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

225 Pages·2006·1.26 MB·English

by  Mari Olsen

742.qxd 9/30/2006 3:15 PM Page 1
Batch number:1
CHECKLIST (must be completed before press)
(Please cross through any items that are not applicable)
Front board: Spine: Back board:
❑ Title ❑ Title ❑ ISBN
❑ Subtitle ❑ Subtitle ❑ Barcode
❑ Author/edited by ❑ Author/edited by
❑ Series title ❑ Extra logo if required M S Soviet–Vietnam
❑ Extra logo if required a O
r V
General: i I Relations and the Role
O E
❑ Book size l T
❑ Type fit on spine se – of China, 1949–64
V
n
I
E
CIRCULATED Date:
T Changing alliances
N
A
SEEN BY DESK EDITOR:REVISE NEEDED Initial:
M
Date:
R
E
L
APPROVED FOR PRESS BY DESK EDITOR Initial:
A
Date: T
I
O
N
S

A
N
D
T
H
Mari Olsen
E

R
O
L
E

O
F

C
H
I
N
A
,
1
9
4
9
–
6
4
,IS!BN 9778-I0-4A15-4384B74-2
Cold War History
www.routledge.com ï an informabusiness
PC4 Royal Demy B-format Spine back edge
Soviet–Vietnam Relations and the
Role of China, 1949–64
This book analyses Chinese influence on Soviet policies towards 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 the 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 reunifica-
tion, combined with the growing tensions between Moscow and Beijing, reduced
Soviet influence in Hanoi in a significant period leading up to the US intervention
in Vietnam.
The author has used two particular approaches, 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
aliability rather than an asset in their dealings with Vietnam.
This book will be of great interest to students of Cold War history, Interna-
tional History and Asian politics in general.
Dr Olsen received her doctoral degree in History from the University of Oslo in
2005 and has worked within the field of New Cold War History since 1993. Her
main research interests include Soviet foreign policy towards Vietnam and China
and the role of ideology in foreign policy. Dr Olsen now works in the Norwegian
Ministry of Defence.
Cass Series: Cold War History
Series Editors: Odd Arne Westad and Michael Cox
ISSN: 1471–3829
In the new history of the Cold War that has been forming since 1989, many of the established
truths about the international conflict that shaped the latter half of the twentieth century
have come up for revision. The present series is an attempt to make available interpreta-
tions and materials that will help further the development of this new history, and it will
concentrate in particular on publishing expositions of key historical issues and critical
surveys of newly available sources.
1. Reviewing the Cold War: Approaches, Interpretations, and Theory
Odd Arne Westad (ed.)
2. Rethinking Theory and History in the Cold War
Richard Saull
3. British and American Anticommunism before the Cold War
Marrku Ruotsila
4. Europe, Cold War and Co-existence, 1953–1965
Wilfred Loth (ed.)
5. The Last Decade of the Cold War: From Conflict Escalation to Conflict Transformation
Olav Njølstad (ed.)
6. Reinterpreting the End of the Cold War: Issues, Interpretations, Periodizations
Silvo Pons and Federico Romero (eds)
7. Across the Blocs: Cold War Cultural and Social History
Rana Mitter and Patrick Major (eds)
8. US Paramilitary Assistance to South Vietnam: Insurgency, Subversion and Public Order
William Rosenau
9. The European Community and the Crises of the 1960s: Negotiating the Gaullist
Challenge
N. Piers Ludlow
10. Soviet–Vietnam Relations and the Role of China, 1949–64: Changing Alliances
Mari Olsen
Soviet–Vietnam Relations and
the Role of China, 1949–64
Changing alliances
Mari Olsen
First published 2006
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4 RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
© 2006 Mari Olsen
Typeset in Times by
Integra Software Services Pvt. Ltd, Pondicherry, India
Printed and bound in Great Britain by
Biddles Ltd, King’s Lynn
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Olsen, Mari.
Soviet–Vietnam relations and the role of China, 1949–64:changing
alliances/Mari Olsen.—1st ed.
p. cm.—(Cass series—Cold War history;10)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0–415–38474–5 (hardback)
1. Vietnam (Democratic Republic)—Foreign relations—Soviet Union.
2. Soviet Union—Foreign relations—Vietnam (Democratic Republic)
3. Vietnam (Democratic Republic)—Foreign relations—China.
4. China—Foreign relations—Vietnam (Democratic) 5. Vietnam—
History—1945–1975. I. Title. II. Series.
DS560.69.S65057 2006
327.597047′09′045—dc22
ISBN10: 0–415–38474–5
ISBN13: 978–0–415–38474–2
Contents
Acknowledgements ix
List of Abbreviations xi
Introduction xiii
1 Choosing sides: The Democratic Republic of Vietnam
and the World, 1945–1949 1
The DRV’s search for allies 1
Soviet strategies in Southeast Asia 4
Vietnamese diplomatic initiatives in Bangkok and Moscow 5
Renewed Soviet interest in Asia 11
2 Setting the stage: The Soviet Union, China and the First
Indochina War, 1949–1953 13
Moscow and the Communist victory in China 14
Recognition 16
The Franco-Vietnamese War 21
Recognition and new challenges 26
3 The end of the war and the Geneva conference, 1953–1954 28
Preparing for the conference 29
The final offensive 36
Negotiating in Geneva 38
Geneva and the future of Soviet–Vietnamese relations 44
4 Together for Communism? Sino-Soviet cooperation
and the rebuilding of North Vietnam, 1954–1957 48
Reconstruction and consolidation in Vietnam 49
Military cooperation and Chinese withdrawal 53
vi Contents
Sino-Soviet relations and the Geneva agreement 55
Hanoi and the Twentieth Congress 59
Land reform and its critics 62
Moscow, Beijing and Hanoi’s new Southern strategy 66
A balancing act 70
5 Reunification by revolution? The Soviet and Chinese
role in Vietnamese reunification plans, 1957–1961 72
Accepting two Vietnams 73
Renewed interest in the Geneva agreement 76
Sino-Soviet cooperation 77
The Lao Dong debates its policy on reunification 79
Embarking on a new Southern strategy 84
Mediating the emerging Sino-Soviet conflict 88
Moscow and the new Southern strategy 90
The end of diplomacy? 92
6 The fight over Laos, 1961–1962 94
The civil war in Laos 95
Calls for a Geneva conference on Laos 97
Negotiations begin in Geneva 100
A temporary setback 105
Assistance to Laos 108
Geneva: A power struggle? 111
7 From disinterest to active support, 1962–1965 113
Soviet perceptions of China in Vietnam 114
Tougher frontlines within the Communist camp 118
Attempts to improve Soviet–Vietnamese relations 121
Hanoi’s turn to China 125
Moscow and the result of the 9th Plenum
of the Lao Dong 129
The tide is turning 132
From disinterest to active support 133
Conclusions: Changing alliances 136
Appendix 1: Politburo and Secretariat of the Lao Dong
Central Committee 151
Contents vii
Appendix 2: Economic assistance and specialists from the
Socialist camp to the DRV, 1955–1962 155
Appendix 3: Soviet ambassadors to Vietnam, 1954–1965 157
Archives in Moscow, Russia 159
Notes 161
Bibliography 193
Index 199

Acknowledgements
This study would never have been completed without encouragement and good
advice from a large number of people. I am indebted to my main supervisor, Odd
Arne Westad at LSE. He has played an important role in my academic work
since 1993.
This book is based on my doctoral dissertation written while I was a doctoral
student at the International Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO). My supervisor
at PRIO, Hilde Henriksen Waage, has been an important source of inspiration.
PRIO director and Vietnam specialist, Stein Tønnesson, has shared with me his
indepth knowledge of Vietnam and Indochina and contributed with numerous
comments and good advice. I would also like to thank Pavel Baev, librarian
Odvar Leine, and his assistant Olga Baeva for their assistance and support over
the years.
I owe my knowledge of the Russian archives to senior researcher Sven G.
Holtsmark at the Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies (IFS) in Oslo. Sven has
been my guide to the archives since my first working trip to Moscow in the
spring of 1994. I could surely not have done this without his support, encourage-
ment and advice. I am also grateful to IFS for publishing my Cand. Philol. thesis
and providing me with a working place while writing my doctoral proposal.
Working in the Moscow archives has not always been easy and has taught me
a lot about patience. However, that is not the fault of the excellent staff, espe-
cially in my main archive, the Archive of the Foreign Ministry of the Russian
Federation (AVP RF). The AVP RF reading room staff all deserve special thanks
for their kind assistance during my frequent stays since the mid-1990s: Sergei
Vitalevich Pavlov, Larissa Ivanovna Semichastova, Galina Alekseevna Chuliga,
Natalija Revazovna Chekerija, and not least the archivist in charge of the
Vietnam and China collections, Elisabeta Igorevna Guseva. Over the years I have
also enjoyed the assistance of many other reading room staff and archivists.
Thank you all. I am also greatly indebted to the assistance of the staff at both
Central Committee archives: the pre-1953 archives, Russian State Archive of
Socio-Political History (RGASPI), and the post-1953 archive, the Russian State
Archive of Contemporary History (RGANI).
A number of people have contributed with valuable support, comments and
encouragement to this project from the start. Among these are colleagues and