Ask The Vietnamese About War, And They Think China, Not The U.S.
In one of the many war cemeteries in Lang Son, a city in northern Vietnam, Pham Thi Ky and her family light incense and offer prayers for her brother-in-law, who died 36 years ago in Vietnam's brief but bloody border war with China.
That 1979 war left more than 50,000 dead. There are other graves here, too. They fought and died against the French occupiers, then the Americans. But relative to China, those were brief battles.
No country weighs on Vietnam like China, and it has been that way for centuries. Has the conflict with China ever really ended, I ask Pham Thi Ky as she lights another candle.
"No," she says. Her daughter agrees. Her sister is even more emphatic. "It will never end. With the Chinese, how can it ever end?"
Vietnam's 2,000 year history with its northern neighbor is complex. There have been countless conflicts as well as shared culture. The Temple of Literature in Hanoi is a good example. It was built by the Vietnamese King Ly Thánh Tông in 1070 to honor the Chinese philosopher Confucius. The teachings on the walls are written in Chinese characters. China is also Vietnam's largest trading partner.
The two countries share a communist ideology shaped in part by their shared history, an ideology largely abandoned by the rest of the world. That helps explain why the 1979 border war is something neither government likes to talk about. But Nguyen Duy Thuc, a veteran of that war, is happy to.
"On the morning of the attack, February 17th , we were sleeping when the Chinese artillery started, then we all ran to our posts," he says. "Some were dressed, others didn't even have time to put their pants on, they just ran to their posts to fight."
At least 200,000 Chinese troops poured into northern Vietnam all along the border. China was aiming to punish Vietnam for its invasion of Cambodia the month before to oust the Chinese-backed Khmer Rouge. There were so many Chinese attacking, Nguyen Duy Thuc remembers, that the soldiers in his bunker "fired our AK-47s until the muzzles turned red and they couldn't fire anymore."
But the Chinese kept coming; eventually his bunker was overrun. The Chinese, he says, pumped gas into the ventilation system. There were 800 people, including soldiers, women and children, who fled the fighting in his bunker, Nguyen says.
Only he and two others managed to escape. After nearly a month, the Chinese withdrew, though border clashes continued for the next decade. And Nguyen Duy Thuc hasn't forgotten. If he catches his wife trying to watch a Chinese movie, he turns it off.
Memories of that war, and the many other bouts of invasion, occupation and retaliation throughout history, color Vietnam's relationship with China.
That's especially true now, with the two countries at odds over what Vietnam views as Chinese expansionism in the South China Sea. When China parked an oil rig in contested waters last year, Vietnam upped its official anti-China rhetoric.
And anti-China rioting left at least a dozen dead, including four Taiwanese mistaken for Chinese. As tension grew, and Chinese and Vietnamese boats played a dangerous game of chicken near the rig, some in the border town of Lang Son grew worried. They feared a repeat of what happened in 1979.
"Last year, we were very frightened. We started stockpiling rice and food. I was very worried that there would be war," says Pham Thi Ky, the woman at the cemetery.
Back in 1979, she says she was forced to flee with nothing but the clothes on her back, so this time she wanted to be prepared. She even went to the bank to withdraw a large sum of money, just in case. But the bank wouldn't give it to her, apparently fearing a run.
Vietnam isn't the only one worried.
The Obama administration's "pivot toward Asia" is prompted, in part, by the idea of trying to contain China's expansionism, which has its Southeast Asian neighbors and Japan worried.
In the South China Sea, China continues to build on several disputed islands and reefs. In April, satellite photos revealed China was constructing a 2-mile-long, military-grade runway on Fiery Cross Reef, prompting howls of protest from the Philippines and Vietnam, both of which claim the island as their own.
"We think this can be solved diplomatically, but just because the Philippines or Vietnam are not as large as China doesn't mean that they can just be elbowed aside," President Obama said.
Duong Trung Quoc, a member of Vietnam's National Assembly and editor of the magazine Past & Present,says, "I think China is not only Vietnam's problem, but the world's problem right now."
Duong says he admires how China appears to be the only civilization in history to have forced its way back onto the world stage after an interregnum.
"It didn't happen with Greece, or India," he says. "But China has a chance."
And that's a problem, he contends, because China still thinks the way it used to back when it was on top.
"China thinks it is at the center. The conquerer. It wants to turn everybody else into its subordinates," he says. Don't believe China, Duong says, when it appears to be playing nice. It's a trap. The Vietnamese, he says, should know.
"After the war, the Vietnamese and the Americans could reconcile. Vietnam and France can reconcile. Veterans from both sides can sit down together and talk. Vietnamese and Chinese veterans hardly ever sit down together," he says.
Why is this?
"The Vietnamese have had too much experience with the Chinese. The Vietnamese can't trust the Chinese. We've had too much practice," he adds.
Few in Vietnam's government talk so openly about the perceived threat from their northern neighbor. They're wary of igniting more protests, like those last year. And Vietnam's Communist Party still looks to China as a model of how to keep an authoritarian state in power in the Internet age. But anti-Chinese sentiment among ordinary Vietnamese continues to grow.
Vo Cao Loi lives about a mile from the South China Sea — which the Vietnamese simply call the East Sea — in the central Vietnam city of Danang, where the first U.S. combat troops landed in 1965.
He says he's a survivor of a massacre next to My Lai, one that claimed 97 lives, including his mother. He no longer considers the Americans enemies, but rather as friends. Allies, even, against Vietnam's longtime enemy. He believes the Chinese have taken something that belongs to Vietnam.
"The Spratly and Paracels (islands) are still partly occupied," he says. "Of course at some point we have to put our differences aside, but we have to get those islands back first. Because it belongs to our ancestors."
It doesn't take him long to acknowledge that probably won't happen.
"They want to spread their control. They will never give back what they took," he adds. "Vietnam wants to take it back, but the Chinese are strong. So our struggle will last a long time. How long? I can't tell."
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"Wataalam wa Vietnam wanaamini kuwa ""China ni nchi ya kwanza, sio ya kwanza.""" Katika moja ya makaburi mengi ya vita huko Lang Son, mji wa kaskazini mwa Vietnam, Pham Thi Ky na familia yake wanawasha uvumba na kutoa sala kwa ajili ya kaka yake, ambaye alikufa miaka 36 iliyopita katika vita vya muda mfupi lakini vya damu vya Vietnam na China. Vita vya 1979 vilisababisha vifo vya watu zaidi ya 50,000. Kuna makaburi mengine hapa pia. Walipigana na kufa dhidi ya wavamizi Wafaransa, kisha Wamarekani. Lakini ikilinganishwa na China, hizo zilikuwa vita fupi. Hakuna nchi inayoathiri Vietnam kama China, na imekuwa hivyo kwa karne nyingi. "Kama ni kweli vita vya China na China vimeisha, ""aliuliza Pham Thi Ky, akitoa mwanga mwanga mwingine." "Hapana", yeye asema. Binti yake anakubaliana naye. Dada yake ni mwenye kusisitiza hata zaidi. "Hatawahi kumalizika. Kwa Wachina, inawezaje kumalizika?" Vietnam ina historia ya miaka 2,000 na jirani yake ya kaskazini. Kumekuwa na migogoro mingi na pia utamaduni uliogawanyika. Hekalu la Fasihi huko Hanoi ni mfano mzuri. Jumba hilo lilijengwa na mfalme wa Vietnam, Li Zhongzhi, mnamo 1070 ili kumheshimu mwanafalsafa wa China, Confucius. Mafundisho yaliyo kwenye kuta yameandikwa kwa herufi za Kichina. China pia ni mshirika mkubwa wa kibiashara wa Vietnam. Nchi hizo mbili zina imani ya kikomunisti, ambayo imebadilika kwa sehemu kutokana na historia yao ya pamoja, imani ambayo imekataa kwa kiasi kikubwa na nchi nyingine duniani. Hii inaelezea kwa nini vita vya mpaka vya 1979 ni kitu ambacho hakuna serikali inayopenda kuzungumzia. Nguyen Duong Thuc, aliyekuwa askari wa zamani wa vita vya pili vya dunia, aliandika hivi: "Siku ya kwanza ya shambulio hilo, Februari 17, tulikuwa tumelala wakati makombora ya China yalipoanza, kisha sote tukakimbilia kwenye vituo vyetu,"" anasema." "Wengine walikuwa wamevalia, wengine hawakuwa na wakati hata wa kuvaa suruali zao, walikimbia tu kwenda kwenye vituo vyao kupigana". Majeshi ya China yameshuka hadi zaidi ya 200,000 katika eneo la kaskazini mwa Vietnam, karibu na mpaka wa Vietnam. China ilitaka kuadhibu Vietnam kwa uvamizi wake wa Cambodia mwezi uliopita ili kuondoa Khmer Rouge iliyoungwa mkono na China. Nguyen Duong Thuc alisema kuwa askari hao walipiga risasi kwa kutumia bunduki za AK-47 hadi makombora yao yakawa mekundu na hawakuweza tena kupiga risasi. Lakini Wachina waliendelea kuja; hatimaye bunker yake ilivamiwa. Anasema kwamba Wachina waliingiza gesi katika mfumo wa kupeperusha hewa. Watu 800, wakiwemo wanajeshi, wanawake na watoto, waliokimbia mapigano katika bunker yake, Nguyen anasema. Yeye na wengine wawili tu ndio walifaulu kutoroka. Baada ya karibu mwezi mmoja, Wachina walijiondoa, ingawa mapigano ya mpaka yaliendelea kwa miaka kumi iliyofuata. Nguyen Duc hajasahau. Ikiwa atamkuta mke wake akijaribu kutazama filamu ya Kichina, anaizima. Kumbukumbu za vita hivyo na mapigano mengine mengi ya uvamizi, uvamizi na kulipiza kisasi katika historia, huonyesha uhusiano wa Vietnam na China. "Hii ni kweli hasa sasa, na nchi hizo mbili zikiwa na tofauti juu ya kile Vietnam inavyokiona kama upanuzi wa China katika Bahari ya Kusini ya China. """ China ilipoanzisha kituo cha mafuta katika maji ya nchi hiyo mwaka jana, Vietnam iliongeza msimamo wake dhidi ya China. Mapigano dhidi ya China yamesababisha vifo vya watu 12 wakiwemo watu wanne wa Taiwan waliofikiriwa kuwa Wachina. Wakati mvutano ulipozidi kuongezeka, na mashua za Wachina na Wavietnam zikianza kucheza mchezo hatari wa kuku karibu na kituo hicho, baadhi ya watu katika mji wa mpakani wa Lang Son walianza kuwa na wasiwasi. Walikuwa na hofu kwamba tukio la mwaka 1979 lingerudiwa. "Mwaka jana, tulikuwa na hofu sana. Tulianza kuhifadhi mchele na chakula. """Nilikuwa na wasiwasi kwamba vita vingeanza,"" anasema Pham Thi Ky, mwanamke aliyekuwa kwenye makaburi hayo." "Mwaka 1979 alilazimika kukimbia akiwa na nguo tu, kwa hiyo wakati huu alitaka kuwa tayari.""" Hata alienda benki ili kutoa pesa nyingi, ili kuhakikisha kwamba hazikuwa za bure. Lakini benki haikumpa, yaonekana ikimwogopa mtu aende kukimbia. Vietnam si nchi pekee inayohangaika. "Usimamizi wa Obama ""umegeuka kuelekea Asia"" unasababishwa, kwa sehemu, na wazo la kujaribu kuzuia upanuzi wa China, ambayo ina majirani zake wa Kusini Mashariki mwa Asia na Japan wasiwasi." Katika Bahari ya China Kusini, China inaendelea kujenga kwenye visiwa na matumbawe kadhaa yanayopingana. Picha za satellite zilionyesha kuwa China ilikuwa ikijenga uwanja wa ndege wa kijeshi wa kilomita mbili kwenye Fiery Cross Reef, na kusababisha maandamano kutoka Ufilipino na Vietnam, ambazo zote mbili zinadai kisiwa hicho kuwa chao. """Tunafikiri hili linaweza kutatuliwa kwa njia ya kidiplomasia, lakini kwa sababu tu Ufilipino au Vietnam si kubwa kama China haimaanishi kwamba zinaweza kuondolewa,"" alisema Obama." "Duong Trung Quoc, mjumbe wa Bunge la Taifa la Vietnam na mhariri wa jarida la ""Past & Present,"" alisema: ""Nafikiri China si tatizo la Vietnam tu, lakini tatizo la ulimwengu sasa hivi." "Mwanahabari huyo alisema: ""Ninavutiwa na jinsi China inavyoonekana kuwa ustaarabu pekee katika historia ambayo imesababisha kurudi kwenye jukwaa la ulimwengu baada ya kipindi cha kati." "Haikutokea na Ugiriki, au India", anasema. "Lakini China ina nafasi". "Hiyo ni tatizo, anasema, kwa sababu China bado inafikiri kwa njia ile ile ilivyotumia wakati ilikuwa juu.""" "China inafikiri ni katikati. Mshindi. Inataka kugeuza kila mtu mwingine kuwa msaidizi wake", asema. "Hakuna mtu anayekubaliana na maoni ya China, ""alisema Duong, ""wakati inaonekana kuwa kucheza vizuri.""" Ni mtego. Anasema kwamba Waavi wamepaswa kujua. "Baada ya vita, Wavietnam na Wamarekani waliweza kupatanishwa. Vietnam na Ufaransa zinaweza kupatanishwa. Wazee wa vita kutoka pande zote mbili wanaweza kuketi pamoja na kuzungumza. Wazee wa vita wa Vietnam na Wachina ni nadra sana kuketi pamoja", asema. Kwa nini jambo hilo linatukia? "Wavietinamu wamekuwa na uzoefu mwingi sana na Wachina. Wietinamu hawawezi kuwaamini Wachina. Tumekuwa na mazoezi mengi sana", aongeza. Ni wachache katika serikali ya Vietnam wanaozungumza waziwazi kuhusu tishio linalotarajiwa kutoka kwa jirani yao ya kaskazini. Wanasisitiza kuwa hakuna uwezekano wa kuanzisha maandamano kama yale ya mwaka jana. Chama cha Kikomunisti cha Vietnam bado kinatazama China kama mfano wa jinsi ya kuweka serikali ya kimabavu madarakani katika enzi ya mtandao. Lakini hisia za kupinga Wachina miongoni mwa Wietinamu wa kawaida zinaendelea kuongezeka. "Vu Cao Lui anaishi karibu na kilomita moja na nusu kutoka Bahari ya China Kusini, ambayo Wietinamu huita ""Bahari ya Mashariki,"" katika mji wa Danang, Vietnam ya kati, ambapo vikosi vya kwanza vya kivita vya Marekani vilitua mwaka wa 1965." Mmoja wa waathirika wa mauaji ya My Lai, ambayo yaliua watu 97 na mama yake. Yeye hawahesabu tena Wamarekani kuwa maadui, bali kama marafiki. Hata washirika, dhidi ya adui wa muda mrefu wa Vietnam. Anaamini Wachina wamechukua kitu ambacho ni cha Vietnam. "Visiwa vya Spratly na Paracels bado vimekaliwa kwa sehemu", asema. "Bila shaka wakati fulani ni lazima tuweke tofauti zetu kando, lakini lazima tupate visiwa hivyo nyuma kwanza. """ Kwa sababu ni mali ya mababu zetu". Haichukui muda mrefu kwake kukubali kwamba labda hilo halitatokea. "Wanataka kueneza udhibiti wao. Hawatarudisha kamwe kile walichokichukua", aongeza. """Vietinamu inataka kuichukua, lakini Wachina ni wenye nguvu." Kwa hiyo mapambano yetu yataendelea kwa muda mrefu. Ni muda gani? Siwezi kusema". Copyright 2020 NPR. Kwa maelezo zaidi, tembelea www.nl.org.