The Chinese Road

The Chinese Road (or The Chinese Roads) were a series of highways built as a

The Kingdom of Laos gained independence from French colonial rule at the end of the First Indochina War. From its inception, Laos was troubled by a communist insurrection. The United States stepped in provide foreign aid to Laos, to aid in quelling the uprising.^[1]

In March 1961, the Geneva Conference of 1954 reconvened with wider participation to reconsider the neutralization of the Kingdom of Laos. Since the 1954 Agreement was signed, a Pathet Lao insurgency had burgeoned, threatening the national sovereignty. This would eventually result in an attempt to settle the Laotian Civil War, the International Agreement on the Neutrality of Laos signed on 23 July 1962.^[2]

Prime Minister

The first road constructed by the Chinese was begun by 10,000 laborers in 1962, following a deteriorated route from Meng La, China to Phongsali, Laos. The 80 kilometer dirt track was completed on 25 May 1963. It was dubbed the Laotian-Chinese Friendship Highway and given to the Pathet Lao. The new road washed out in that rainy season. A repair and washout cycle followed for the next two years. The only military activity connected with this road was some training of Patriotic Neutralists officers by the Chinese army in Phongsali later, in 1965. After completion of the Friendship Highway, the Chinese did not consult the Royal Lao Government (RLG) before beginning to survey other road alignments.^[3][4][6]

At the time, the CIA was running a covert paramilitary operation from Nam Yu, Laos, somewhat southwest of this original road and near Luang Namtha. CIA sponsored Royalist guerrillas had cut the Route 32 Pathet Lao supply line between Moung Sing and Luang Namtha. The CIA thought fighting between their guerrillas and the Pathet Lao along the border may have sparked this road construction. During the dry season of the first few months of 1966, Chinese crews began constructing three more roads within Yunnan Province, but pointed towards the Laotian border. Route 411 ran southwest from Meng Mang. Route 412 stretched toward the border village of Batene. Route 4023 split from 412 with a southeasterly heading. After a rainy season break, the road crews resumed construction in late 1966, extending the three roads to the border by early 1967. Chinese porters helped restore the broken Route 32 logistics link. By late 1967, People's Liberation Army forces began making one- and two-day incursions into Laos along the border. Route 12 was now defended by 17 antiaircraft guns.^[7]

The resident CIA case officer now sent road watch teams from Nam Yu into China to spy on the construction as the work continued into 1968. The Lao loss of the Battle of Nam Bac southeast of the construction in January seemed to spur the Chinese on in their endeavors. There were now six companies of the PLA stationed within Laos. However, on 16 June 1968, road work was halted because of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. It resumed in mid-August with the arrival of a convoy of 208 trucks. By the end of August, Route 412 had been extended to join the existing Route 31. In turn, this hooked to Route 4. By mid-October there were 1,000 combat troops guarding 2,000 construction workers on Route 4; they were equipped with ten bulldozers and a steamroller. Their expressed purpose was the upgrading of Route 4 into a six meter wide extension of their road network to Moung Sai. There it would meet both Route 45 and Route 46.^[8][9]

In January 1969, the new road segment was completed to Moung Sai. The remainder of the dry season was spent by the Chinese in building a road northeastward to Moung Sai to connect with the old Route 45. By April, the rains again halted construction. Later that year, dry weather brought on a resumption of road work. The new segment to Route 45 was restarted, though at a low level of activity. The Chinese emphasis became Route 46.^[8]

Meanwhile, Route 45 had been extended to Moung Khoua on the

The old French Route 46 alignment south down the Pak Beng Valley to

As 1970 began, Communist forces began to drive the Royalist guerrillas from the Pak Beng Valley all the way south to the Mekong. A couple of checkpoint posts on the Thai-Lao border were seized.[10] Ambassador Godley cabled Washington proposing that Operation Snake Eyes become a road watch team passively gathering military intelligence before the Royalists could mount an attack. As he awaited an answer, two Royal Lao Air Force (RLAF) T-28s struck the road in early January 1970. Two Thai mercenary pilots, instigated by their government, flew out of Vientiane and struck a Chinese convoy, destroying 15 trucks. At about this time, recruitment of Commando Raiders for operations against the Chinese construction began in Luang Prabang.^[12]

One week later, Operation Snake Eyes was authorized on the proviso that Souvanna Phouma, who was a Neutralist, come out as opposed to the Chinese road construction through the Kingdom. With only an inactive skeleton crew stationed along Route 46 for the wet season, the actual launch date for the operation was postponed to six months thence. However, three platoons of guerrillas from Nam Yu were infiltrated 50 kilometers south of Luang Namtha to spy on Route 46; they were dubbed Teams 37A, 37B, and 37C.^[13]

The six month setback proved to be unfortunate timing for operations against the Chinese Road. As the postponement ended, the

The implications of the Chinese Road's construction remain obscure. Originally, the CIA could not discern a reason for building this Phongsali road segment. However, it theorized that the Chinese were willing to let the North Vietnamese carry the brunt of waging war in Laos, but that security of the Lao/Chinese border was still a concern.[4] U.S. military intelligence analysts speculated about the purpose of the Road. Was it an infiltration route to aid the Thai communist insurrection near the northern Thai border? Or was it built to counter any possible PAVN influence in the Mekong Valley?^[9] Postwar Zhou Enlai indeed insinuated to Henry Kissinger that the Chinese Road was a ploy to deny North Vietnamese any influence along the Mekong. However, he did not confirm that.^[16]

By late 1971, international politics impinged on the Chinese Road. President Nixon was intent on capitalizing on dissension between the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union. To cozy up the Chinese leadership, Nixon halted the cross-border intelligence missions being staged out of northern Laos. He also barred any USAF flights within 11 kilometers of Route 46. When aircraft impinged on the construction and came under fire, he ignored the incidents.^[14]

An anonymous CIA intelligence analyst drew the sole conclusion from the situation in a pithy observation: "Northern Laos has a new border."^[9]

Postwar

Although Chinese road builders remained in Laos through the end of the Laotian Civil War, Routes 45 and 19 were never quite linked, so the North Vietnamese could not transit Laos to its far northwest. The new Chinese routes were not extended to Luang Prabang. After the war's end, the

By 1993, there was a seasonal dirt track connecting the Chinese Road with Luang Prabang.[17]

Notes

References

• By using [1], one can click Articles on the pulldown menu and select "The Adventures of Bob and Don". Episode three is an eyewitness account to operations against the Chinese Road.