China and the First Indo-China War,1950-54 89 returned),promised that the CCP would do its best "to offer every military assistance needed by Vietnam in its struggle against France." When Ho returned to Vietnam he was certain that he could now rely on China's support.13 The CCP's attitude towards Vietnam was first and foremost the natural result of the Chinese Communist perception of an Asian revolution following the Chinese model.During the Chinese Commu- nist revolution,Mao and other CCP leaders had consistently seen it as part of a world proletarian revolutionary movement initiated by the Russian Bolsheviks.As it progressed,however,and differed from the Russian Revolution by concentrating largely on rural instead of urban areas,Mao and the CCP leadership had second thoughts on the nature and significance of their revolution.During 1948-49 they began to talk in terms of a much broader anti-imperialist Asian and world revolution.First,their model of revolution transcended China and offered an example of universal significance to other peoples struggling for national liberation.Secondly,the victory of the Chinese revolution represented the beginning of a new high tide of revolution movements of oppressed peoples in Asia and the world.Con- sequently,they believed it their duty to assist Communist revolution- aries and national liberation movements in other countries in order to promote an Asia-wide or even world-wide revolution.14 The CCP's policy of supporting the Vietnamese Communists was also consistent with Mao's "leaning to one side"approach,one of the corner-stones of the CCP's domestic and international policy in the early years of the PRC.Materials available now reveal that during Liu Shaoqi's secret visit to the Soviet Union in July and August 1949, Stalin strongly encouraged the Chinese to take a larger role in promoting revolutionary movements in East Asia.15 When Mao visited Moscow,the Chinese and the Soviets may have further divided the sphere of responsibility between them,leaving the support of Communist revolutionaries in Vietnam as China's duty.16 13.Huang Zheng,Ho Chi Minh and China,pp.125-26;Hoang Van Hoan,A Drop in the Ocean,pp.254-55;Contemporary Chinese Army.pp.520,576. 14.Liu Shaoqi,"Internationalism and nationalism,"Renmin ribao,7 November 1948;Liu Shaoqi's address on the Conference of Union of the Asian-Pacific region, Xinhua yuebao,No.2,Vol.1,p.440.See also Jin Zhonghua,"China's liberation and the world situation,"Shijie zhishi (World Afairs),Vol.20,No.1,17 June 1949;Du Ruo,"China's liberation and South-east Asia,"World Affairs,Vol.20,No.4,8 July 1949;"China's revolution and the struggle against colonialism,"People's China,16 February 1950,pp.4-5. 15.For a more detailed discusson of Liu Shaoqi's visit to Moscow,see Chen Jian, "The Sino-Soviet alliance and China's entry into the Korean War,"(Washington,D.C.: The Cold War International History Project of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars,December 1991),pp.9-15;see also Shi Zhe,"Random reflections of Comrade Liu Shaoqi,"Geming huiyilu(Revolutionary Memoirs),supplementary issue,No.I(October 1983),pp.110-11;Zhu Yuanshi,"Liu Shaoqi's secret visit to the Soviet Union in 1949,"Dangde wenxian (Party Historical Documents),No.3(1991), pp.76-77. 16.Interviews with Chinese researchers in May 1991;see also Li Ke,"Chinese military advisers,"p.27