[6] On 9 November, the PLA attacked Ma’anshan (Hill 1175.4), which, at its foot, had a highway connecting Malipo County and Thanh Thủy, a broder town.

In light of China's decision to maintain military pressure on Vietnam, PLA forces in Guangxi selected Fakashan for an attack.

The initial attack was planned for New Year's Day in 1981 but was postponed to early May because of mountain floods in the region.

It is also speculated that since it was the first major operation since 1979, the PLA military leadership believed that more preparation was needed since it was transitioning from a military approach involving human wave attacks to a modern one, involving a smaller but well-trained group of soldiers that could perform surprise attacks.

[2][1] To justify this military operation, China announced that the attack was in response to acts of aggression by Vietnam during the first quarter of that year.

[2] Although the conflict raged on, China did not want to escalate and deployed only border guard units, instead of regular troops, into the battles.

[2] The PLA defenders managed to repulse the Vietnamese assaults with claims of inflicting 1,218 casualties (705 dead and 513 wounded) on the PAVN forces.