just so long as it caught mice. He had been rehabilitated in 1973, in
the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution, and had witnessed the shift
in direction of Chinese foreign policy. Not until five years later,
however, was Deng in a position to place his own stamp on China’s
relations with the world. By that time relations with Vietnam over-
shadowed all else in China’s relations with Southeast Asia.
At first the depth of antagonism between China and Vietnam
was hidden from public view. Relations had begun deteriorating,
however, immediately upon the fall of Phnom Penh and Saigon in
April 1975. The root of the problem lay in differing perceptions of
the changing strategic balance in the region resulting from American
withdrawal and closer Soviet–Vietnamese ties. What the Chinese
saw as threatened encirclement by the Soviet Union, the Viet-
namese saw as an opportunity both to reduce their dependency on
China and to extend their influence in Southeast Asia. The key for
both countries was Cambodia, and there China enjoyed an advan-
tage, for the Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, was already virulently
anti-Vietnamese and closely allied to China.
The strategic security situations facing both China and Vietnam
were, in fact, remarkably similar, as were their perceptions of them,
resting as these did on similar international relations cultures. Just as
China perceived a security threat from the Soviet Union on two
fronts, so too did Vietnam perceive a security threat on two fronts from
China. And just as the Soviet presence in Vietnam stood in the way of
China’s strategic goal of increasing its influence in Southeast Asia, so
too did China’s de facto alliance with the Khmer Rouge stand in the
way of Vietnam’s ambitions to extend its own influence in the region.
These parallel situations did not develop overnight, for the
Soviet Union did not move immediately to take advantage of the US
withdrawal. Chinese warnings to Vietnam about Moscow’s hegemonic
intentions seemed at first to have some effect. Pressured by Beijing to
choose between the USSR and China, however, the Vietnamese chose
Moscow, for two reasons: they resented Chinese attempts to reinstate
Fresh beginnings