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Foreign Affairs - Coggle Diagram
Foreign Affairs
Condition due to Mao's death
No civil war thanks to PLA backing Hua Guofeng over the Gang of Four.
China remained unified with strong central control.
Social improvements: education, healthcare, gender equality (though uneven).
Industrial growth significant, but technology far behind the West.
China now a nuclear power, held UN seat, and had expanding diplomatic relations (UK, Japan, West Germany, Canada, Australia, NZ, Spain).
BUT all this came with huge costs: famine, purges, mass death, censorship, and a deeply fractured CCP.
Youth disillusioned after CR chaos and betrayal.
Detoriation with USSR.
Both sides pointed nuclear missiles at each other → extremely dangerous (even if partly bluff)
Possibly encouraged by Lin Biao to boost his (and the PLA’s) importance
Impact on China
Showed Mao that the USSR was real threat - reconsidered priorities.
Led to rethinking of the “Third Line” (defence focus was previously against the US).
Set the stage for an opening to the USA.
USSR condemned CR violence; Mao condemned Soviet crushing of Prague Spring (1968)—mainly opportunistic.
Zhenbao Island (March 1969): armed clash; China pushed off island
Impact on Foreigners in China
Foreigners in Chinese cities were harassed, intimidated, and accused of counter-revolutionary activity.
Anthony Grey (Reuters): kept under house arrest for 27 months (1967–69); confined, isolated, and used as political leverage.
Takeaway: Maoist chaos spilled into international diplomacy, making China look dangerously unpredictable.
Red guards ignored diplomatic immunity- 11 foreign embassies attacked + staff beaten
French commercial attaché + wife screamed at for hours.
Improve relations with the US
Nixon-Mao meeting 1972
Symbolically enormous: ended 23 years of no relations.
Still: a geopolitical turning poin
Agreed to expand trade + cultural/scientific contact.
Secret CIA help to China re: Soviet military intelligence.
No agreement on Taiwan or Vietnam.
Key steps
1971 Ping-Pong Diplomacy: US table tennis team invited—first Americans in PRC since 1949.
Kissinger’s secret visit, 1971 (via Pakistan) → huge breakthrough.
Result:
US lifted trade embargo on China.
Preparations for Nixon’s visit (1972).
Taiwan issue: US had recognised Taiwan as “China” since 1949.
UN General Assembly (Oct 1971) voted to expel Taiwan and seat the PRC—major victory for Mao.
Background + Shift
Sino-US relations hostile since 1949 (Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam).
But communication kept alive via embassies in Warsaw.
US realised exploiting the Sino-Soviet split was strategically useful.
China, after Soviet border clashes, became more open to dialogue:
Needed technology + expertise (e.g., Daqing oilfields).
International irritation
Overseas Chinese saw themselves as loyal to the PRC → militant, pro-Mao actions in ~30 countries.
Sometimes provoked violent backlash (e.g., Burma, Indonesia).
Chinese Embassy in London (1967): staff waved machetes + sticks at police while chanting Mao—protected by diplomatic immunity.