Posted on 03/01/2005 12:41:05 PM PST by neverdem
I wonder how many Vietnam Veterans in this country feel they had been forced to serve in order for LBJ to get his Great Society programs passed.
Be careful on this one.. This looks at first blush as another attempt to demoralize the Viet Nam Vets. They are constantly attacked. And plenty of lefties are really mad at their part in skerry's loss.
Never knew that Chian fought a border war with China.
It seems the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Long Chaogang, a reticent 42-year-old infantryman...
Xu Ke, a 40-year-old former infantryman
If this war was fought in 1979 these men were perhaps just 16 and 14.
Where do you think the term infantrymen was derived from?
I was a newly sentient teenager, breathlessly following the details, such as there were, in the International Herald Tribune, the newsweeklies, etc. This war, coming on the heels of Vietnam's invasion of the Khmer Rouge stimulated my interest in the region but as soon as it was over it dropped out of history. 20,000 chinese dead? Well, okay. I have no difficulty believing ol' Deng poured out their blood to cement his own position as capo de tutti capi and apparently, the chinese find that the easiest explanation as well. I wonder if any western historian has written anything in english. Official information is locked up tight but there are doubtless countless chinese veterans available to talk and I can only guess at the Vietnamese policy. I have never heard of any Great Patriotic War museum in Hanoi dedicated to this conflict (or should I say, this particular spasm in the milleniums-long hostilities between the two countries).
I never knew China fought with Viet Nam either. France couldn't beat them (so what else is new?). Our troops were not allowed to win the war. Then China couldn't beat them. What a horrible waste of life.
bump
It's basically the only actual combat experience the PRC has in the last 30 years....(unless you count running over unarmed college students with tanks, which I don't.)
And by all accounts their performance was horrible.
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I do not know whether the author is implying that U.S. veterans should emulate the Chinese example and forget about the whole thing, but if that's so, it'll never happen. The Vietnam war will truly end when real elections come to that country. It will happen, and I will open a very belated bottle of champagne when it does.
Chinese determined to find out if Soviets were a "Paper Polar Bear." They were. They failed to act on behalf of Vietnamese. This enraged the Viets. Hence, when Russia finally withdrew from Vietnam, late nineties, it was no great loss to the Viets. They were glad to see them go.
Most experts state approx. 25K KIA on both sides. After initial engagements, Viets hid in jungle/mountainous areas and attacked at a time of their own choosing. Sound familiar? The Chinese never penetrated Hanoi proper. Eventually pulled back north to China.
I was in the Navy at the time, so I remember the news and the radio traffic on it. Never knew that the body count was so high, though.
Remem ber the island where our reconnaisance plne was forced down? That is a Vietnamese island that the Chinese captured during that war and never gave back.
They had some pretty good showings against the soviets in the late 60s. Readjusted the border be a few thousand square miles.
China supported North Vietnam in the struggle with South Vietnam. When the US pulled out in '74(?) and the reunification of Vietnam began, China would not lose one of her satellites regardless of the cost. Plus, in China, humans are expendable because there are so many of them. Human lives are nothing to the Chinese. And, Vietnam belongs to China. China will not give up the resources of Vietnam.
THEY ARE AN EFFING $#@!*&^% COMMUNIST DICTATORSHIP YOU EFFING %#*@ MORONS AT THE NY TIMES!!!!!!!
Sheesh! They have no freedoms, no free speech, no freedom of expression. If they did, they would be killed or be imprisoned in an lao gai. But to the Times, this is lost on them because the US and communist China are just the same.
What was the name of the island? No, I don't remember right off hand.
Hainan Island. And with the exception of a Japanese occupation before and during World War II it's been Chinese territory for centuries.
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