In 1945 and 1946 Nationalist Chinese troops occupied Indochina north of the 16th parallel, Britain occupied areas south of that line. The Chinese were much more tolerant of the Viet Minh in their zone than the British were in theirs.
So, what if the Chinese, who had turned down an offer to administer all Indochina as a UN trustee on the grounds of cultural incompatibility, had shirked occupation duty altogether in 1945?
The Chinese simply plead that they have mammoth tasks in simply reoccuppying their own country and can't spare anything for Indochina.
Who would have been assigned to the vacuum in north Indochina? An extended British force? Americans?
Australians? What consequences would flow from this?
So, what if the Chinese, who had turned down an offer to administer all Indochina as a UN trustee on the grounds of cultural incompatibility, had shirked occupation duty altogether in 1945?
The Chinese simply plead that they have mammoth tasks in simply reoccuppying their own country and can't spare anything for Indochina.
Who would have been assigned to the vacuum in north Indochina? An extended British force? Americans?
Australians? What consequences would flow from this?