The Third Indochina War : An International History

The Third Indochina War – comprised of the Vietnam-Kampuchea War from 1978 to 1990 and the brief Sino-Vietnamese War in February 1979 – has received far less scholarly attention than the earlier two Indochina Wars. Ang Cheng Guan utilises a wide range of archival and secondary material, including Vietnamese, Cambodian, Chinese, Soviet, American, British, Australian and ASEAN sources, to provide a comprehensive new analysis of the conflict. By carefully reconstructing its chronology, Ang traces the life-cycle of the war from its origins, through the conduct of military engagements, to its eventual resolution.
He focuses on multiple actors simultaneously, highlighting the inter-connected perspectives of the war’s major protagonists – Vietnam, Cambodia and China. In demonstrating the roles of the USSR, the US and ASEAN in both prolonging and ending the conflict, he situates the Third Indochina War fully in its Asian, global and Cold War contexts.