Sino-Vietnamese War
war between the People's Republic of China and Socialist Republic of Vietnam in 1979
The Sino-Vietnamese War (also known by other names) was a war which occurred in early 1979 between China and Vietnam. China launched an offensive ostensibly in response to Vietnam's invasion and occupation of Cambodia in 1978, which ended the rule of the Khmer Rouge. The conflict lasted for about a month, with China withdrawing its troops in March 1979.
In February 1979, Chinese forces launched a surprise invasion of northern Vietnam and quickly captured several cities near the border. On 6 March of that year, China declared that its punitive mission had been accomplished. Chinese troops then withdrew from Vietnam. Vietnam continued to occupy Cambodia until 1989, suggesting that China failed to achieve one of its stated aims of dissuading Vietnam from involvement in Cambodia. China's operation at least forced Vietnam to withdraw the 2nd Corps from the invasion forces of Cambodia to reinforce the defense of Hanoi. Additionally, it demonstrated that the Soviet Union, China's Cold War communist adversary, was unable to protect its Vietnamese ally. The conflict had a lasting impact on the relationship between China and Vietnam, and diplomatic relations between the two countries were not fully restored until 1991, following the withdrawal of Vietnamese troops from Cambodia and the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
“Sino-Vietnamese War” enters the record as war between the People's Republic of China and Socialist Republic of Vietnam in 1979. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Sino-Vietnamese, between and People's can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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“Sino-Vietnamese War” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Sino-Vietnamese, between and People's provides the most credible route into that argument.
Contemporary correspondence, administrative files and participant testimony can test how later narratives organized the event or institution. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q623171. The Library of Congress control number is sh85122926. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1979, 1978, 1989 and 1991.
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This entry incorporates text from “Sino-Vietnamese War” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.