Quote:
Originally Posted by Legbreaker
Who's to say Vietnam was actively hostile to China?
I doubt they'd be anything approaching allies, but with the west obviously supporting China with weapons, ammo, etc they're not about to pick a fight are they?
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Whose to say they weren't? The Vietnamese have defeated the West before. The Soviets are close Allies and have a military base there. China has been an enemy in the past during the modern era. Going back as far as the Vietnamese kicking the Khmer Rouge out of Cambodia and including various territorial disputes along their border and including the Spratley and Paracel Islands. Its hard for me to believe that they are not going to take advantage of China being distracted by the USSR in some way.
Let alone that China gets it oil from two places at this time USSR and via the Strait of Malacca. For the Soviets to not try to take advantage of that situation and at least try to disrupt the flow is short sighted at the least especially given the piracy that happens in the area on a normal basis. How long it would stay disrupted is another question but it seems like a big strategic oversight to me.