Sino-Soviet Relations

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Sino-Soviet Relations

China and the Soviet Union had a tense relationship during the cold war.

Both countries were communist, but had different interpretations of it.

China – rural/agricultural based revolution.

Soviet Union – urban/industrial based revolution.

The key differences between the USSR and the Chinese were ideological.

Tension and suspicion between the Soviet Union and China began almost right away.

Stalin feared Mao wanted to be the sole leader of the Communist world.

Stalin worried about the Cold War spreading to Asia.

He was worried the Chinese Communists wouldn’t recognize the disputed border territory in Manchuria and Xinjiang.

Stalin had supported the GMD and encouraged the CCP to join forces with them.

Cold War spreads to Asia (Korean War)

Tensions are created as a result of the Korean War.

Mao wanted revenge against the Soviet Union because of what happened during the War.

Soviets made China pay for all the weapons they used.

Mao lost a son in the War

1953…

Stalin Dies

Relaxation of tension between the Soviet Union and the PRC.

Khrushchev criticized Stalin in his secret speech which angered Mao since he had a lot in common with Stalin. (personality cult)

Songs written praising them, etc

Thought of as heroes at the time

The terms "cult of personality" and "personality cult" were popularized by

Khrushchev's Secret Speech

of 1956.

Aum

Shinrikyo

Shoko

Asahara

Taiwan 1958

Mao wanted Taiwan and was willing to go to war with the US alone, without Soviet support.

The Soviets thought Mao was crazy and did not understand the political reality of the world.

The Soviet Union withdrew its their economic advisors from China.

Mao wanted to embarrass Khrushchev on his visit to Beijing in 1958.

Mao placed Khrushchev in an un-airconditioned hotel full of mosquitos.

Mao then invited him swimming, knowing he was very fat and couldn:t swim.

In the pool, Khrushchev was given a bathing suit too small and needed

waterto

stay a float.

Great Leap Forward

In 1958, Mao directed the Chinese to catch up to the rest of the world in agriculture and industry.

Mao thought the China could do it without any help from the Soviets.

Mao said that in 15 years, China could catch up to the UK.

The Chinese built backyard furnaces in an attempt to produce steel from scrap metal.

They focused on making steel out of basic essentials like pots, pans, nails, shovels.

The steel produced from the peasants was poor quality that was basically useless.

Millions of Chinese starved as they focused on making metal, not food.

In 1959, Mao did not want his Great Leap Forward to be seen as a failure, so the Chinese exported grain instead of feeding their own people.

18-40 Million Chinese starved to death as a result.

Soviets denounce the GLF. (Strong Criticism)

Faulty in design and erroneous in practice.

The Soviets denounced Mao.

Albania

Khrushchev called Albania a ‘dissenting Communist state’.

In a speech, He attacked

the Albanian Government for its Stalinist doctrines and backward ways.

China thought that the speech was also an attack on China.

Mao was called the Asian Hitler and a living corpse.

Mao called Khrushchev a redundant old boot.

The Sino-Indian War, 1962

China had taken control of Tibet in 1950.

Mao wanted to change China’s border with India.

A war over this territory took place in 1962.

- The Soviets sold India MIG fighter Jets.

- India allowed the US to fly U-2s from their territory.

China would win this war, taking the territory it wanted.

China’s relationship with the Soviet Union grew worse as the Soviets were accused of “aiding the enemy”.

The United States had gained sensitive intelligence via the U2 flights.

Cuban Missile Crisis

Mao criticised Khrushchev for his handling of the crisis.

Mao attacked…

The placement of detectable missiles

Backing down from the US (removing missiles)

Negative impact it would have on the struggle against US imperialism.

China’s Cultural Revolution 1966-1969

After the failure of the Great Leap Forward, Mao wanted to ‘relaunch’ himself.

Mao tried to re-ignite the revolutionary spirit of the Chinese by attacking traditional Chinese culture.

Young Chinese were encouraged to denounce (

criticise

) their elders, teachers and parents and send them to re-education.

Teachers, writers, intellectuals, musicians, older leaders, and everyone else who were viewed as representing old thoughts were attacked.

China’s Cultural Revolution, just like the Great Leap Forward was a failure.

Many attacks got out of hand and as many as 1 million people died.

Khrushchev was replaced in 1964.

Unlike after Stalin’s death, there was no period of reconciliation between the USSR and the PRC.

Instead, the Soviets attacked China during the Cultural Revolution

- Trading illegally with the apartheid regime in South Africa

- Receiving assistance from West Germany on nuclear research

- Developing a worldwide opium trade.

- Sending supplies to US forces in Vietnam

China, the USSR and nuclear weapons

- Unlike the Soviet Union, Mao did not fear nuclear war.

- He thought it was an unavoidable part of the revolutionary struggle.

- Mao criticized Khrushchev for signed the Test-Ban Treaty in 1963 with the United States.

Khrushchev responded by suggesting Mao secretly wanted the USSR and the USA to destroy each other in a nuclear war, leaving China as the number one power.

Mao was also angered by the Soviet decision to not give China nuclear technology.

China: If you are our friend, you would want to help us develop our own nukes.

USSR: No, as you are our friend, you do not need your own nukes, we will look after you.

China tested its first nuke in 1964.