China and the First Indo-China War,1950-54 87 Figure 1:Indo-China,1950-54 Liuzhoue Yunnan China Hekou Ca0Bng◆ Lao Cai入 Dong Khe* Guangxi .Lai Chau Lang Son。 phon喀 Nghia Loe Yen Baye .Thai Nguyen Sali Son Lae Phu ThoeVinh Yen Dien Bien Phu Mao Khe Hoa Bin Hal Phong Xam Neua. Ninh Binh。 ●Luang Prabang Xiang Khoary. Gulf of Hainan Tonkin Laos Vietnam Thailand South China Sea Cambodia January 1950,Liu Shaoqi,who was next to Mao in the CCP leader- ship,decided to send Luo Guibo,then director of the Administrative Office of the Central Military Committee of the CCP(CMCC),to be the CCP's liaison representative in Vietnam.Liu made it clear that Luo's appointment was approved by Mao and the CCP Central Committee.His task in Vietnam was to establish good communi- cations between the two parties as well as to provide the CCP Central Committee with first-hand information for their plans to assist the Vietnamese Communists in their struggle for independence.Liu stressed to Luo that "it is the duty of those countries which have achieved the victory of their own revolution to support peoples who are still conducting the just struggle for liberation,"and that"it is our international obligation to support the anti-French struggle of the Vietnamese people."7 In mid-January 1950,the PRC granted formal 7.Luo Guibo,"Comrade Liu Shaoqi sent me to Vietnam,"pp.233-34;interview with Luo Guibo,22 August 1992