bilateral relations regime developed between New Order Indonesia
and the PRC.
Finally we come to Vietnam. Here elements of the traditional
bilateral relationship resurfaced repeatedly—in the teacher-to-pupil
relationship between revolutionary parties (Ho translated a number of
Mao’s works into Vietnamese); in Chinese generosity in support of the
Vietnamese revolution in expectation that China’s superior revolu-
tionary status would be acknowledged; in Vietnamese deference and
resentment. Between these two states, Marxism never succeeded in
eliminating the burden of history. Even to proclaim that Chinese and
Vietnamese were ‘comrades and brothers’ carried ancient allusions, for
while comrades may be equal, brothers never are in either China or
Vietnam. Brothers are older and younger, and respect is due from
junior to senior.
Relations between China and Vietnam were deeply imbued with
moral expectations. Chinese assistance was given in order to create an
obligation on the part of Vietnam to recognise China’s moral superi-
ority in providing it.^18 It was this moral dimension, and the deep
emotional hurt when principles were believed to have been violated,
that made (and continues to make) the Sino–Vietnamese bilateral
relations regime so fraught. The very language of criticism, once rel-
ations broke down entirely in 1979, carried a moral burden—of
generosity unacknowledged, of trust betrayed. Revolutionary Vietnam
looked for a new relationship with revolutionary China, but was
unable to free itself of expectations of how China should behave that
had deep historical roots. China tried to free itself of old attitudes of
superiority, but the very effort revealed how firmly they remained in
place.
The Vietnamese understood China better than anyone else in
Southeast Asia, but because they shared so many of the assumptions
underlying China’s international relations culture, they tended to be
uncritical of their own position. What the Vietnamese resented in
their relationship with the Chinese they in turn assumed in their
Communism and the Cold War