The previous two chapters have provided descriptions of the basic parameters of the politics of China and Vietnam. To complete our examination of the fundamentals underlying the relationship, we need to consider the general characteristics of asymmetric relationships, because the disparity between China and Vietnam is the most striking feature of their relationship. The purpose of this chapter is to provide an analytical framework for interpreting the relationship of China and Vietnam. After we consider the history of Sino-Vietnamese relations in Part Two, we will return to a general analysis of the variety of asymmetric relations.

China and Vietnam provide an archetypal case of asymmetry. The relationship is one of great disparities, all in China's favor, and it has been long term. Although not all asymmetric relations are between neighbors, shared borders imply a greater range of contact and therefore are usually more intense. Sino-Vietnamese relations have been through every possible variation from intimate friendship to implacable hostility, and indeed they have been through the full spectrum in the past forty years. Although the relationship has involved war on numerous occasions and the occupation of Vietnam by China, China has not been able to “solve” its differences with Vietnam by subjugating it. Whether in traditional times or in the present, China and Vietnam have usually managed their differences as autonomous but asymmetric political entities.