ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the Sino-Vietnamese border disputes deals with events since 1975 with a special focus on developments since full normalization of bilateral relations in late 1991. Relations between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the recently unified Vietnam had been soured by Chinas 19 January 1974 attack against South Vietnamese forces stationed on the Paracel islands. The normalization process between the PRC and Vietnam began with low-level contacts in the mid-1980s, expanded to high-level meetings from early 1989, and became even more pronounced with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War. The Land Border Treaty was the first major achievement in the overall process of managing and eventually resolving the land border dispute between China and Vietnam. First, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress in China ratified the treaty on 29 April and then Vietnam did likewise on 9 June, through a decision by the National Assembly.
