[Bosnjak]

A painfull defeat for China, by the small Vietnam.

The Sino–Vietnamese War (Vietnamese: Chiến tranh biên giới Việt-Trung/ 戰爭邊界越-中?), also known as the Third Indochina War, was a brief but bloody border war fought in 1979 between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The PRC launched the offensive in response to Vietnam's invasion and occupation of Cambodia, which ended the reign of the PRC-backed Khmer Rouge.

After a brief incursion into Northern Vietnam, PRC troops withdrew about a month later. Both sides claimed victory in the last of the Indochina Wars of the twentieth century; practically speaking, though, since Vietnamese troops remained in Cambodia until 1989 it can be said that the PRC failed to achieve their goal of dissuading Vietnam from involvement in Cambodia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Vietnamese_War

A Vietnamese Clip

[Bosnjak]

The Chinese had 250 000 Soldiers, better weapons. the Vietnamese only 100 000 Soldiers.

A war is not only decided how big the cuntry is or how many soldiers and weapons you have it is also decided how much guts your Soldiers have.

The Vietnamese defeated the USA and China not bad for such a small Nation.

[Smilin' Dave]

Do you think terrain and differing strategies had anything to do with it?

[Cookie Monster]

I think the Vietnamese being badass had also something to do with it. Fighting the Japanese, French, Americans, Khmer Rouge and the Chinese.

[kingbee]

My girlfriend's grandad, who is Chinese, helped the Vietnamese during the wars with America and then fought them in this war: he says that the Chinese knew the Vietnamese so well that it was easy to defeat them (well, his battalion at least). He ended up blowing up the very railway tracks he helped to build a few years before..

I don't think it can be seen as a loss just because Vietnam didn't withdraw from Kampuchea. The Chinese invaded huge swathes of land before withdrawing voluntarily.

[Cookie Monster]

I don't think it can be seen as a loss just because Vietnam didn't withdraw from Kampuchea. The Chinese invaded huge swathes of land before withdrawing voluntarily.

It was a clear loss for China, the aim of the war was to pull Vietnamese forces out of Cambodia and relief the Khmer Rouge which they did not succeed.

[Smilin' Dave]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnson_So ... f_Skirmish
Of minor parallel interest.

[Cookie Monster]

I find the conflict over the Spratly Islands very intersting with several states contending for the islands. In the near future we can see some development here as the exploitation of oil from the area becomes more attractive.

[Smilin' Dave]

I thought there were still technical barriers to be overcome before oil could be obtained from the Spratlys? Otherwise I think they would all still be fighting over it.

Don't suppose anyone knows how long it took the Vietnamese to repair the damage done by the PLA?

[xilee]

A painfull defeat for China, by the small Vietnam.
The Sino–Vietnamese War (Vietnamese: Chiến tranh biên giới Việt-Trung/ 戰爭邊界越-中?), also known as the Third Indochina War, was a brief but bloody border war fought in 1979 between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The PRC launched the offensive in response to Vietnam's invasion and occupation of Cambodia, which ended the reign of the PRC-backed Khmer Rouge.
After a brief incursion into Northern Vietnam, PRC troops withdrew about a month later. Both sides claimed victory in the last of the Indochina Wars of the twentieth century; practically speaking, though, since Vietnamese troops remained in Cambodia until 1989 it can be said that the PRC failed to achieve their goal of dissuading Vietnam from involvement in Cambodia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Vietnamese_War
A Vietnamese Clip

Chinese achieved most their goals in the war with Vietnam.
The important things are that the "unbeatable Vietnam" became very quiet since then; communism USSR and Vietnam's influence, which fast spread in southeastern Asia after Vietnam defeated US, had been curbed, (that is why many Asia countries appreciated China's action); Security condition in southern border of China had improved; and USSR's threat from south was eased. That is all Chinese needed.
Similar as the war between China and India in 1962, after a brief incursion into eastern India, China declared unilateral cease-fire and withdraws to pre-war positions one month later, which balanced the state in western region of China, including Tibet, and won the relationship with Pakistan.

[Political Interest]

This war was a very interesting one. It was about the Chinese attempting to prop up their proxy state in Cambodia and end Soviet influence in South East Asia. In the end however, i'd say the Vietnamese fought a good fight.

[wilsonwang]

there are several purpose of chinese satarting china-vietanam war :

1) By attacking vietnam, china makes soviet union lose face inthe world (let the world know that soviet union can not protect his alliance effectively ) ,and china need to make friends with U.S.A

2) by attacking vietnam, China leader --dengxiaoping need to consolid his power ,and transfer domestic conflict

3) force vietnam army to leave cambodia

we think ,china have sucessfully achieved 2 goals.

you can not say ,china was loser in that war only on the basis of that" china can not force vietnam to withdraw army from cambodia "

[Igor Antunov]

It was more about punishment:

Course of the war

The Chinese invaded Northern Vietnam, entering the provinces of Cao Bang, Lao Cai, and Lang Son. the PLA advanced quickly about 55 kilometres into Vietnam, with fighting mainly occurring in the provinces of Cao Bang, Lao Cai and Lang Son , In heavy fighting, Chinese troops defeated the elite Vietnamese Gold Star division, and captured the northern heights above the city of Lang Son. After three days of bloody house-to-house fighting, the city fell on March 6. They then took the southern heights above Lang Son[24] and occupied Saba( the geographic gate to vietnamese capital Hanoi), crushed and annihilated fully the elite Infantry Division 316A and Infantry Division 308、 Infantry Division 3, Infantry Division 345, Infantry Division346 of The Vietnam People's Army (VPA)[25]. Communist government of Vietnam was forced to flee from Hanoi to the south ，the city of Huế ,540 kilometers away[26] On march 6, China declared that the gate to Hanoi was open and that their punitive mission had been achieved. On the way back to Chinese border, the PLA destroyed all local infrastructure and housing and looted all useful equipment and resources (including livestock), completely paralyzing the economy of northern Vietnam[27]. The PLA crossed the border back into China on March 16th.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Vietn ... #Aftermath

It made Vietnam pay for the hell of it, essentially. An evil act indeed. Very much akin to chinese imperial ventures in the past, where they would make the surrounding states into vassals if they failed to be good, simply by entering their territory, ravaging them and leaving.

It comes as no surprise then that vietnam normalized relations, dropped demands for an apology, and buddied up to china not long after being raped.