On Christmas day, 1978, Phnom Penh fell to the people's army of Vietnam. Over the preceding weeks, the Khmer Rouge had crumbled in the face of a far superior force, and their leadership had melted away into the jungles of eastern Cambodia. Slowly, the Vietnamese military settled into the unfamiliar role of foreign occupiers. They would be compelled to remain in the country for over a decade, fighting an exhausting war of counterinsurgency against their one-time socialist allies. In these years, Vietnam would also be subjected to a cynical campaign of isolation, dishonestly, and disinformation from the international community. In episode 2 of Vietnam's Vietnam, Christopher Bardsley examines the end-game, and shines a light on the abortive efforts of the west and China as they tried and failed to clean up their Cambodian mess.