China’s engagement in the Vietnam War:

its strategic reasons

Abstract

The main reason for China’s engagement in the Vietnam War (VW) was deterrence. The leadership in Beijing sought to persuade the US not to escalate in the conflict, because the costs to Washington would be too high. This work attempts firstly to outline four main sources influencing Chinese strategy, secondly to present the events in 1965 that led the Chinese leadership to engage in the VW, and lastly to contrast those main sources with China’s decision to enter the War, in order to test the validity of such elements.