In 1946, the first Indochina war broke out between the French and the Viet Minh. This conflict was marked by opposing ideologies, namely communism and Western liberal democratic tendencies. Moreover, the first Indochina war was an anti-imperialist struggle, between France, a former great colonial power, and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV), which demanded independence from France. Between 1946 and early 1950, the Viet Minh fought off the French forces without any outside help from the Tonkin area. During this period, the first Indochina war remained a contained conflict between France and the DRV. In January 1950, however, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) formally recognised the DRV and opened the gateway for a closer relationship between the neighbouring countries. Given the geographical proximity between Indochina and China, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Vietnamese communists had close ties to one another. In fact, Ho Chi Minh, leader of the DRV, lived in China during the 1920s and spoke fluent Chinese. Thus, the victory of the Chinese communists under Mao Zedong in 1949 emboldened Ho to seek aid and international support from his northern neighbour. The Chinese’s official recognition and subsequent support would later ‘internationalise’ the conflict in Indochina. This essay seeks to determine why and how the conflict in Indochina became ‘internationalised’ during 1950. First, this essay will turn to the historical debate about the year 1950 regarding Chinese, and US involvement in Indochina. Second, this essay will examine the definition of an ‘internationalised’ conflict and, third, will turn to the historical context of the first Indochina war and analyse why and how the Indochina conflict moved from a regional anticolonial struggle for independence into the broader context of the globalised cold war.