Chapter 46 Radicalize the Vietnam War 1964

Journalist: “Are you enthusiastic about inciting Vietnam to fight against the American imperialists? Is it to make yourself prominent internationally?”

Mao: “Yes, I was actively involved in the Vietnam War in 1962, starting with my promise to provide 90,000 guns and artillery to North Vietnam. I said, ‘What Vietnam needs, we supply first.’ China assisted North Vietnam with a large number of tanks, guns, and artillery, and various military supplies, including uniforms for the North Vietnamese army. We also helped train the North Vietnamese army, taught guerrilla warfare, and dispatched military advisors. Aid was given to build a large number of industrial facilities and railroads in North Vietnam.”

Journalist: “You gave Vietnam a lot of aid like everything?”

Mao: “Yes, at home, I am concentrating more human, material and financial resources on the atomic bomb, and in November 1962, the ‘Central Specialized Committee’ was established, with Zhou Enlai as its director, directing a huge collaborative system of hundreds of thousands of people to ensure that the first atomic bomb would be exploded within two years. Each of the countless bombing tests took up nearly half of the country’s communication lines, and the entire industry, people’s livelihood, and transportation were constantly without power and water.”

Journalist: “Wow, you gathered hundreds of thousands of people to collaborate on the atomic bomb?”

Mao: “Yes, the first atomic bomb I ever dreamed of was about to explode, and I was afraid it would be failed. At 1963, when the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union signed a partial nuclear test ban treaty, Kennedy sought to find out Khrushchev’s intentions about limiting and stopping China’s nuclear development, and whether he was willing to have the Soviet Union take action or accept action by the United States. Khrushchev refused. At an August 1 press conference, Kennedy said, ‘A Stalinist China, determined to use war as a means of achieving victory, would become a great potential danger once it possessed nuclear weapons. We want to take steps to eliminate that danger.’ Kennedy considered an aerial attack on Chinese nuclear facilities.

After Kennedy was assassinated in November 1963, President Johnson, who succeeded him, considered blowing up the Lobos nuclear test site. I am most concerned about this.”

Journalist: “Oh, the U.S. tried to stop you from getting the atomic bomb, and Khrushchev subordinated you?”

Mao: “Yes, in April 1964, I got reports that the mushroom cloud was expected to rise in the fall. I immediately set out to eliminate the possibility of an attack on nuclear facilities. My approach was first to pull Khrushchev in and remind him that China was still part of the communist camp, so that he would help me block the U.S. from doing so. The second was to intensify the war in Vietnam so that the U.S. would be caught in a quagmire and would be my ‘hostage’ so that the U.S. would not dare to make a move against my nuclear facilities.”

Journalist: “Oh, you wanted U.S. troops to be caught in Vietnam and be your hostages?”

Mao: “Yes, the U.S. had over 15,000 military advisors in South Vietnam at the time. I want to intensify the war in Vietnam and induce the U.S. to increase troops and get U.S. troops heavily involved in Vietnam. They would have a lot of them on our heels, and the more troops they sent to Vietnam, the happier I would be, and the more I could deal them a bloody blow. They are very close to China, in the palm of my hand. They are my ‘hostages.’”

Journalist: “Oh, you want to irritate the U.S. The more troops the U.S. sends to Vietnam, the happier you are?”

Mao: “Yes, the North Vietnamese want a gradual de-escalation of the war, they do not actively mess with the United States. I kept encouraging them to expand the war for my own purposes, and I said, ‘It’s not good to fight without pain to solve the problem. It is good to solve the problem by simply making a big fuss. More troops should be sent to the south,’ without fear of U.S. intervention, which is nothing more than another Korean War. The Chinese army is ready, if the United States dares to risk hitting North Vietnam, the Chinese army will drive there. Our army wants to fight.”

Journalist: “You are strongly encouraging North Vietnam to expand the war?”

Mao: “Yes, I also encouraged the Vietcong to expand the war to neighboring countries, the more ‘hostages’ came the better, to send a few thousand people to Laos, Laos has been fighting for a few years, but nothing can be done. We should think of a way to get 3,000 to 4,000 people to train them to be non-Buddhist troops who can fight. I also emphasized helping the Communist Party of Thailand to get an armed force, because the U.S. has military bases in Thailand.”

Journalist: “You also strongly instigated the expansion of the war to Laos, Thailand?”

Mao: “Yes. To send a signal to the U.S., Zhou Enlai personally visited the South Sea Fleet and told it to go into full readiness and prepare for an attack on South Vietnam. The South Sea Fleet was given 30 million yuan to move the fleet to Zhanjiang, which was closer to Vietnam. I deployed more than 300,000 troops on the Sino-Vietnamese border, ready to cross into Vietnam as soon as I lifted my foot. To defend my nuclear facilities, China will enter Vietnam, with or without Vietnam’s consent. If the United States dares to bomb China, we will return fire and the war will have no boundaries.”

Journalist: “You have set up 300,000 troops on the Sino-Vietnamese border? Whether Vietnam agrees or not, ready to drive over?”

Mao: “Yes. When the United States began bombing North Vietnam in 1964 after the Tokyo Bay incident, we decided in the spring of 1965 to send railroad troops, engineers, and anti-aircraft artillery to North Vietnam to help North Vietnam resist U.S. bombing, rescue and repair of railroads against bombing, construction of important roads, airports, and emergency war preparatory works against landing in the Red River Delta and affiliated islands. It freed up North Vietnamese troops to engage in combat in the South.

From 1965 to 1970, a cumulative total of 320,000 of our troops were sent to North Vietnam, with a peak of 170,000 in Vietnam in 1967.”

Journalist: “Wow, 300,000 troops really went over there?”

Mao: “Yes, the troops and engineers who assisted Vietnam, totaled nearly 1,500 dead and more than 4,200 wounded. 1,400 of the fallen are buried in more than 50 martyrs’ cemeteries in northern Vietnam.

China is the most important supporter and aid donor to North Vietnam. We have given Vietnam more than $20 billion in aid.”

Journalist: “What benefits did you get from giving $20 billion in aid to Vietnam?”

Mao: “Yes, the Vietnam War led to the first visit of U.S. President Nixon to China in 1972 without establishing diplomacy, and he was anxious to end the Vietnam War, and I also wanted to take advantage of this to get out of international isolation and the Lin Biao incident, and to facilitate my playing the American card and using the U.S. as a counterweight to the Soviet Union.”