Chinese Involvement in the Vietnam WarThe Vietnam War is often seen as an exclusively American/Vietn

Chinese Involvement in the Vietnam WarThe Vietnam War is often seen as an exclusively American/Vietnamese war, but in fact the Vietnam war involved soldiers and support from many countries on both sides. Along with the United States, military support was offered to South Vietnam by South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, The Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan, Brazil, and Spain. Likewise North Vietnam was back by the Soviet Union and fellow Communist bloc nations like Czechoslovakia, Cuba, North Korea, and East Germany. By far, the largest and most important supporter of North Vietnam’s war effort was their northern neighbor; China. This support not only came in the form of weapons and supplies, but forgotten to history were the men of the People’s Liberation Army who served in North Vietnam during the war.Chinese support for Vietnam began shortly after Communist forces led by Mao Tse Tung defeated the Chinese Nationalist government and gained control over the country in 1950. During the First Indochina War the new Chinese government supplied weapons and ammunition to the Vietminh, who fought to gain independence from the French. After the Vietnamese victory over the French, China again threw it’s hat into the ring, supporting the Communist regime of North Vietnam in opposition to the US backed regime of South Vietnam.  Chinese support for North Vietnam was massive, with enough weapons and equipment donated to supply an army of World War II scale. Between 1964 and 1975, the Chinese supplied North Vietnam with around 2 million firearms, 1.5 billion rounds of ammunition, 65,000 artillery pieces, 17 million artillery shells, 15,771 vehicles, 560 tanks,  164 planes, 50,000 telephones, 30,000 radios, and 8 million tons of food.In addition to weapons and supplies, Chinese support came in the form of manpower. While other countries such as the Soviet Union, Cuba, East Germany, and others sent military advisors and pilot instructors, China would send tens of thousands of soldiers to serve in garrisons across the country. Many of these military units served as engineers, guards, supply troops, and other rear echelon duties. Most would serve in anti-aircraft battalions, making up a total of 16 anti-aircraft divisions across North Vietnam. Of all American aircraft losses, 38% were the result of Chinese anti-aircraft batteries. Peak involvement in the war occurred in 1967 with 170,000 Chinese personnel stationed throughout the country. In all 320,000 Chinese served in Vietnam, suffering losses of 1,100 dead and over 4,000 wounded. While few served in frontline combat, they freed up hundreds of thousands of North Vietnamese for the front.After the Vietnam war relations between the two countries would sour, as a political conflict arose between the Soviet Union and China. China demanded Vietnam cease diplomatic relations with the Soviets, which Vietnam refused. Over the next two decades relations between China and Vietnam were tense, even leading to a three week long invasion of Vietnam in 1979, with border clashes continuing as late as 1990. -- source link

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