China´s relations with the USSR and the US were largely shaped by increasing mistrust and suspicion. Discuss with reference to the period between 1947 and 1979.

United States

USSR

introduction for the essay

Mao´s condemnation of Khrushchev´s policies

Soviet criticism of the Great Leap Forward

Cuban missile crisis

Sino-Soviet border War

Korean War

PRC and decolonization

in Khrushchev´s 1956 Secret Speech he attacked Stalin´s crimes against the party, and his personality cult-> Mao saw this as an attack on his own leadership style

Mao saw the crushing of the Hungarian uprising 1956 as a failure of the USSR to contain reactionary forces

Mao saw Krushchev´s peaceful co-existence policy as ideological heresy

Mao anf the PRC considered these things as evidence that the USSR had become revisionist, too far away from Marxism,at the Conference of Communist Parties 1957 Mao called on the USSR to abandon revisionism , the PRC presented itself as the ´real´leader of the World revolution

the Great Leap Forward was a policy which aimed to rapidly improve the agricultural and industrial sectors of China, worthless steel was produces in masses a lot in backyards, instead of harvesting crop, in agriculture new methods were introduced such asclose cropping, which made the crop compete with itself

as a direct reuslt of this policy millions of Chinese died, a lot of starvation

1959 the Soviets called the GP a ´faulty in design and erroneous in practice´policy, it further declared that the application and concepts used were unorthodox-> Mao was infuriated

Albania

Khrushchev makes speech criticizing Albania for its ´Stalinist´ regime , PRC observer walks out at the speech, USSR takes back aid for Albania, China comes in and replaces aid-> severance of diplomatic relations between the two, Khrushchev calls Mao ´Asian Hitler´, Mao calls Khrushchev ´redundant old boot´

Soviets still had territories taken from the Chinese in tsarist times

1962 border disputes increased and both sides increased their number of troops

1969 this conflict at the Ussuri river turned into a War

Mao feared a Soviet invasion and nuclear strikes, so he ordered to prepare for this scenario

1969-> possibly the lowest year for Sino-Soviet relations, the border War, the PRC and the USSR realigned missiles to face each other, both wanted to be the leading communist nation in the World

´new depths of division´caused by the Cuban missile crisis

Mao criticised Khrushchev for his handling of the crisis, he accused them of lack of commitment to the revolutionary communist cause

Mao mostly critised the backing down of Khrushchev, the placement of detectable missiles and the negative impact it had on the struggle AGAINST US imperialism

Vietnam

both the PRC and the USSR wanted have the Vietnamese communists on their own side, the PRC accused the USSR of beingin league with the US about Vietnam

the USSR won this ´competition´, by supplying Vietnam with aid and arms througout the War

Mao was not involved in the initial attack of North Korea on South Korea

Mao condemned American aggression, US justified itself by saying the North had been the aggressor

Chinese warned that if Americans would go north, the PRC would intervene, thousands of Chinese were already fighting with the North Koreans as ´volunteers´

when the US went over the Yalu river, China intervened

for the next three years millions of Chinese fought in NOrth Korea

1953 the People´s Liberation Army had lost almost a million men

IMPACT ON RELATIONS-> hostility was now a key factor in Sino-American relations, the PRC had been weakened by the War, the USSR also made the PRC pay for all the support it had given-> they wanted to stand independently form Moscow

Taiwan

1954-> Mao tested US commitment to defending Taiwan, he shelled the islands Quemoy and Matsu, Eisenhower responded strongly

1958.> Mao shells Quemoy and Matsu again, US navy vessels were fired, the US prepared for War-> Mao stepps back

results/ impact on relations-> US believed the PRC is an expansionist state, following changes are made in relations: trade embargo with the PRC, obstruction of PRC´s entry into the UN, massive aid to Taiwan, instigation of SEATO

the PRC continued to believe that Sino-American relations could only improve if Taiwan no longer was a seperate state

PRC supported revolutionary/ decolonizing movements in the developing world, partly to replace the USSR as leader of communism

1955 the Chinese premier said that the US was a danger to World peace

1966 Dean Rusk summarised the U policy towards China-< US does not want to overthrow the PRC, the PRC should not be overestimated and the US object to the PRC supporting revolutionary movements in other countries

detente in the 1970s

why detente?

containment was not possible in Vietnam, US needed to leave wanted PRC´s help for this

PRC now had ICBM capability-> more dangerous not to have relations

Nixon wanted to put pressure on Soviet-American detente attempts at detente

detente

ping-pong diplomacy-> ping pong games between US and PRC players, secret talks between Zhou Enlai and Henry Kissinger

1972-< Nixon visits Beijing, Shanghai communique established

PRC saw USSR as mainrival, so wanted reduction of tension with the US

China wanted to get into UN and US witdrawal form Infdochina

PRC was worried about Japan´s power

Mao said detente would be temporary, the PRC would remain vigilant against US imperialism and aggression

US proposes ´two China policy´-> both Taiwan and China have seats in different councils/places-> rejected by Taiwan and China

PRC gets UN membership 1971

Nixon declared Taiwan is not a matter for the US to decide

The People´s Republic of China´s relations with the two Cold War superpowers developed as the PRC rose as a communist power. The Cold War was a period of high tension and hostility between the Soviet Union and the Unites States, which developed after the Second World War and ended with the fall of the Soviet Union. The communist Chinese nation played an important role between the two, as the emerging superpower China ideologically was communist like the USSR, but mistrust and suspicion between the two largely shaped their relations. The US was the ideological enemy of the PRC, but their mistrust and suspicion had different outcomes, leading to closer diplomatic relations, as opposed to the Soviet Union and the PRC´s relations.

conclusion for the essay

China´s relations with the USSR and the US were indeed largely shaped by mistrust and suspicion. Conflicts between the Soviet Union and the People´s Republic of China were affected by their different interpretations of communist ideology. They mistrusted each other on how to for example handle crisis, such as the Cuban missile crisis. They both fought for being the leader of communist World revolution as Mao, wanted to take the USSR´s place. Similarly China´s relations with the US was also largely shaped by mistrust and suspicion, as can be seen by actions taken about Taiwan, but the key difference is that in the 1970s both the PRC´s and the US´s hostility towards the USSR was so intense, they improved relations between each other, by pursuing Sino-American detente.

In conclusion it can be said that the PRC´s relations with the US and the USSR were largely shaped by mistrust and suspicion, but the factor of ideology has to be in the equasion of relation between the countries and the USSR´s and PRC´s desire to lead World revolution, the old power struggle between the two. On the US side this mistrust and suspicion shaped relations, but actually drew the PRC and the US into closer relations with each other. These relations were and still are strong. But the underlying foundation of them still is suspicion of the other, which can be presently seen, by the Chinese ´spy´ baloon shot down above the US, the mistrust their relations were built on still exists.