> China likes having North Korea as a buffer state on that border (which is why they intervened the first time)
That seems somewhat similar to the logic that the US used to decide that Vietnam was strategically important; some sort of minor variation on the domino theory.
As I understand it (I could definitely be wrong) China's concern isn't geopolitical but pragmatic: the immediate aftermath of the collapse of the DPRK would be a gigantic flood of refugees into China.
That is how I also understand their position currently, but I'm not sure that makes sense as their reasoning initially before the situation was so extreme (I'm assuming it wasn't, though I suppose war refugees of any sort can present an issue).
Why would it not result in a flood of refugees to S. Korea (ROK)? Unless you're saying that the indoctrination is such that they would rather flee to another (more moderately) centrally-controlled regime versus a free democracy - one that shares their culture (ignoring the most recent 60+ years) and language?
The conduct of the war in Vietnam makes it easy to laugh at the notion of "containment", but it made a lot of sense to a generation who had just witnessed the slaughter of WW2.
The Soviets had no warm water ports on the Pacific, and Vietnam was smack the the middle of key US allies and strategic trade routes for rubber and oil. It was a strategic place.
That said. This isn't an excuse for the insanity of US policy in Vietnam from 1945 onwards.
Except that North Korea is a bordering country to China (by a land border no less). A little different to Vietnam, not very close to the US.
From my own reading, it seemed that China's involvement was largely due to the Russian, and Chinese push for more "Red States" (which is why they were also involved in Vietnam). There was the notion that Capitalism would fall by the hand of "Global Revolution"...
That seems somewhat similar to the logic that the US used to decide that Vietnam was strategically important; some sort of minor variation on the domino theory.
Interesting to consider it like that.