At the beginning of February 1979, in the face of the Sino-Vietnamese issue at that time, Deng Xiaoping said decisively: "! ”
Then, on 17 February, the Xinhua News Agency and Renmin Ribao published a statement and editorial entitled "Fight Back and Defend the Frontier," and in the early morning of the same day, more than 225,000 Chinese People's Liberation Army rushed to the battlefield in Vietnam, and China's self-defense counterattack against Vietnam officially began.
[People's Daily at that time]
In the first three days of the war, the two sides fought fiercely on the North Vietnamese front, and the Chinese People's Liberation Army suffered more than 13,000 casualties in these three days.
Before that, let's take a look at the historical ties between China and Vietnam.
Historical relations between China and Vietnam
Geographically, Vietnam is directly bordered by Yunnan Province and Guangxi Province on the mainland.
【Geographical Location Relationship Map of China and Vietnam】
Historically, from the time it broke away from dynastic control until the end of the Sino-French War in 1885, Vietnam has also been.
However, France did not have any good intentions to help Vietnam "become independent".
At that time, China was struggling in a century of humiliation, and Vietnam was colonized by France, and the French frantically plundered and oppressed, making the Vietnamese people miserable, let alone economic development and social stability.
In 1940, Japan occupied Vietnam under the banner of "helping Vietnam overthrow colonial rule".
【After the Japanese army invaded Vietnam】
The Vietnamese people also struggled until the unconditional surrender of Japan in 1945, and Vietnam officially became independent on September 2, 1945.
As a result, France "scored two goals" and killed again, and Vietnam could only meet the war again, and fought a war of resistance against France for nine years, and then it did not stop for long, and the United States began to invade Vietnam by taking advantage of the "Gulf of Tonkin Incident."
【Tired Vietnamese soldiers in the Vietnam War of Resistance Against the United States】
China also went through many hardships here, and finally ushered in a new life on October 1, 1949.
China, on the other hand, has always regarded Vietnam as a brother and friend because of its thousand-year-old friendship with Vietnam, and established diplomatic relations with Vietnam only three months after the founding of the People's Republic of China.
When we ourselves are in ruins and need a lot of manpower and material resources to build the country, we have also fully supported Vietnam in resisting France and the United States without hesitation, and have donated hundreds of billions of yuan and millions of tons of materials to Vietnam.
[Chinese people held a parade in Tiananmen Square in solidarity with Vietnam's War of Resistance against the United States]
In Vietnam alone, China donated $20 billion in aid and 9.43 billion tons in military aid.
The origin of the self-defense counterattack war against Vietnam
In the 60s of the 20th century, relations between China and the Soviet Union were upset, and in the 70s with the United States ushered in the honeymoon period, Vietnam also became hostile to China because of its inflated ambitions, especially after the death of Ho Chi Minh.
【Death of Ho Chi Minh, the Father of Vietnam】
Prior to this, the Vietnamese army, with the help of China and the Soviet Union, had already achieved good combat effectiveness, and they had fought against the United States and France for more than 30 years and accumulated a lot of combat experience.
This made them arrogant, and the dragon slayer eventually became an evil dragon, and Vietnam began to actively expand its territory, and repeatedly provoked several neighboring countries.
The most outrageous thing is that at that time, Vietnam believed that it had defeated the United States and France, and it was very likely to replicate Japan's success at the end of the 19th century, and it was also said that one Vietnamese soldier could fight 30 Chinese People's Liberation Army.
Not only that, but the Le Duan government also began to openly suppress and persecute overseas Chinese in Vietnam, and 200,000 overseas Chinese were forced to flee Vietnam.
【Overseas Chinese persecuted by Vietnam】
At the same time, Vietnam provoked armed conflict on the Sino-Vietnamese border, toppled boundary pillars and provoked, injured citizens on the Chinese border, and occupied more than 96 percent of China's Nansha Islands.
In the six months from August 1978 to February 1979, Vietnam carried out more than 700 provocations against China, invaded more than 160 Chinese territories, caused 1,108 border bloodsheds, and caused more than 300 Chinese military and civilian casualties.
The situation of the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam
In the early morning of February 17, 1979, a Chinese fleet patrolled the South China Sea, and 225,000 PLA troops and more than 100,000 militia launched a counteroffensive against Vietnam from both land and sea.
Later, everyone knew that in the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam, it took only 28 days for China to return to Korea.
【Triumph of the Chinese People's Liberation Army】
But this counterattack was not as easy as imagined, because of the terrain problems in Vietnam, some tactics of the Chinese People's Liberation Army were suppressed.
In particular, the Cao Binh area, surrounded by mountains, has many hidden pillboxes and trenches, and is garrisoned by the 345th and 316th Divisions of the Vietnamese Army, both of which are ace armies in the Vietnam War of Resistance against the United States.
More importantly, because China has provided a lot of military assistance to Vietnam before, the Vietnamese military also knows more about our tactics.
So much so that three days before the start of the war, our army suffered more than 13,000 casualties, while the Vietnamese army suffered more than 15,000 casualties.
【The Chinese People's Liberation Army in the self-defense counterattack war against Vietnam】
Fortunately, the final victory belonged to China, and after 28 days, the PLA cleaned up the battlefield and quickly returned home.
According to statistics, in these 28 days of fighting, our army lost more than 6,000 people, more than 21,000 wounded, and 238 people were captured;
The Vietnamese army lost more than 42,000 killed, more than 10,000 wounded, and more than 2,000 captured.
postscript
After the fighting, Vietnam's economy returned overnight to more than 20 years ago, so much so that they did not recover for decades.
Although Vietnam does not dare to provoke China again, some Vietnamese leaders have not reflected much, and some Vietnamese people still have hatred towards China under the reversal of these well-intentioned people.
However, China has always adhered to the diplomatic principle of peace and win-win, and in recent years, it has been exploring new relations of cooperation and mutual benefit with Vietnam, and Vietnam has gradually learned about the real China in international development.
【Sino-Vietnamese Cooperation】
However, whether in the past, present, or future, the Chinese have always pursued an attitude of "not causing trouble and not being afraid of it."
Everyone is happy, mutual benefit and win-win, then we will welcome distant guests with good food and wine, but if the jackal does not have long eyes and dares to challenge China's sovereignty, then our shotguns are not muddy.
Resources:
[1] Self-Defense Counterattack War against Vietnam: Bloodstained Style
[2] Unforgettable 1979: A Complete Documentary of the Self-Defense and Counter-Attack Operations against Vietnam, China Military Network
[3] On February 17, 1979, the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam was carried out by the Chinese military network
[4] Relations between China and Vietnam, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China