Chinese and Viet Troops Clash for 3rd Day at Border
Chinese and Vietnamese troops clashed for a third straight day along their border, with each side claiming Thursday that they have repulsed the other’s unprovoked attack. Vietnam renewed its call for a cease-fire.
“Chinese frontier guards Wednesday turned back eight Vietnamese incursions into Laoshan area in Yunnan province, killing or wounding a number of invading troops,” the official New China News Agency said.
Radio Hanoi, in a broadcast monitored in Bangkok, said Vietnamese forces “wiped out” hundreds of Chinese invaders, who it said “fired tens of thousands of artillery rounds on Vietnamese villages and made incursions.”
“Fighting back the intruders, the people and army of Ha Tuyen province wiped out hundreds of Chinese troops,” Radio Hanoi said.
Western diplomats believe the latest round of fighting may be an attempt by Peking to relieve pressure on beleaguered Cambodian resistance forces currently battling Hanoi’s troops along the Thai-Cambodian border.
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