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China-Southeast Asia Relations

China was a major player in Cold War Southeast Asia, advocating for socialist revolutions and directly supporting independence struggles.(Image: Mao Zedong chatting with Ho Chi Minh, China, May 1965)

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Popular Documents

June 21, 1975

Conversation Record of Chairman Mao Zedong’s Meeting with Pol Pot, Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kampuchea

This records contains the full transcript of the talks between Mao and Pol Pot (an excerpt was originally published in CWIHP Working Paper #22, '77 Conversations between Chinese and Foreign Leaders on the Wars in Indochina'). Mao Zedong muses on the nature of the struggle between the capitalist and socialist forces within China. He tells Pol Pot not to blindly follow the Chinese model, but adopt Marxist theory to the Cambodian realities.

June 21, 1975

Conversation between Chinese leader Mao Zedong and Cambodian Leader Pol Pot

Mao Zedong muses on the nature of the struggle between the capitalist and socialist forces within China. He tells Pol Pot not to blindly follow the Chinese model, but adopt Marxist theory to the Cambodian realities. Excepts.

November 2, 1979

Letter Dated 2 November 1979 from the Permanent Representative of Viet Nam to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

The Vietnamese Permanent Representative to the UN submits an excerpt from a record of conversation between Pol Pot and Hua Guofeng, dated September 29, 1977.

June 15, 1961

Record of a Conversation between N.S. Khrushchev and President Sukarno

Sukarno tells Khrushchev about his trip to China and the possibilities of Chinese annexation of Taiwan. Khrushchev says the USSR fully supports the PRC's actions. The parties also discuss the reorganization of the United Nations.

August 28, 1962

Record of Premier Zhou’s Talk with Prime Minister Pham Van Dong

Zhou Enlai and Pham Van Dong discuss North Vietnam's support for revolutions in South Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos.
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77 Conversations Between Chinese and Foreign Leaders on the Wars in Indochina, 1964-77

This groundbreaking Working Paper from the Wilson Center's Cold War International History Project features 77 documents on the rise and fall of the Sino-Vietnamese alliance during the Cold War as well as key contextual analysis from Odd Arne Westad, Chen Jian, Stein Tønnesson, and Nguyen Vu Tung.

Go to wilsoncenter.org
Exterior of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

The Chinese Communist Party’s Relationship with the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s: An Ideological Victory and a Strategic Failure

Wang Chenyi argues that the Chinese Communist Party's policies towards the Khmer Rouge were subordinate to Mao Zedong’s political needs and shaped primarily by his efforts to safeguard the Cultural Revolution. In the end, Mao’s “ideological victory” translated into a strategic failure for China’s post-Mao leadership.

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Exterior of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

China and the Fall of South Vietnam: The Last Great Secret of the Vietnam War

The People’s Republic of China, a long-time ally of North Vietnam, may have sought to create a neutral South Vietnam in 1975 and deny Hanoi its long-sought victory, writes George J. Veith.

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CWIHP Bulletin 16 Inside China's Cold War

Inside China's Cold War

CWIHP Bulletin 16 showcases documentary materials from the Chinese Foreign Ministry Archives as well as Russian, Albanian, Mongolian, and Romanian archives.

Go to wilsoncenter.org