ABSTRACT
The Chinese government was involved in the First Indochina War against the French and also joined North Vietnam against South Vietnam in the Vietnamese civil war. China's military involvement in the First Indochina War became a historical precursor for Chinese intervention in the Vietnam War (1964-1973) against America. Upon Soviet leader Stalin's request, Mao decided to involve China in the French-Indochina War in late December 1949 when he visited the Soviet Union. Mao understood Stalin's demand that China share "the international responsibility" of the global communist movement by supporting the Asian revolutionary wars in general and Ho's First Indochina War in particular. The Viet Minh were forced to flee into the "resistance zone" in the countryside, and the First Indochina War began. In February of that year, the GMD concluded an agreement with the French in which the French gave up territorial claims in China in exchange for GMD recognition of French sovereignty in Indochina.
