ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the formation of the Sino-Vietnamese conflict and analyzes the interplay of emotions and interest-based realpolitik in the social structure of the bilateral relationship. It analyzes the Chinese decision-making process and shows that the decision to teach Vietnam a lesson was primarily induced by emotional considerations, specifically a strong desire on behalf of the Chinese leadership to exercise revenge. The chapter also analyzes China's risk calculations and demonstrates that Beijing was well aware of two strands of risk inherent in the Chinese campaign against Vietnam, namely the risks of military failure and of a Soviet military intervention. Even though these risks reveal themselves as prohibitive, the Chinese leadership nonetheless willingly took them in order to exercise their desired revenge on Hanoi. The chapter identifies the motivation for China's use of force against Vietnam, and evaluates the two competing theoretical models' explanatory capacity for the case at hand.
