ABSTRACT
From a historical perspective, the Indochina dispute is an offshoot of the Sino-Soviet conflict. Strategically, it is a new arena of the Sino-Soviet rivalry. It is direct because the Sino-Soviet conflict extended its contending model directly to the neighboring countries—China and Vietnam as well as Vietnam and Kampuchea. This chapter deals with the fundamental positions of three major actors such as China, the Soviet Union, and Vietnam on Indochina; second, with the effect of the “hegemonic” issue on the area; and, finally, with the Sino-Soviet rapprochement and Indochina. The Soviet Union traditionally has no vital interests in Southeast Asia, although Leonid Brezhnev used to stress that the Soviet Union was not only a European but also an Asian power. The Sino-Soviet conflict in the past had compelled the Soviet leaders to plan for an encirclement of China.
