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.