ABSTRACT
The Saigon regime could not have existed for long without the patronage of the United States. Conversely, the revolutionary forces in the South would not have proved such a serious threat if it had not been for generous material support from China and the Soviet Union. Despite these realities, the relationships between the various nations intimately involved in the conflict cannot be understood by a cursory appraisal of their relative status in the world. Saigon and Hanoi were not subservient to the greater powers and relations were frequently troubled by the frustrations common to patron-client linkages. Saigon remained infuriatingly reluctant to heed US advice, while Hanoi, far from being a tool of Peking and Moscow, steered a course independent of the giants of the communist bloc.
