the coming dry season.
8.
The Vietnamese were setting their
propaganda machinery in motion against China, saying that the Chinese were gathering military forces on their common border, and that Chinese military planes had intruded into Vietnamese airspace. These were sheer fabrications. For a long time the Chinese had not
stationed regular forces on the Vietnamese border nor did they intend to bring up reinforcements now. Vietnam's design was to cover up the forthcoming attack.
23.
Dr Owen commented that one would have thought the Vietnamese had had enough of war. Mr Huang said that after the war one would have assumed that Vietnam would embark on a programme of economic construction and improvement in living standards. But they had not, and were engaged in regional expansionism. The reason was that they had wider ambitions after the war. They did not demobilise their forces and they now had more recruits. The Soviet Union was encouraging Vietnam's ambitions with promises of military support and aid. China as a socialist country was opposed to Vietnamese expansionism and oppression. Therefore Vietnam saw China as an obstacle and the No 1 Enemy. But the differences between China and Vietnam were not altogether new. For example there were territorial issues. The Paracel and Spratly Islands belonged to China. Originally Vietnam had affirmed this both in official statements and in textbooks. But after the war they occupied the Spratlys moved against the Paracels.
and
24.
Dr Owen asked whether in retrospect Mr Huang thought the world would have been a safer place if Vietnam were still divided. Mr Huang said he did not. Re-unification was a just cause for Vietnam. China had given massive support to this just struggle. Dr Owen commented that they now seemed to be reaping the harvest. Mr Huang said China had no regrets. Dr Owen said he had not questioned what Mr Huang said about Korean re-unification; but in the light of what had happened in Vietnam he wondered if re-unification would in fact be in the world's or China's interests. Mr Huang said that on both Vietnam and Korea he begged to differ. Dr Owen replied that he had not necessarily got a fixed view. He had merely been putting the question. In response to a question from Lord Goronwy-Roberts, Mr Huang said that China had no trade with South Korea. He advised the UK when studying the Korean and Indochinese situations to look at them in the context of the Soviet Union pushing its global strategy. (1 The Soviet Union wanted to use Vietnam as a base. It wanted the use of air and naval bases such as Cam Ranh Bay. The Soviet Union's Pacific fleet was one of its three main fleets and had recently been strengthened. By the acquisition of Cam Ranh Bay the Soviet Union had pushed its forward position South from Vladivosto by four thousand kilometers. This was an important step taken by the Soviet Union in its contention with the United States for control of the Facific and the Indian Ocean.
8.
/25.
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