In response to Vietnam's invasion of Cambodia in 1975, hundreds of thousands of Chinese troops waged a bloody strike along Vietnam's northern border on February 17th, 1979. China had previously allied with the Northern forces against the U.S. during the Vietnam War. However, when Vietnam joined the Council for Mutual Economic Cooperation, which was dominated by China's Cold War communist adversary, the Soviet Union, and signed a Treaty of Friendship, China was quick to cast them as the "Cuba of the East."

To punish Vietnam, China resorted to  tactics that destroyed everything in their path, from relying on "human waves" of ragtag soldiers, to attacking provincial capitals when residents were still sleeping. More than 30,000 Vietnamese civilians died during the three-week border war.