Impacts of indochina colonization[Sino-Vietnamese War]
The Chinese implemented an effective "scorched-earth policy" while retreating back to China. They caused extensive damage to the Vietnamese countryside and infrastructure, through destruction of Vietnamese villages, roads, and railroads.
Border skirmishes continued throughout the 1980s, including a significant skirmish in April 1984; this saw the first use of the Type 81 Assault Rifle by the Chinese, and a naval battle over the Spratly Islands in 1988.
In 1999, after many years of negotiations, China and Vietnam signed a border pact, though the line of demarcation remained secret.There was a very slight adjustment of the land border at this time, resulting in land being given back to China. Vietnam's official news service reported the actual implementation of the new border around August 2001. Again in January of 2009 the border demarcation with markers was officially completed.
The war also resulted in the discrimination and consequent migration of Vietnam's ethnic Chinese. Many of these people fled as "boat people" who eventually resettled in Asian communities in Australia, Europe, North America, or went back to China.
The Vietnamese government continuously requested an official apology from the Chinese government for its invasion of Vietnam, but the Chinese government refused to apologize. After the normalization of relations between the two countries in 1990, Vietnam officially dropped its demand for an apology.
The war is a catalyst to improved relations between the two communist countries was the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, at which point Vietnam showed strong support for the Chinese measures, despite the fact that many Chinese officers who had served in the Sino-Vietnamese War were active in suppressing the protest movement. Borders remained militarized, however.
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.[23]