Feb 17, an insignificant day? 2

Barely China talks about this day and this history, either on the 20th anniversary in 1999 or 30th in 2009. But on this day, in 1979, China sent over 200,000 of troops into northern border of Vietnam, thus starting the Sino-Vietnamese war, or known as the third Indochina war.

One year before Vietnam signed an alliance pact with USSR, which was to engulf China militarily; In Nov same year, Vietnam invaded neighbouring Cambodia and Khemer Rougue regime, an alloy of China; As well, border attacks and discrimination of ethnic Chinese in Vietnam all led Deng Xiaoping to decide to punish Vietnam for their betrayal and humiliation upon Chinese for their over 25 years enormous economic and military assistance between 1950-75.

Fighting was short but intense. The Chinese advanced about forty kilometers into Vietnam, occupying the city of Lang Son on 6 March. There they claimed the gate to Hanoi was open, declared their punitive mission achieved, and withdrew. The real reason for their seemingly abrupt withdrawal is disputed. A lasting result of this conflict is that Vietnam maintains a large standing army to this day.

Relations between China and Vietnam remained low until 1989. The Vietnamese government continuously requested an official apology from the Chinese government for its invasion of Vietnam, but the Chinese government refused to apologize. Te catalyst to improved relations between was the Tiananmen Square crackdown, at which point, Vietname showed great support for the Chinese measures. After the normalization of relations in 1990, Vietnam officially dropped its demand for an apology.The December 2007 announcement of a plan to build a Hanoi-Kunming highway was a landmark in Sino-Vietnamese relations. The road will traverse the border that once served as a battleground. It should contribute to demilitarizing the border region, as well as facilitating trade and industrial cooperation between the nations.