Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!crdgw1!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!ucsd!rutgers!att!cbnews!military
From: anthony@batserver.cs.uq.oz.au (Anthony Lee)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Chinese Army and the Vietnam conflict of 1979
Message-ID: <1990Jul27.015503.21955@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 27 Jul 90 01:55:03 GMT
Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker)
Organization: Computer Science Department, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
Lines: 26
Approved: military@att.att.com



From: anthony@batserver.cs.uq.oz.au (Anthony Lee)

In 1979 China was involved in a major conflict with Vietnam.  The 
Chinese Army made a very small penetration into Vietnam but suffered
many casualties.  Many experts pointed out that the Chinese Army was
then poorly organised and also poorly armed.  In many ways this was the
result of Mao's intervention to ensure that the Army will always be loyal
to the party.  In the last ten years there have been steady reforms in
the Chinese Army.  Many of the officers considered themselves as professional
soldiers.  However political education still plays an important part
in the development of the Army especially after the events of June 4th.

The question is can the new generation officers make a difference to
the current political situation ?  Is the Chinese Army actually capable
of defending China in a conventional war, considering her poor preformance
in Vietnam ?  The new Chinese Army has proved that it is capable of 
surpressing the Chinese people but can it do anything else ?

Anthony
--
Anthony Lee (Humble PhD student) (Alias Time Lord Doctor) 
ACSnet:	anthony@batserver.cs.uq.oz	TEL:+(61)-7-371-2651
Internet: anthony@batserver.cs.uq.oz.au	    +(61)-7-377-4139 (w)
SNAIL: Dept Comp. Science, University of Qld, St Lucia, Qld 4072, Australia