Sino-Soviet relations

Sino-Soviet relations

Following the Second World War a new political order existed. The world essentially was divided between two dominant and opposed spheres, that of the United States and that under the hegemony of the Soviet Union. This global order heavily influenced the foreign policy decisions of policy makers in both Washington and Moscow. Joseph Stalin, the General Secretary of the Communist party and the absolute dictator of the Soviet Union, sought national security for the Soviet Union above all else in the sphere of foreign relations. Stalin’s dealings with other governments, including other Communist leaders, aimed largely towards serving the needs he perceived to exist in his country. Stalin’s government in dealing with China and Chinese communists, therefore, was more concerned with Soviet national security than with the fulfillment of the international communist revolution.

Soviet-Chinese Relations Under Lenin

Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the Bolshevik party and the Revolution of 1917 which ushered in communist rule in Russia, believed firmly in the idea of a world revolution and the eventual victory of the International Soviet Republic. Lenin, in making contact with the government in Peking, expressed that “The Chinese revolution will lead to revolution throughout the entire East, and will bring finally the downfall of world imperialism.”

On May 4, 1919 Chinese students and intellectuals demonstrated against what they viewed as pro-Japanese sentiments in the Peking government during what became known as the May Fourth Movement. Moscow began monitoring the situation in China with hopes of fostering a communist movement. In 1921 a meeting was held in Shanghai in which a new party, the Chinese Comm...

... middle of paper ...

...he Soviet Experiment: Russia, the USSR, and the Successor

States. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.

Articles

Chen, Jian. “Working Paper #1: The Sino-Soviet Alliance and China's Entry into the

Korean War.” Cold War International History Project Virtual Archive. 1 Jun.

1992. Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. 30 March 2003.

<http://wwics.si.edu/index.cfm?topic_id=1409&fuseaction=library.document&id

=468>.

Chapters in edited books

Jun, Niu. “The Orgins of the Sino-Soviet Alliance,” in Westad, Odd Arne, ed. Brothers

In Arms: The Rise and Fall of the Sino-Soviet Alliance, 1945-1963. Washington

D.C.: Woodrow Wilson Center Press, 1998.

Westad, Odd Arne. “Introduction,” in Westad, Odd Arne, ed. Brothers In Arms: The Rise

and Fall of the Sino-Soviet Alliance, 1945-1963. Washington D.C.: Woodrow

Wilson Center Press, 1998.