During the Vietnam War, did you know that U.S. troops fought against Chinese soldiers? Check out this short article to learn more.
The Gulf of Tonkin incident (August 1964) and the arrival of US combat troops (1965) triggered an escalation in Chinese support. This came mainly in the form of equipment and construction. In 1965, Beijing sent several thousand engineering troops to North Vietnam to assist in building and repairing roads, railways, airstrips, and critical defense infrastructure. Between 1965 and 1971, more than 320,000 Chinese troops were deployed in North Vietnam. The peak year was 1967 when there were around 170,000 Chinese in the communist state. Their work on military installations meant that Chinese troops were susceptible to American bombing runs. An estimated 1,000 Chinese were killed in the North in the late 1960s. Beijing also supplied Hanoi with large amounts of military equipment, including trucks, tanks, and artillery.
This is a largely untold story of how Chinese intervention in the Vietnam War played out. Why did US troops battle directly against Chinese special forces and advisors in the war? How did it happen? Exactly how much artillery, money, and supplies did China send? Many people know about the Soviet Union’s involvement in the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 1970s, but not many people know about China’s role. Please watch this eighteen-minute video to learn more.
Source I read directly from throughout this video:
https://www.jstor.org/journal/chinaqu…
https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_i….
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archiv…
I’m your average infantryman Chris Cappy from Task & Purpose. Thank you for watching!
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CherriesWriter - Vietnam War website 
I killed I Chinese soldiers and 2 NVA Soldiers in the A,M. on 7/23/67. I didn’t know the Chinese Translation of their Mandarin Symbol language. That was his knife handle.I took his 3 items as a War Spoil. His Knife. soft Bonnie hat and his P38 German Luger Pistol. I took his knife to a Chinese Lady for her Interpretation years later . She told me that it came from China and from the. Horse, Bear and Tiger knife company. 50 years later I determined their intentions. First of all about midday the same day 3 other enemy soldiers presented themselves to a “C” Company Platoon Patrol and their point man was confused and he reported them to his platoon leader. He then told his entire platoon purse the 3 enemy. They led them straight into their main force AMBUSH and all but one of their Platoon members were killed, I also read the 9 Days in May of ’67 Book. They used this same tactic and succeeded. I recognized them to be our enemy because of the terrain we were in an old French Rubber Tree plantation in Plei Ya Bo with shoulder high Elephant Grass and a well trampled trail. I also gave them approx a 12 round M16 burst!
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My first encounter with the NVA (200 of them vs. 20 of us) produced a a casualty wearing a different uniform. MACV arrived immediately, bagged the body, then the Colonel advised me, “if you ever speak of this to anyone, I will court marshall you”. My educated guess: a Chinese officer!
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I am currently working on a study of Chinese and Soviet involvement in Vietnam Much of what was said in the video covered much of what has been known, but what has not been discussed much is the fact that for the last 50 years this has been a little known story of the Vietnam War.
It was after the Gulf of Tonkin incident that overt Chinese Involvement began. The vast numbers of Chinese Troops were stationed there covertly, wearing NVA uniforms and if killed were buried in unmarked graves. The Chinese took advantage of the conflict as a means to defend their borders from Western influence.
What’s also not mentioned is that internal Chinese politics had a factor in the course of the Vietnam War. Deputy Premier Lin Biao who was militantly anti American had fallen out of favor. His downfall and his mysterious death had a hand in changing China’s policy toward reconciliation with the West. Indeed the real Peace negotiations occurred not in Paris, but in Beijing.
The Chinese involvement was perhaps the best kept secret of the Vietnam War.
In the words of Mao Zedong-
“China has over 100000 men in North Vietnam. The Americans know it, but they will not reveal it, and they know why.”
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Good article…Back in 1967 I was attached to 3/4 Marines Kilo company while on patrol near the DMZ
we found a grave which was not to deep. We checked it out and there were two Chinese officers
Inside.
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“The Dragon in the Jungle, The Chinese Army in the Vietnam War” by Xiaobing Li was published in 2020 and is a good source.
My book, “Break in the Chain Intelligence Ignored” mentions the fact that we (the 571st Military Intelligence Detachment, had a resident Chinese-speaking major in Hue (where there were many residents of Chinese heritage).
Little known is the fact that “Theodore Gostas, a US Army captain assigned
to the 135th MI Battalion (a 525th MI Group-subordinate unit), was captured
during Tet 1968 in Hue, where he was assigned. Taken through North Vietnam by
his captors, he spent time in China before being sent to the “Hanoi Hilton” prison
in Hanoi. He suffered torture and other physical and mental deprivations in the five years of his confinement, four-and-a-half years of which were in isolation” (from my book). Recognized with the Knowlton Award by the MI Corps Association.
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