socialist camp to the DRV, 1955-1962	155	(2)
Appendix 3: Soviet ambassadors to Vietnam, 1954-1965	157	(2)
Archives in Moscow, Russia	159	(2)
Notes	161	(32)
Bibliography	193	(6)
Index	199