Lenin's Way

Peking vs. Hanoi (Contd.)

Although Lenin scarcely meant it to apply to relations between Marxist regimes, China and Viet Nam have embraced his dictum that "hatred is the basis of Communism." In both countries last week there were signs of mounting tension. Hanoi, Hue and Haiphong, as well as all of Viet Nam's armed forces, went on alert, and radio stations announced that "self defense" classes were being set up. On the Chinese side, the number of troops on the frontier was increased, and crews moved into border areas to widen roads for the passage of military equipment.

Peking recalled its ambassador to Hanoi, then summarily closed three Vietnamese consulates in southern China. Earlier this month China's Vice Premier, Teng Hsiao-p'ing, declared a halt to aid to Viet Nam. "China's cash grants to Viet Nam already amount to $10 billion," he told a group of journalists from Thailand. "The only thing wrong is that we have given Viet Nam too much," he added, referring to the vast amounts of military aid given Hanoi during the war, including 80% of the Viet Cong's weapons.

Peking claims that the 1.2 million ethnic Chinese residents of Viet Nam, most of them merchants and shopkeepers, have been hit unfairly hard in a crackdown on private enterprise that Hanoi launched last April. It says that in the past two months 133,000 Chinese have fled from "barbarous treatment" in Viet Nam. Last week two Chinese ships steamed into the Gulf of Tonkin to pick up Chinese at three Vietnamese ports.

Refugees reaching China have told stories of being singled out for property confiscation by the Vietnamese, whose dislike for the Chinese derives from ten centuries of rule by China (111 B.C.-A.D. 939). But others who have fled to Hong Kong, Malaysia and Thailand insist that Hanoi's expropriation policy, though painful, has been uniformly applied.

China's new leaders are highly displeased to have an ally of Moscow to the south. Peking claims that the Soviet navy has occupied Cam Ranh Bay, that the Soviet army has a camouflaged missile site at Hon Gay, and that the Russians are building a naval base near Haiphong.

Western intelligence experts believe that Hanoi is trying to keep free of domination by Moscow. But China's aid cutoff will only increase Viet Nam's dependence on the Soviet Union, which has been giving more than $600 million a year to the hard-pressed country. If its spat with Peking becomes semipermanent, as seems possible, Hanoi will have to lean harder on its Soviet crutch. This month, for example, Viet Nam did not have the cash reserves to pay for the 2 million tons of rice it needs to import this year.

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