A Short History of China and Southeast Asia

Vietnamese soil. The lesson China sought to teach Vietnam was that

Hanoi could never afford to disregard Chinese advice and warnings.

These went unheeded for just so long as Vietnam could rely on the

Soviet Union. But once that prop collapsed, there was nothing for it

but to mend fences with Beijing. As so often in the past, protection of

Vietnamese security required Vietnam to subscribe to China’s view of

how regional relations should be conducted. This in turn required

Vietnamese leaders to make their submission symbolically and defer-

entially in Beijing. The formula of ‘comrade plus brother’, used by

Beijing to characterise the restored relationship, made reference to

shared ideology, linking what was by then a diminished Chinese-led

‘Asian socialist community’^8 consisting of only four states: China,

A Short History of China and Southeast Asia

Chinese Prime Minister Li Peng greets Vietnamese foreign minister Nguyen Manh Cam,

11 September 1991. (Hsinhua News Agency)

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