242 { China’s Quest
during the 1964–1968 period. There were sixteen sessions of talks during those
years, and Vietnam was on the agenda of all sessions.^21 Washington’s message
to Beijing during the Warsaw talks was, first of all, that the United States was
determined to prevent South Vietnam from being taken over by Hanoi via
armed conquest. The United States would take all measures necessary to pre-
vent this. The United States did not, however, seek the destruction of the DRV
or the communist regime ruling the north. All the United States asked, US
representatives asserted, was for North Vietnam to let its southern neighbor,
the Republic of Vietnam, live in peace. The United States was even willing
to accept a neutral South Vietnam, if that was what the people of that coun-
try wanted. Nor did the United States seek to retain military bases in South
Vietnam, or elsewhere in Southeast Asia, once the war was over. If Beijing
wanted the elimination of US military bases from South Vietnam, US nego-
tiators said, it should urge Hanoi to suspend infiltration, thus ending the war.
The United States was even willing to consider extending development assis-
tance to North Vietnam if it gave up its drive to conquer South Vietnam. On
the other hand, if Hanoi persisted in its current course of aggression against
its southern neighbor, US punishment of the north would continue to esca-
late, ultimately inflicting utter destruction on it.
Regarding China, the United States did not intend to attack, much less
invade, it. The United States sought to avoid another Korea-like war with
China. Nor did it intend to pose a threat to the security of China. The United
States even signaled a willingness to further develop relations with the PRC.
In December 1965, it proposed an exchange of journalists and doctors. And
in March 1966, the US representative expressed a willingness to expand re-
lations with “the People’s Republic of China.” This was the first time the US
government had used the formal name of the Chinese state.^22
Beijing rejected the premise of US policy: that the RVN was or ought to
be an independent country. From Beijing’s perspective, both the DRV and
South Vietnam were part of the nation of Vietnam, and US presence in South
Vietnam constituted illegal interference in the internal affairs of Vietnam.
The United States had no right to be in South Vietnam. US involvement there
was in violation of the 1954 Geneva Convention. The United States should
allow the affairs of Vietnam to be determined by the Vietnamese people. It
should withdraw from Vietnam immediately, completely and without condi-
tion. It should also cease all attacks on the Democratic Republic of Vietnam,
again immediately and unconditionally. The defeat of the United States by
the people of Vietnam was absolutely certain, China’s representatives said.
Moreover, China would assist the people of Vietnam in their struggle against
US imperialism.
Chinese representatives ridiculed as “peace offensive frauds” various US
peace proposals; for example, economic assistance to the DRV linked to an
internationally supervised suspension of infiltration. The only solution to