In the war of self-defense against Vietnam, which had a huge impact at home and abroad, China received the support of only two countries, namely Cambodia and North Korea. Many people think that China has seen clearly who is the enemy and who is the friend since the war.
Countries that supported China in the war of self-defense against Vietnam
It is normal for North Korea to support China in its self-defense and counterattack against Vietnam, because China paid a huge price to preserve the North Korean regime in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. Therefore, North Korea naturally supported China in the war of self-defense against Vietnam, and did not hesitate to offend the Soviet Union that supported Vietnam.
The reason why Cambodia supported China was because Cambodia was suffering from Vietnamese aggression at that time, and China's attack on Vietnam could make the main force of Vietnam's invasion of Cambodia return to defense, effectively alleviating Cambodia's military pressure. In this context, Cambodia is naturally very supportive of China's "encircling Wei and saving Zhao". Later, during the Sino-Vietnamese confrontation, Vietnam went all out to confront China, and naturally did not have the energy to invade Cambodia.
The international context in the war of self-defense against Vietnam
In fact, many people's so-called self-defense counterattack against Vietnam has clearly seen who is the enemy and who is the friend of the statement is purely for granted, just the so-called no eternal enemies and friends, only eternal interests. In international diplomacy, any mature political group can do as long as it is beneficial to the development of the country, and even negotiate with the feud.
In the war of self-defense against Vietnam, the Soviet Union was at the peak of its international influence. At that time, the United States had just lost the Vietnam War, and there was not only a lot of condemnation of the United States abroad, but also a trend of thought that the Soviet system was better than that of the United States. The Soviet Union was like the United States now, and the United States at that time was like Russia today. Under the premise that everyone thought that the United States would lose the Cold War, all countries naturally preferred the Soviet Union.
With the Soviet Union behind Vietnam' backing, other countries naturally condemned China's attack on Vietnam. After all, the Soviet Union was the most powerful country in the world in the eyes of all countries at that time, and China was only a third world country struggling to feed itself, and any political group should know who can offend and who cannot. This is why, in addition to North Korea, which China has the grace to recreate, and Cambodia, which helped them resist aggression, even countries that once had great relations with China either accused China or remained neutral, because they did not want to offend the Soviet Union.
After a self-defense counterattack against Vietnam, countries also saw the Soviet Union's foreign power and knew that the Soviet Union could not even protect the countries it supported. Therefore, after this war, the Warsaw Pact organization dominated by the Soviet Union began to waver, and the Soviet Union began a series of military exercises, constantly showing its military strength to the countries of the world and informing the world that it had the ability to balance everything.
The logic behind international diplomacy
Behind the logic of international diplomacy, we can see a lot of things that can be called "magical". For example, after the United States fought the Vietnam War, it immediately began to improve relations with China, because the United States after the Vietnam War needed to let China share the pressure from the Soviet Union. And the attitude of various countries to the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam is only a microcosm behind this logic.