238 { China’s Quest
sit idly by without lending a helping hand.”^10 This choice of words echoed PRC
warnings prior to China’s entry into the Korean War in late 1950.
Beijing also launched vigorous military preparations following the Gulf of
Tonkin incident. The PLA deployed additional interceptor aircraft to south
China near the borders with the DRV. These aircraft included new model
MIG-19 aircraft previously deployed in east and northeast China. China also
sent MIG-15 and MIG-17 fighters to Hanoi and began training Vietnamese per-
sonnel to fly and maintain these aircraft. China established a 300-mile-wide
air defense zone along China’s border with the DRV. Four PLA air divisions
and one anti-aircraft division were deployed to that zone. New airfields were
constructed and existing ones improved. Radar stations were set up and
their field of surveillance integrated and expanded to cover large portions of
the DRV. This vital information guided the DRV air defense system. These
preparations served the dual purpose of signaling to Washington the serious-
ness of China’s intent and preparing to assist Hanoi’s fight should the United
States again ignore China’s warnings and attack the north. In order to ensure
the United States knew of China’s military preparations, as newly deployed
Chinese forces and units went into operation in the PRC’s new air defense
zone they broadcast in the open, easing the work of US electronic intelligence
gatherers and again signaling China’s resolve.^11
Once again, Chinese efforts to deter US attack on the DRV failed. Further
US strikes on the training and staging facilities of PAVN came in February- In March, sustained and systematic (although not intense) bombing of
the DRV began. The United States of America and the Democratic Republic
of Vietnam were at war, albeit an undeclared one. The war would last ten
years, until 1975, and end with the utter defeat of the United States. China’s
multidimensional assistance would be a major, possibly decisive, factor in
Hanoi’s victory.
With the beginning of sustained US bombing, the DRV sought and re-
ceived PRC support. In April 1965, VWP General Secretary Le Duan and
General Vo Nguyen Giap visited Beijing seeking the dispatch of PLA forces
to the DRV, including volunteer pilots and engineering units. President Liu
Shaoqi promised the VWP leaders that China would do its best to provide
whatever was needed and that China would send the forces requested. Liu
Shaoqi told Le Duan and Giap that Vietnam had complete freedom of initia-
tive; Beijing would support whatever moves the VWP deemed necessary.^12 In
June, PLA chief of staff Luo Ruiqing and PAVN chief of staff Van Tien Dung
worked out a general plan for Chinese assistance. If the war remained in its
current configuration, the DRV would fight by itself with the PRC providing
support as needed. If the United States used air and naval forces to support a
South Vietnamese attack on the DRV, China would use air and naval forces to
support the DRV. If US forces attacked the DRV, China would use land forces
and its strategic reserves to conduct whatever operations were necessary. In