Thread by @simonbchen

I think there’s an interesting but obscure historical parallel that Western analysis of Sino-Vietnamese War of 1979 has been missing. It’s between that war and the Shangdang Campaign of August-October 1945 in 2nd undeclared prelude to Chinese Civil War, in which Deng Xiaoping /1

https://twitter.com/simonbchen/status/1267652950102380544

also played a critical role as Political Commissar of communist 18th Group Army. While Shangdang was initially started by the Shanxi warlord, Yan Xishan, immediately after capitulation of Imperial Japanese Army in China, the communists had certainly /2

https://twitter.com/simonbchen/status/1296189592865923072?s=20

fanned the flames of that conflict in a deliberate and explicitly declared effort to use a limited-scale and limited-objective military operation to secure political leverage in diplomatic maneuvering. That was also very much the rationale behind Deng /3

https://twitter.com/simonbchen/status/1297207743158185987?s=20

Xiaoping instigating armed conflict against communist Vietnam in 1979, in an elaborate and bloody effort to throw a wrench into relations between communist Vietnam and key ally (and communist Chinese enemy), Soviet Union. I wonder if Deng Xiaoping had thought about Shangdang. /e