This study reviews the record of North Vietnam's relations
with the Soviet Union and Communist China since the
appearance of the latter as a second great power center within
the Communist bloc. Perhaps the dominant theme of this
historical review has been the continuing struggle of North
Vietnam to maintain its independence in the face of er'iorts
by both Moscow and Peiping to influence the policies of this
small Asian Communist state. Events of the past two years,
principally the crisis in Sino-Soviet relations ,and in the
East-West struggle in Southeast Asia, have enhanced North
Vietnam's status within the bloc to a point where it now proclaims
the unique-character of its own revolutionary experience
as a model for Communist "liberation" movements in underdeveloped
areas of the world.