ABSTRACT
The great Sino-Soviet polemic debate in 1960–1962 undermined the ideological foundation of the communist revolution. Chen Jian states that, in retrospect, few events during the Cold War had played so important a role in shaping the orientation and essence of the Cold War as the Sino-Soviet split. Soviet and Chinese military aid to North Vietnam between 1965 and 1973 did not improve Sino-Soviet relations, but rather created a new front and new competition as each attempted to gain leadership of the Southeast Asian Communist movements. The North Vietnamese knew that the Soviet Union and China were rivals in the communist camp, competing for the leadership in the Asian Communist movement, including Vietnam. The direct engagement of the Chinese armed forces in North Vietnam enabled Hanoi to send more troops to South Vietnam. The level of infiltration from the North was significantly increased, and the main force units of the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) began to stream South.
