Communist China's influence with the North Vietnamese
leadership was also evident in the final months of the IndoChina
War. Although the Soviet. Union and Communist China appeared
to share responsibility for the initial -deciSion, Chou
En-lai took the lead at Geneva in negotiating a territorial
division of Vietnam at the 17th parallel and in persuading
Ho Chi Minh to substitute political methods for armed struggle
in seeking the unification of his homeland. The subsequent
failure of their f'peaceful unification" strategy would largely
determine North Vietnam's views on the bitter Sino-Soviet
dispute over international Communist strategy in 1960.