In 1979, as the Vietnamese army frequently harassed the mainland border, invaded and occupied the mainland's territory, and even broke out a strong anti-China movement, the mainland could not bear it anymore and immediately launched a fierce counterattack.
China and Vietnam are at loggerheads on the border, and the two sides are even more stubborn.
At this time, the international situation also began to change, and many countries came forward to coordinate the relationship between the two countries.
However, many countries, relying on the mainland's much stronger strength than Vietnam, have proposed that the mainland withdraw its troops first, and the two sides will negotiate again, even if the dispute over this matter was provoked by the Vietnamese side first.
However, in the face of the aggressiveness of the foreign powers, Vice Premier Li Xiannian said very firmly: "China will resolutely not withdraw its troops until the goal is achieved!" ”
Why did Li Xiannian say that? How did he solve this dilemma?
Li Xiannian
As neighbors separated by a strip of water, China and Vietnam have always maintained relatively friendly relations since ancient times, especially during Vietnam's resistance against France and the United States, and the two countries, which have common enemies, have become a community of interests.
During the most critical years of Vietnam's resistance to the United States and France, when the problem of food and clothing had not yet been resolved, the mainland provided about $20 billion in aid to Vietnam, a country that also belongs to the socialist camp, to support its liberation struggle.
Vietnam's leader, Ho Chi Minh, and the mainland's leader have also maintained friendly relations.
However, this relationship began to change after the Sino-Soviet conflict. In order to establish good relations with the Soviet Union, Vietnam began to point the finger at the mainland, despite the assistance provided by China in the past.
In order to satisfy his own ambitions, Le Duan, the ruler of Vietnam, has seen China as a thorn in his side.
During the War of Resistance against the United States, Ho Chi Minh promised the Vietnamese people that as long as they won this battle, they would be able to build a peaceful, united, prosperous and strong country.
Ho Chi Minh
But Ho Chi Minh's successor, Le Duan, after winning the war, not only did not fulfill his promises, but began to expand outward, and what they once called peaceful reunification became nothing more than an empty slogan.
In order to achieve his control over Indochina, Le Duan set his mind on countries such as Cambodia and Laos, which was the easiest and quickest way to achieve this goal.
Soon, Le Duan spread the war to China, and they tampered with the names of the mainland on their maps, changed the borders of the country, and divided the territory of the mainland into their own countries, trying to quietly annex the territory of the mainland in this way.
At that time, although the mainland strongly protested and condemned this, it did not take practical measures against it because the contradictions between the two sides had not yet intensified, but this gave Vietnam the opportunity to gain an inch.
They have repeatedly sent people to cross the border, harass the people on the mainland, provoked the border guards on the mainland, and even caused bloodshed.
After 1975, the anti-China sentiment in Vietnam became even stronger, and almost all the pro-China factions in the party were suppressed or dismissed, and Mao Zedong Thought in the party constitution was also deleted, and they even interfered with the normal life of local overseas Chinese and expelled all of them back to China.
However, this is only the tip of the iceberg of Le Duan's actions, and since the deaths of Chairman Mao, Premier Zhou, and Zhu Duc in 1976, Vietnam's behavior has become more rampant.
Le Duan began to gather all the veterans who had been discharged after the end of the War of Resistance Against American Aggression and asked them to be demobilized and enlisted in the army.
They set up "compulsory military conscription committees" throughout the country, recruited soldiers and horses, and made no secret of their desire to start a war.
In just over a year, Vietnam's regular army has grown from more than 600,000 to more than 1 million, far exceeding the size of the army during the War of Resistance Against America.
But among them, there are also many people who were recruited by Li Duan through forceful means.
In addition to the regular army, Le Duan issued a call across the country for the recruitment of "reserve forces" and was ready to expand the army.
For this reason, he did not hesitate to use deception, coercion, and other means to lure a large number of young men and women to the Sino-Vietnamese border to organize the so-called "Youth Stormtroopers."
In order to avoid being caught in the army, some people have no choice but to resort to various means in a vain attempt to evade conscription.
Some people pretended to be sick, some fled to the deep mountains and old forests, some fled abroad in a hurry, and some directly harmed themselves.
For those who evaded military service, Le Duan directly resorted to heavy-handed methods, confiscating property, revoking food supplies, depriving them of their means of livelihood and forcing them to perform military service.
Many fathers and children were conscripted into the army, and college students were not spared.
Through this means, Le Duan organized anti-Chinese armed forces disguised as civilians on the border and built a large number of military installations.
As reported in the United States, at this time, Vietnam had entered a state where all the people were soldiers, and its military strength was even more than it used to be.
After thinking that he had prepared an army, Le Duan began to harass the mainland border more intensively, privately building fortifications on the mainland border and monitoring every move on the mainland.
At the end of 1978, in the face of repeated invasions by Vietnam, the central government finally made a decision to send troops to Vietnam to counterattack, and it was necessary to defend the territory of the mainland and the safety of the people.
With the order of the central government, in less than a month, more than 300,000 PLA troops quickly assembled on the border, ready to launch a counterattack against Vietnam at any time.
In early 1979, Deng Xiaoping visited the United States and personally conveyed to the US president that China was about to send troops to Vietnam, and solemnly declared that the mainland was only carrying out a counterattack in self-defense.
Deng Xiaoping's move was nothing more than an attempt to use the United States to spread the mainland's ideas and aims, so as not to be seized by Vietnam and the Soviet Union from the commanding heights of public opinion.
However, after this news came out, the situation between the countries became more and more complicated, the Soviet Union, the promoter behind Vietnam, was eyeing the war, and the Western countries also maintained a wait-and-see attitude towards the war, and some countries in the same camp as the Soviet Union began to issue reproaches to the mainland, claiming that the mainland was bullying small countries and demanding that the mainland immediately withdraw its troops.
But even in the face of the enemy's mid-belly and back, Deng Xiaoping still made a firm decision: send troops to Vietnam to defend the country.
Soon, the 560,000 People's Liberation Army gathered on the border marched all the way south, marching towards Vietnam, defeating the Vietnamese army one after another.
At this time, the Vietnamese army held the most advanced weapons provided by the Soviet Union, thinking that they would soon be able to end the war and declare their victory to the world, but the strength of the soldiers of the mainland PLA was far greater than they imagined.
The reversal of the situation on the battlefield forced Vietnam to consider another way to solve this thorny problem.
As a result, they began to exert pressure on the mainland in terms of public opinion, hoping to use the pressure of international speech to make the mainland withdraw its troops.
At this time, some countries that supported Vietnam's military expansion began to stand up for Vietnam, using international law to threaten the mainland to withdraw its troops, and the Soviet Union even hid behind in an attempt to manipulate the situation on the battlefield.
However, the soldiers of the mainland have carved the encirclement of the territory in their bones and have not paid attention to the provocations of the outside world.
Vietnam, which had been beaten to the point of no return, began to put this matter on the table, wanting to use the power of the United Nations to oppress the mainland.
From February 23 to February 28, the United Nations held a total of five meetings to discuss the matter, and the Vietnamese representative pretended to be innocent at the United Nations meeting to "complain" the mainland, in an attempt to gain the support of more countries and win more benefits for himself.
However, due to the differences of opinion of the parties, several meetings did not reach a final result, which only increased the tension between the two countries.
At the same time, under Deng Xiaoping's instructions, the pace of the PLA's advance on the battlefield began to accelerate, and the pressure on the Vietnamese army increased sharply.
At this time, some countries once again made demands on the mainland, insisting that the mainland withdraw its troops as quickly as possible.
In order to explain to the outside world the situation on the battlefield, Li Xiannian, vice premier of the mainland's State Council, decided to hold a press conference to thoroughly state the mainland's stance.
During the interview, one of the reporters asked: "Now that many countries are asking you to withdraw their troops, to what extent will this war advance before you withdraw your troops?" ”
This question allowed Li Xiannian to find room to play, and he said bluntly: "We Chinese have always done what we say, as long as we achieve the goal of counterattacking Vietnam, we will withdraw our troops, and our conditions are also very simple, that is, the Vietnamese troops withdraw from China and no longer provoke, otherwise China will definitely fight to the end." ”
"Then what is the purpose of China's war investigation?"
"Our goal is to let Vietnam know that armed provocation against other countries will not end well!" Li Xiannian's words were loud.
However, when some countries reported Li Xiannian's speech, perhaps out of translation problems, they wrote that "China will not withdraw its troops until it achieves its goal."
Li Xiannian
Li Xiannian didn't explain much about this, after all, this sentence was really in line with his original intention.
Subsequently, due to Vietnam's refusal to withdraw its troops, our army immediately launched a more fierce attack, breaking through the Lang Son area in one fell swoop and approaching Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam.
At this time, Hanoi had fallen into chaos, they never expected that the speed of the People's Liberation Army's advance would be so amazing, Le Duan immediately launched a mobilization order to the whole country, asking them to build fortifications as soon as possible, and unrelated personnel to withdraw from this place as soon as possible, so as to avoid the outbreak of war and injury to innocents.
But just as it was about to reach Hanoi, the central government suddenly ordered the withdrawal from Vietnam.
The main reason why the mainland did this was to control the international orientation, after all, if Hanoi was really attacked, the international rhetoric would inevitably favor Vietnam, and the mainland's advantage would be wiped out.
However, when retreating along the way, our army also took back all the materials that Vietnam had previously aided in the course of resisting the United States.
When the People's Liberation Army on the mainland saw that the word "China" was still printed on the bag of supplies, many people could not help but feel a chill in their hearts.
On the way to retreat, the Vietnamese army was still unrepentant, set up an ambush on the way of our army's retreat, and repeatedly harassed our army's retreat plan.
Fortunately, our army was not affected by the Vietnamese army and soon withdrew all of them to the country.
However, Vietnam's "concession" has not been understood by Vietnam, and at the instigation of the real culprits behind the scenes, Vietnam is still stubborn and vainly trying to occupy the territory of the mainland; although they have completely lost their previous arrogance under the severe blows of the mainland, they still frequently harass the mainland border, causing a serious adverse impact on the lives of the people on the mainland border.
The war between China and Vietnam lasted throughout the 80s, and the two sides fought and talked during the process, such as the Battle of Lao Son and the Battle of the Two Mountains, and the two sides were deadlocked for ten years.
It was not until the collapse of the Soviet Union that the matter gradually subsided.
In 1999, after many negotiations, the two sides finally finalized the specific border division, and the mainland's territory was recovered, and the battle of Laoshan officially became a thing of the past, and this incident also made the mainland People's Liberation Army famous in the world again.
However, the contradictions between China and Vietnam have not been resolved, but the focus of the problem has shifted from land to sea.
China and Vietnam have not resolved this thorny issue since the outbreak of military conflict in 1988 over the South China Sea issue.
Now, with the enhancement of the mainland's national defense strength, it has become more confident in dealing with the issue of Vietnam than it was several decades ago, and I believe that in the near future, the mainland will certainly be able to safeguard the mainland's territorial sovereignty and make the whole world look at it with admiration again.