 The arguments over domestic and military strategy also carried a foreign policy element as well , because North Vietnam , as the South Vietnamese forces , was largely dependent on outside military and economic aid . The vast majority of North Vietnam military equipment was provided by either the Soviet Union or China . Beijing advocated that North Vietnam conduct a protracted war on the Maoist model , fearing that a conventional conflict might draw them in as it had in the Korean War . They also resisted the idea of negotiating with the allies . Moscow , on the other hand , advocated negotiations , but simultaneously armed Hanoi 's forces to conduct a conventional war on the Soviet model . North Vietnamese foreign policy , therefore consisted of maintaining a critical balance between war policy , internal and external policies , domestic adversaries , and foreign allies with " self @-@ serving agendas . " 
