VIETNAM Stakes in the Conflict with China Leo Goodstadt VIETNAM'S defiant quarrel with China seems like rashness on a grandiose scale. The Vietnamese government's diplomatic stance follows upon Hanoi's successful challenge of Washington's military and economic power. Relations with the giant neighbour have became poisoned by a bitter polemic over the exodus from Vietnam, into China, during April and May this year, of 100,000 ethnic Chinese. Hanoi itself is alive to the explosive potential of the situation. At the end of May, when tempers had reached breaking point, the official Vietnam Communist Party daily, Nhan Dan, observed wryly: "The Vietnamese are not so stupid as to foment trouble with China". The paper went on to claim that a Vietnamese characteristic was "doing things carefully after much thought". Hanoi's rebuttal of its supposed rashness was evidence of its respect for Chinese strength.
