China–Vietnam Relations

China and Vietnam share a long history of relations marked by extended periods of collaboration and shorter periods of military conflict. Vietnam was for more then a thousand years a part of the Chinese empire before gaining independence in the tenth century CE. The independent Vietnam remained under Chinese cultural and political influence and a tributary relation-ship developed. This close relationship was ended by the period of French colonial rule in Vietnam during the second half of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth.

After Vietnam regained independence from France in 1954, relations between China and Vietnam were officially very close up to the end of the War in Vietnam in 1975. Thereafter, relations deteriorated into open hostilities in early 1979, and tension remained high for most of the 1980s. From the late 1980s relations started to improve, leading to full normalization in November 1991. The 1990s have been characterized by two contradictory trends: expanding and improving relations in most fields on the one hand, and recurring periods of tension relating to border disputes on the other. Both countries are making considerable efforts to manage and eventually settle the border disputes.

Relations between the countries were very close in the 1950s, and for two decades China provided the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) with extensive economic and military assistance. China sent thousands of advisers to assist in various fields. China also provided considerable assistance during the Vietnam War. However, irritants developed during the 1960s and into the first half of the 1970s due to different perceptions of the Soviet Union and divergent views on relations with the United States. After the 1973 Paris agreement, which led to the withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam and established a cease-fire in the Vietnam War, the Vietnamese claimed that Chinese leaders had advised them to diminish the level of the fighting in the south for a few years, advice perceived as aiming at keeping Vietnam divided. China rejected this claim.

Following the end of the war in April 1975 relations between China and Vietnam began to deteriorate over China's uneasiness about Vietnam's relations with the Soviet Union and China's increasing support for Cambodia in the conflict between Vietnam and Cambodia. The Vietnamese military intervention in Cambodia in late December 1978 caused further tension. There were also territorial disputes along the land border, in the Gulf of Tonkin, and in the South China Sea. The clashes that occurred along the border had more significance as an indication of deteriorating relations and of divergence on other issues than as conflicts in their own right. Finally, there was the issue of how the ethnic Chinese in Vietnam were treated by Vietnamese authorities. The mass migration of ethnic Chinese from Vietnam to China in the spring of 1978 led to the open and public deterioration of bilateral relations between the two countries. Vietnam's intervention in Cambodia in December 1978 eventually led to China's attack on Vietnam in February and March 1979.

The normalization process began with low-level contacts in the mid-1980s and expanded to high-level meetings from early 1989. In early September 1990 a secret Vietnamese high-level visit to China took place. Despite this meeting, political normalization did not gain momentum until mid-1991. Increased diplomatic interaction paved the way for a high-level summit on 5–10 November 1991, during which bilateral relations were officially fully normalized.

Since full normalization, the relationship between China and Vietnam has been characterized by two contradictory trends: expanding contacts and cooperation in many fields, and continued territorial disputes. The positive trend in bilateral relations can be seen through the expanding political, cultural, economic, and military contacts between the two countries. Official delegations from one country regularly visit the other country to discuss ways of expanding relations in various fields. Increased economic ties since 1991 can be seen through bilateral trade, which grew from $32 million in 1991 to $1 billion in 1996 and was expected to reach $2.8 billion in 2001. China also provides loans and assistance to upgrade Chinese-built factories in northern Vietnam. In the political field the close relationship between the two ruling parties—the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV)—has expanded through a steady stream of exchange visits at various levels. The contacts between the armed forces of the two countries have also expanded through regular exchange visits.

Reverting back to the territorial disputes as a source of tension, it can be noted that since late 1991 sharp differences relating to all the disputes (i.e., overlapping claims to the Paracel and Spratly archipelagos, to water and continental shelf areas in the South China Sea and in the Gulf of Tonkin, and to areas along the land border) were prevalent from May to November 1992. Differences relating to oil exploration in the South China Sea and the signing of contracts with foreign companies for exploration were prevalent during parts of 1994, 1996, and 1997. During 1998 there were shorter periods of tension relating to the disputes. During 1999 the focus was on reaching a settlement of the land border dispute and no significant tension was caused by any of the border disputes. During 2000 the focus was on resolving the Gulf of Tonkin dispute and no significant tension was caused by the remaining border disputes. The major achievements thus far are the signing of the Land Border Treaty on 30 December 1999 and the Agreement on the Demarcation of Waters, Exclusive Economic Zones, and Continental Shelves in the Gulf of Tonkin on 25 December 2000.

The progress in managing the territorial disputes in recent years contributes positively to the prospect of a long-term stability in the Sino-Vietnamese relationship. However, the lack of progress in the talks on the disputes in the South China Sea area remains a potential threat to a stable relationship.

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Thayer, Carlyle A. (1994) "Sino-Vietnamese Relations: The Interplay of Ideology and National Interest." Asian Survey 34, 6: 513–528.

Womak, Brantly. (1994) "Sino-Vietnamese Border Trade: The Edge of Normalization." Asian Survey 34, 6: 495–512.

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