alternatehistory.com

I was reading B. R. Myer's excellent the Cleanest Race when this got my attention:

"Relation between Beijing and Pyongyang worsened in 1966 when China's leader launched the Cultural Revolution. Kim evidently worried that Mao fever might infect his own people, which in turn might encourage Beijing to attempt a coup or an invasion. This was no mere paranoia; Chinese troops did indeed make make a few provocative incursions across the North Korean border."

This made me to take look at Wikipedia and this is what I found:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People's_Republic_of_China%E2%80%93North_Korea_relations

In 1965, in the midst of the Sino-Soviet Split, in order to punish the North Korean regime for its lack of support, China is thought to have demanded that the 160 square kilometers around Paektusan be conceded to it as compensation for the economic and military aid provided by Peking during the Korean War (1950-53)[16] Between March 1968 and March 1969, various military skirmishes took place in the Paektusan region between the North Korean and Chinese armed forces. These were consequences of the tensions caused by the cultural revolution and the savage criticisms made of Kim Il-Sung by the Red Guards. During these years of unrest, Peking closed its border with its neighbor. China abandoned its claim in November 1970, in order to improve relations with Pyongyang. The abandonment of the Chinese claim was preceded by a rapprochement between Peking and Pyongyang from the start of the 1970s. In January, both governments signed a navigation agreement on the Yalu and Tumen rivers.

So, I started to think what would happen if some of those skirmishes accidentally escalated more and there was a real war between DPRK and PRC? How would the world react? And how would the war go?

(I think the war was extremely unlikely but it is interesting to make thought experiments.)
Top