At the end of the 1950s and the start of the 1960s, the growing internal difficulties embedded in the Sino-Soviet alliance evolved into open estrangement. As bilateral differences over domestic and foreign policies became increasingly deep, the mutual distrust that was profoundly rooted in personal, cultural, and racial factors would loom so large that temporary goodwill could not prevent the alliance from collapsing.
At the end of the 1950s, the CCP still hoped to sustain the alliance. Beijing toned down its harsh attitude toward Moscow and expected the latter to do the same. Liu, the ambassador to Moscow, suggested on January 13, 1959, that, in order to save the relationship, the CCP should stop "publicly criticizing" Soviet policies even if they were "wrong" and should be "more sensible" and "more modest" toward Soviet advisers in China.543 Endorsing Liu's suggestion, Mao instructed the rank and file to learn fTom the Soviet and other Communist countries' "advanced experiences" as long as they "fit" China's realities.544 He also told the Soviet ambassador and ambassadors of ten other socialist states on May 6 that "all of you are our teachers, but the most important teacher is the Soviet Union."545
The Kremlin also made accommodating gestures toward the CCP. The PRC embassy in Moscow reported on January 24, 1959 that the draft of Khrushchev's speech for the Twenty-First CPSU Congress contained a statement characterizing the CCP as "loyal to Marxism-Leninism." Although the CCP "adopt[ed] different methods in constructing socialism," the draft stressed that Moscow had no "objection" to it. Moreover, the draft speech recognized that "all the socialist states will help and exchange experiences with one another on an equal basis so as to realize Communism simultaneously." The third draft of the speech, moreover, omitted the word "peace-loving" when characterizing the American people, which was in line with China's position.546
Despite the more relaxed political relationship, CCP leaders remained extremely sensitive about Moscow’s criticism of China’s economic development, especially when Mao’s Great Leap Forward was in grave trouble. On July 2, 1959, the PRC’s embassy in Moscow alerted Beijing that some Soviet advisers who had just returned fTom China had spread "rumors" that the CCP was facing economic chaos. As these stories about China’s disaster circulated in Moscow, the embassy stressed, Soviet officials might conclude that the CCP leadership had "committed grave errors." Profoundly concerned about this report, Mao added a note to it which read, "Some Soviet Comrades Are Criticizing Our Great Leap Forward," and directed his associates to "study this matter" further.547
Meanwhile, the Kremlin kept trying to press Beijing to adopt a "moderate" policy toward Taiwan and India. When rebuffed by the CCP, Soviet officials complained that Beijing’s stubbornness would cause troubles "in the near future."548 Pushing for a new detente with the United States, Khrushchev expected the CCP to support his initiative.549 Invited for an urgent visit to Beijing in late September and early October 1959, Khrushchev held a seven-hour meeting with Mao and other top CCP leaders on October 2 and accused Mao of taking great risks in his belligerence toward Taiwan and India. Irritated by Khrushchev’s criticism, Mao and his associates viciously refuted the Soviet leader by calling him a "time-server." The agitated Khrushchev shouted back that Mao intended to "subordinate" him.550
After Khrushchev left, Mao prepared the rank and file for a tough stance against the Kremlin. At a meeting with his top associates in December 1959, Mao vehemently accused Moscow of seeking to dominate China. He alluded to ten incidents between 1945 and 1959, the most recent attempt coming from Khrushchev. Because the politically "immature" Khrushchev had such a limited understanding of Marxism-Leninism, he was "easily deceived by imperialists." Knowing little about China, he refused to learn, trusted "false intelligence reports," and talked "too freely." Khrushchev, Mao said, was
29. Nikita Khrushchev (left) and Mao Zedong: a difficult toast during the 1959 meeting in Beijing.
"fearful not only of imperialism but also of Chinese-style Communism, because he is worried that East European and other [Communist] parties will trust not them, but us." In Mao's view, all these problems were "historically rooted." He was certain that Russian chauvinism under Khrushchev would "one day" become much worse. In future years, Mao predicted, Khrushchev might be toppled if he refused to change his policy and attitude.551 At another meeting that month, Mao chastised Khrushchev for treating China as a child, preventing its rapid development, refusing to provide the best assistance, and seeking to sabotage China's current leadership.552
Soviet officials, too, were growing embittered. To prepare his central committee for a possible Sino-Soviet split, Khrushchev circulated a report to the Politburo by senior member Mikhail Suslov on his recent visit to China. Elaborating on the policy differences between Moscow and Beijing, Suslov attributed the Sino-Soviet dispute primarily to Mao. The CCP chairman, he said, tended to "embellish" his successes to the extent that his head had "gotten somewhat dizzy." Much like Stalin, Suslov reported, Mao was
Developing "a cult of personality," portraying himself as "a great genius" and insisting that he alone made all the crucial decisions. Furthermore, Mao regarded himself as the original Marxist, maintaining that he was infallible and that his work must be viewed "as the final word on creative Marxism."553
It is interesting to note, though, that the CCP still wanted to keep the "internal" dispute from going public. When a U-2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union, Beijing openly supported Khrushchev’s protest. On May 8,1960, Vice Premier He Long proclaimed in Budapest that any "provocative aggression" against the USSR would also mean war against China, suggesting the alliance was still operative.554 In private, the PRC Foreign Ministry instructed its embassy in Moscow "not to provoke quarrels" with the Soviets, in particular, when dealing with an international crisis. Whatever the Kremlin said about the alleged American aggression, the embassy should express agreement with it.555 Beijing wanted its embassies abroad to assume a "low profile," hoping to avoid leaving an impression that Khrushchev’s hardened attitude toward Washington was a result of "our influence." Should the issue be raised, Chinese diplomats were instructed to say that "China and the Soviet Union remain united."556
But efforts to sustain Sino-Soviet unity proved fleeting. At a meeting with his top associates on February 22, 1960, Mao decided that the CCP should prepare a public critique of Khrushchev’s "opportunism" and "revisionism."557 Under Mao’s close supervision, a group of CCP "theorists" drafted a series of articles accusing Khrushchev of betraying Lenin.558 In response, Khrushchev orchestrated a "surprise attack" on the CCP at the Budapest gathering of fifty-one Communist and labor parties on June 24-26, which resulted in a resolution criticizing Beijing’s radical domestic and foreign policies.559
What started as an ideological polemic soon turned into a diplomatic crisis in Sino-Soviet relations. On July 16, 1960, the Soviet embassy notified the Chinese Foreign Ministry that all Soviet experts would be immediately
Withdrawn from China because of “their unsatisfactory treatment.”560 Without waiting for China to reply, on July 25, Moscow instructed all Soviet personnel to depart by September 1. Meanwhile, the Kremlin held back more than 900 experts already scheduled to head for China. Within one month, altogether 1,390 Soviet experts had returned, and Moscow had terminated twelve agreements on aid and over 200 cooperative projects on science and technology.561
Although furious, Chinese leaders attempted to minimize the damage. Soviet actions caused huge problems in China, as two-thirds of the 304 Soviet-aid projects were not yet completed. In its first response to Moscow on July 31, Beijing asked the Kremlin to reconsider its decision or, at least, to allow experts to stay until their contracts expired. At a meeting with Soviet ambassador to Beijing Stepan Chervonenko on August 4, Vice Premier Chen Yi asked Moscow to stop “severing the friendship between the two countries.”562 Since the Sino-Soviet estrangement would only benefit their common adversaries, Chen suggested to the Soviet deputy foreign minister two weeks later that Moscow and Beijing should both try to save the alliance.563
Thinking hard about Chen’s suggestion, the Soviet ambassador in Beijing tried to mollify his boss’s anger. In a telegram to Moscow, he warned that unilateral termination ofaid agreements “would be a violation ofinternational law.” Urging the Kremlin to permit Soviet advisers to stay until their contracts were up, he hoped “things would get patched up at the top.”564 Khrushchev, however, refused to yield. He was now resolved to teach the Chinese a lesson. Speaking at the plenum of the Central Committee in 1960, he complained that, whenever he met with Mao, he felt as if he were “talking with Stalin and listening to Stalin,” something that he could no longer tolerate.565
Seeing no change of policy on the Soviet part, Chinese leaders began to harden their attitudes. Accusing Moscow of “seriously violating” international law, the PRC Foreign Ministry asserted that China would now prove that it could never be intimidated by “socialist imperialist blackmail.”566 Meeting with
A high-ranking Soviet delegation in September, Deng Xiaoping admitted that the withdrawal of experts had hurt China, but retorted that the Chinese people would be mobilized "to make up for the losses and build our own nation with our own hands."567 568 At an enlarged Politburo meeting on November 17, Zhou Enlai pointed out that the termination of Soviet aid provided an opportunity for the CCP to demonstrate that "difficulties" could be overcome through "self-reliance." Believing that a nation would have a better chance to develop "under strenuous circumstances," Zhou wanted to galvanize the nation to work "with one will to make the country strong."
Mao felt that the Sino-Soviet estrangement liberated the CCP. At a meeting of the Central Committee on January 18, 1961, he urged his associates not to fear conflict with the Soviets. The worst outcome might be a break in cultural and economic relationships. As long as China was prepared for these contingencies, he believed, "we will not be intimidated in the least" even if Khrushchev severed all relations with China.569
Nor would Mao be placated by Moscow’s offer to provide relief when a devastating famine, resulting from the Great Leap Forward, afflicted China. Khrushchev offered to loan i million tons of grain and half a million tons of sugar, both desperately needed in China, but Mao no longer trusted Khrushchev, and he rejected the assistance. 570 Later, when Moscow offered a five-year deferment on payments for commercial transactions in i960 (up to the amount of 288 million rubles), the CCP turned it down. Instead, Mao somehow found the money to pay the Soviets two years ahead of the due date.571 Whereas the Chinese regarded the Soviets as "evil-minded," the Kremlin viewed the Chinese as stubborn and "ungrateful."572
The Sino-Soviet rift dramatically changed the Cold War in Asia. Moscow notified Beijing in August i96i of its acceptance of a US proposal for a treaty that would ban certain forms of nuclear testing, that would forbid any nuclear power from transferring nuclear technology to any nonnuclear country, and that would prohibit nonnuclear countries from producing or acquiring
Nuclear technology. Such stipulations would endanger China’s ongoing nuclear projects. Beijing reacted angrily, protesting that Soviet acceptance of the treaty would violate China’s sovereignty.573 Regarding the treaty as Moscow’s attempt to collude with the United States to contain China, the CCP decided to speed up China’s atomic project. In early November 1962, it set the year 1964 as the best time to explode its first bomb.574 At the same time, wary of Indian “expansionism” and suspicious of Khrushchev’s siding with Jawaharlal Nehru in the Sino-Indian border dispute, Beijing did not hesitate to attack India in October 1962. Zhou Enlai explained to the Soviet ambassador to Beijing that China could no longer stand India’s provocation and was “determined to counterattack.”575 The Chinese leaders suspected that Moscow was colluding with New Delhi, thereby assisting a dangerous enemy on their border.
World History
