ON THIS DAY ·
Sino-Vietnamese War
17 Feb–16 Mar 1979 — China invaded northern Vietnam to punish it for invading Cambodia and for its treatment of the Hoa. Chinese forces took Lang Son before withdrawing. Tens of thousands of soldiers died, and the war accelerated the expulsion by sea of Hoa from the north.
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The moment in context
For many ethnic Chinese in southern Vietnam, leaving had become a transaction. From 1978 officials accepted gold in return for permission to depart, while syndicates purchased old freighters to carry passengers. The Hai Hong reached waters off Malaysia in November 1978 with about 2,500 people; the Huey Fong arrived in Hong Kong the next month with 3,318. Such ships could carry an exodus that small fishing boats alone could not, and the payments made flight profitable for officials as well as organizers.
From Vietnamese boat people, chapter 9 of Uprooted: Refugees in Europe 1945–1960 and Indochina 1975–1990 (1979).
The place: Sino-Vietnamese War — map and full story →
Teach this in 5 minutes
- Why it happened — Departures sold for gold. Gold changed the scale of departure. From 1978 Vietnamese officials accepted it from ethnic Chinese seeking permission to leave, while organizers…
- The turn — Pulau Bidong and the closing of the shore, June 1979. When Malaysia announced in mid-June 1979 that it would push new boats back to sea, about 40,000 people were crowded onto Pulau Bidong. Landing could…
- What it changed — The Geneva meeting. The UN Secretary-General called a Geneva conference for 20–21 July 1979 after the pushbacks and ASEAN declaration. Western states doubled their…
Then ask the room: Who bears the greatest responsibility for the boat-people crisis of 1979: Vietnam, its neighbours or the countries of resettlement? The argued answer is on the chapter page →
The atlas that shows it
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