Connecting Communist Insurgencies in China and Vietnam: Chinese Border Operations and the Making of a Cold War Alliance, 1945–1949

A crucial event in Asian Cold War history was Ho Chi Minh's secret visit to Beijing and Moscow in January 1950, marking the formation of an alliance between the Indochinese Communist Party (ICP) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The large academic literature dealing with the alliance between these two Communist states does not adequately explain why they forged a partnership in 1950.1 Some scholars have argued that, in addition to the personal ties between the highest leaders of the two Communist parties, their shared ideology played a crucial role in the Cold War context.2 This is only partly convincing, however, because it does not explain their future tensions. It is therefore necessary to investigate the context of this specific historical moment. How did events before 1950 lead to the alliance? There are few attempts to look at the pre-1950 years because insufficient sources prevent scholars from drawing a clear picture, as Zhai Qiang concludes that the CCP-ICP connection before 1950 “remained limited,” a correct observation if speaking about the highest levels.3Two Chinese scholars have recently turned attention away from high politics to low-level connections. Based on a small number of Chinese memoirs and official histories, they provide many new details about border interactions and argue that these interactions contributed to the making of the CCP-ICP alliance.4 This explanation, however, merits careful scrutiny insofar as it implies that both sides were brought to the same policy point. Thus, it is crucial to move beyond a simple description of local cooperation to a meticulous examination of how the CCP and the ICP converged at the policy level.This article contributes to recent literature in three ways. First, it traces developments along the Chinese border by including a series of critical events, which have been misrepresented, downplayed, or omitted in recent scholarship. Second, at the policy level, it seeks to offer a historical framework that sets developments along the border in the broader context of Communist insurgencies in southern China. This approach is in stark contrast to official historiography emphasizing the role of Mao Zedong's leadership and concentrating on the north. Last but not least, the article takes account of Vietnamese actors and examines how the ICP responded to the Communist advance in China. Tuong Vu has argued that Chinese revolution contributed to the ICP's radical turn in mid-1948 but does not discuss the Sino-Vietnamese border.5 In addition, there are few works in Vietnamese except for a short piece praising ICP assistance to the Chinese on the border.6The discussion here draws primarily on a wide array of Chinese primary sources and ICP documents. The Chinese sources are mainly internal materials (neibu ziliao) or items published in a limited number of copies, for which they are usually cited with incomplete information but contain few propaganda elements. The article begins by explaining how Chinese Communists arrived in Vietnam and how they started border revolutions from early 1947 on. The third section discusses how the CCP overcame difficulties through cooperation with the ICP and how the ICP responded and adjusted its policies.There were three contingents of Chinese Communists in early postwar Indochina. The first came from Guangxi. The most prominent figures among them were Lin Zhong and Liang You, both of whom fled first to the Sino-Vietnamese border for their anti-government activities. Lin arrived at a small town called Aidian in June 1941 and created a party cell. He went to Bắc Giang in early 1944 to mobilize overseas Chinese and formed an anti-Japanese propaganda youth team thanks to the Vietminh's help.7 Liang arrived in Pingmeng in 1942 and soon formed the Gui-Dian Border Special Branch.8 Because the site was close to the Vietminh headquarters, Liang met Vietminh leaders such as Lê Quảng Ba and Hoàng Văn Hoan.9It is crucial to note that Lin and Liang fled to Vietnam amid a nationwide crackdown by the Kuomintang (KMT), culminating in the New Fourth Army Incident in January 1941. In May 1940, the CCP Central Committee instructed the party's southern branches in the KMT zone to “hide well-selected cadres for a long period, accumulate strength, bide our time, and avoid rashness and exposure.”10 Lin and Liang were among the hundreds who fled abroad after receiving this instruction.11 They continued to hide there after the Second World War ended. In March 1946, Yang Lie, a senior cadre of the Guangxi Provincial Working Committee (PWC), came and declared the formation of the Guangxi-Vietnam Border Interim Working Committee (BIWC). This BIWC was headed by Lin and based in Kengji (Cao Bằng) to supervise operations along the Guangxi-Vietnam border.12Shortly after the war ended, more Chinese Communists traveled to Vietnam. The first to come were a small group of underground Communists from by a from the in and in in in the KMT in with the of was to the Special of the and in early which were in to the in Vietnam. to the not to to Vietnam but team arrived there as of the Based on of with the and to a fled to after to and the Communists in group were to hide in Chinese or and more were from the the party was in southern by the to its in the the party in the mainly on how to KMT the difficulties the leaders of the CCP instructed the Party Committee on to and its three The first was by the between the CCP and KMT was Thus, this the of the and the future of the hundreds of and Communist figures arrived there and after the Second World The site was the Communist in China. of the from a was in in 1946, to which the Communist in the a for third was the the KMT usually the the a that the of the as the to its in the for The CCP Central Committee It is clear that the Chinese not to to Vietnam at this receiving the the of the Special Party Committee and to the The that this along the Sino-Vietnamese border was away from the KMT to an The and arrived there in the KMT to the in early 1946, the it to and to to of the was that lead to ICP cooperation was but the was how to the Communist cadres played a The first was a in the of avoid by the fled to Vietnam in and with the of the ICP's with to the Vietminh in overseas Chinese broader at this was that, the of the of Vietnam the Vietminh only the after the of KMT in Chinese were of the KMT and with the local that They formed to the for which the them as The Vietminh CCP on this for which to the who between Chinese and Vietnamese Communists was in the and of the after that the in Vietnam was that the been and the Vietminh for in dealing with the overseas to went to Vietnam to with the He with who the to Vietnam but for CCP with the overseas and went in to the for assistance the Vietminh's about insofar as the KMT not from Vietnam. the ICP Liang to on the Liang traveled to in and that the was a Communist He brought to in the ICP its local to the but for to an internal about this and that if to hide in the not to for the The its cadre to Vietnam to this The ICP that the to hide to avoid that the the was these the Vietnam in three in March A local by two and the as its a with more many the was a it the to Vietnam in June to look after the and as official with the the of the to and of the was the to this the a short in and the the Vietminh in to its and to and its first and third to Chinese that the and by the that CCP for the Vietnamese before There is that the did in or but this not The the came to Vietnam was to Chinese soon to the of Vietnam the with the from the CCP in was to operations in the in He the party and in thanks to the of who long in the Chinese and Vietnamese border to the Party Committee in to between and This to many Vietnamese and the most between and the to from to through after in by The same was the for the by and Yang they arrived at the border in May who many years of in in and Chinese as the ICP after to Vietnam in 1946, this and arrived in before to Beijing in the was to mobilize overseas in and created a it after the created two the overseas Chinese in formed in March 1947 and by of the and the of the Chinese in created in Bắc Giang in early the to these two were as the which as a the and overseas the was to in in and and by the the KMT a on the zone in in June 1946, marking the of the Chinese The CCP to its policy in the In arrived in to the in southern after the of the to the in the In the published an of a for a in the KMT The article was and in the In 1946, after and the the CCP on the leaders of the CCP to that the and that from on in southern to and of to this the few first move was to the among CCP in after the of the The senior cadres the to for an in a emphasizing the and of in the and at the to marking the of the The was to leadership CCP were that the Communist was in and and that the come to and The was formed in May 1947 to the in the with as its was how to an the A new of was on The to the leaders of the CCP on May that a created between The was border of which was to a Border Working Committee The operations along the Sino-Vietnamese border from to Guangxi. A Communist that was in in was at the of the a party to the CCP leaders to to come that the a Border Party Committee The CCP on May but turned the of the The the in border the a with a Because the were the of the to a that was an because its to Vietnam it to KMT and the of and the of the of this because Communist was there that it have to from the two to the as the for the and called for the of the was formed on the of the to and on Moscow and in and to look after of the after the to the The leaders the after before that, the Border Committee which created in This why in the May that the the the and and were called to and that the CCP to to the border to in the did not the specific of new but Guangxi Communists who to Vietnam after that they to that Vietnam for after the of the The was an at this time, and was there to the and a with and and them the He that it was to the a was three went to Vietnam in May not to the but to CCP along the Sino-Vietnamese first to was to party The Guangxi-Vietnam to the Guangxi was at the same as the in the Communist Lin Zhong went in for the Guangxi in two were to on the Guangxi-Vietnam and to the Guangxi The leaders their to the came to as the to BIWC in a party to that the BIWC was the Working Committee with as the and this to in and that CCP there for a short of and to cooperation with Ho Chi Minh's party provide them was to cadres to the the of the first went to and to and lead who the of the overseas Chinese in early and three went to the in with the to a a He the in of the the and in the of Guangxi from to to the CCP went to a in went there as a and and Yang went there to the of the two in the third was to the to the for in in in was by the and they were there for two The to the but that and them to the and leaders were to to their In after and the border in they three for the to to a between and if A was or to the if this more Because the to was by the Vietminh the the only crucial at this was the of the the Gui-Dian on to the the the a from the of the to a He that the was to the KMT only to official histories, this the to a between Guangxi and to the border the that to to and on in The of the Gui-Dian a radical of and the first in the future border KMT have been by the of a Communist in and was soon by the Because the Guangxi their and a on operations with the in the it to the and to Giang in the Communist in early The prominent KMT official who was of in to the Communists through with and Guangxi in the border Thus, the New formed in March 1947 and to the border to its for in as the Thus, the on the border and in southern been by the of by and its and the in June 1947 for event that in official is as the of the Communist because it the by a to the that the Army the in the of to southern the a to the and the Gui-Dian CCP were that in a senior cadres in early to after the of the The for its in for for the The these were not The leaders of the CCP did have a to the but they it in after of the for the to a the Communists in the to on their to the they in early sources provide information about the in Vietnam A that the to the were from the KMT and to a in the of Because the to a in came and did not the of Vietnam. This was on by in early to for and that the leaders to Ho Chi about their of and and the two sides to crucial event was the by the Gui-Dian to in May the that brought two from the to its in the Gui-Dian border and to to the He that the Gui-Dian and Because for in did not about the did the The was to the because it did not to its but it after with a the of the by at the of the war in at the in and the CCP in the of the traveled to in it was to operations in amid the war in China. and from and created the of the and Army in May in Thus, two the and in the Because from to the the of the party in the of at brought to the the Gui-Dian border at the leaders of the CCP that there were border in the including the and Gui-Dian border the to for the Gui-Dian was of and in after The the border but was by the who that this away their the was to In it met the in the to the Gui-Dian border and of the among the the to move them to This the was by Vietnamese Communists and a of between and early the Gui-Dian an and to on The leaders to in and to the and the to to not and to the with the and a to the in for the few Because the the Committee did not with after the border on that the advance to was In January the and between and Guangxi were as the of the border by and who this border with the as its first this time, the the KMT in three in the to an Communist in the The for the CCP was to avoid Party leaders in were of because to the the and the KMT They that were in and that the CCP was by with the In the KMT to this a to the role it played World War as a the The the new for the after its to the of in May as a crucial to the the Gui-Dian that its was not to but to with Vietnam and between the KMT and the Because this cooperation between the Gui-Dian and the two as the in KMT to the CCP on this was to contain radical KMT elements. the CCP the Fourth who went to Vietnam as a in which arrived in the of to the went to in and two to the a to the and close the the after it was the Gui-Dian the the of the border with the the a Liang the of and a senior was the new of the which the in it were three Party including the which the to supervise operations along the with as the new party the and in the were as the was in the senior and Yang underground Communist who the KMT there in They that the was from the KMT and to move to the In the Vietminh to the by a in Chi to the which to prevent the KMT the Vietminh to two in Bắc Giang in the of the Special of Army and the in Chi continued by and Yang was crucial because they the with the to in a to emphasizing that from and Guangxi in the the was to Vietnam in the which them to with the He was that the Vietnamese Communists were close as and to the but the two Communist to more The of was to at the of and it with the the KMT and were He that the to a border and that the Vietnamese but came of the to the Vietminh to was that the border a Cold War that CCP with the with attention to He at their that the Vietminh in about a to a border went to in January with the to went to in and an with the to which a Vietminh and the overseas to to the KMT in the between and and The were to with the to a with Lê Quảng Ba and as and Vietminh's arrived in in June as the the was its to in this Vietminh a at a of the Liang a to CCP leaders praising the that their Chinese that the the Vietminh was in the Vietnamese clear to the CCP both in the war and in the Cold War more the same the CCP sides in the war in Indochina. In for cooperation with the a team to on in the for on how to with the they Communist but did not them to the KMT or Liang the to the that the with through The only that were operations by the CCP and between the Communist a In to Mao a move the He that they and through with Communist in Guangxi and and with from the which the to and KMT the of the Vietminh in the Mao to the He that the to on but to for the of that the in March for an of by from to with Vietminh to a to Vietnam was of this of cooperation between the CCP and ICP amid of in The KMT was the and to the border for cooperation with the and the KMT in The for its the by in that in to the with the of its to the Sino-Vietnamese through the and Because was more to abroad after the in the CCP the Fourth to this time, Ho a but Mao did not to in the war or to have CCP in the He to on the but that if Vietminh the they as a Fourth by with the border the and the on the of Some KMT and Vietnamese a to these Ho in to the ICP on the of of with the of the the KMT before they and them to in the postwar the Vietminh were in an the in after Ho the of the KMT and the and of thanks to its in the by January the the were to the after an with the In the of the Vietminh to prevent the of in to the that Vietnamese Communists were with the CCP to a Communist in southern leaders of the Vietminh their by with and the ICP in to the that they were their from the Vietminh's on this the the ICP at its in May 1941. The ICP did not of but the new called for to the ICP created the Vietminh to to The ICP continued to a that the was the and Communist in was a that The leaders of the ICP that they Chinese Communist this did not ICP did not to its policy that time, the in by they or The formed the the Vietminh in early and the they the to lead the the developments with that party was Moscow and that the war with the Vietminh was of the Cold the a to Vietminh leaders in they cooperation from through the early Vietnamese politics been two the Vietminh formed a in May the and its states in created the Communist in 1947 and a policy the for a Communist on The ICP this and to by two and In the of a and the ICP that the turn to the to Indochina. ICP leaders this that their the the and for both and the for the CCP for the and The of a Communist in southern was a in this In of these the ICP a in January that from the KMT and the the to between the CCP and the ICP to Ho and to attention to developments in and to with the came the Vietnamese Communists the the by at the Central in This new the on and to as the a to internal and The ICP to to at the policy The events in played a role in the ICP's a section in to a discussion of the CCP and that the Army by and from CCP in the and along the Sino-Vietnamese border to was that southern soon Communist and that the ICP a with which it a He Vietnamese Communists to for this It is not clear why Communist of southern the did not the was on in that the southern that turned to arrived but it did come after the the KMT in three in January A Vietminh in that the CCP to and for this ICP leaders were this moment. a on January how to to the developments in Ho Chi that the at its soon at the which have a the that if the Communists in the in Vietnam to for the a the to of and for a ICP the Central on January that were and the were many most recently in the in China. He that after and the CCP The ICP to for the of a Communist in China. He the CCP as a but about two The first was that in the ICP that the or for the arrived at the with this that the only to was by to the was that ICP to and to that the Vietnam as a and to the and the KMT in to prevent the Communist advance in southern China. He that the ICP not been the in the the Vietnamese Communists ICP's Central the CCP as an at the policy level, but this went in the alliance the for a and on were such as the (Cao Bắc and and the the Vietminh The with was of this The on March a but the came with the of Bắc in The at this that the Vietminh were with CCP in China. a to the of the in June that the in the that not Indochina. He that only a the formed the to the ICP the of why the ICP's policy the party the came close after the the In Ho Chi ties with the CCP and that a secret with The ICP of the of the KMT but that secret the Vietnamese Communists The was to about and Vietminh to more In the local Vietminh on the border were instructed to the and the KMT as and the as a They were to the and of came after the of the with the of and they arrived in Beijing in and before they met with the in in Ho Chi Mao and for to and Mao this on the that the two sides the same the two leaders the of and did on the In addition, the two sides that the headed by and was not senior to the of a or to for a visit by the the first to the the CCP the Vietnamese Communists for on the Asian and to for the The war on by this but the ICP was not and to from the Communist article has on the to the and of CCP border and their with the Vietnamese a of the from to Vietnam and The border operations in three leaders in Vietnam in to are and Hoàng The on the has not been from of and with leaders in Vietnam in is first from the is from the and is from the have been by the from of not The from Kengji to of the for and is the the border in March and are the for Kengji the arrived in the of and arrived in May and the was the Gui-Dian in is Bắc the met in the of is the and the met in is the the in March is the and the as the of the of the Gui-Dian Border in is of the Gui-Dian from to first started with the from the in the CCP a policy in the The it a in Kengji in the of CCP in and Vietnam and Chinese with the Vietnam more a for the CCP and a of the Chinese Communist started after the of and in Vietnam as the leaders in May was to the to operations along the Because of by the and the the was to to the or or to in early the to turn the of border operations a third started in 1947 the was the Gui-Dian that the and Gui-Dian the shared the of border Because the KMT and their sides of the the was to on the Chinese The the and KMT and their cooperation to the Communist early or mid-1948 at the the and the ICP that and the KMT were This the that the ICP to Chinese Communist after the of the the was and Vietnam as a the border close CCP-ICP cooperation the the war in the and the cadres on the border that cooperation with the Vietminh beyond specific at the local to at the leadership the Vietnamese the ICP the of in southern in 1947 and to was The most was the of the which the Vietnamese of between Communist in and Vietnam. This was to an alliance with the the ICP did was to it an the CCP a on or the war Vietnam was as an of the Chinese ICP leaders the of the and to developments in China. The making of the CCP-ICP alliance from the that Communist insurgencies in southern and Vietnam been this is by the of to to the who the who to on who shared about and to for an which who to has thanks to the and for their for the academic of the