China And Russia example essay topic

The Sino-Soviet split was an increase in tensions between the China and USSR relations, particularly strong during the late 1950's. Salisbury writes, "The Sino-Soviet split [was] the deepest, most serious confrontation yet to arise in the Communist world... ". , caused primarily by the differences in ideologies of how the two countries viewed communism. They were formed independently of each other, had different attitudes towards imperialist countries, were under different technological circumstances, and ultimately had different approaches towards communist revolutions and ideas. The basic views and understandings of communism that formed in the two countries dissimilar set of circumstances are what eventually led to their disapproving view of each other and each other's beliefs, causing the split. They are both equal in blame. Firstly, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) came to power without any Soviet assistance.

Mao Tse-tung, leader of the CCP, defeated the Kuomintang (KMT) with his communist army and created his own communist revolution. The People's Republic of China in 1949 was completely Mao's doing. However Mao realised that China desperately needed economic aid, best accessible through the Soviet Union. Mao and Stalin were not in best terms - Mao had defied recommendations from Moscow again and again, and Stalin called the Chinese Revolution "a fake".

But the Sino-Soviet Alliance was established, under which the Chinese placed their armed forces at Stalin's service in exchange for Soviet aid and equipment. It seemed appropriate, as China and Russia were natural brother countries, but China did not want to become one of the USSR's controlled satellites with inferior status. In 1956, three years after Stalin's death, Nikita Khrushchev, the new Soviet Communist leader, denounced the Stalin regime in what became known as his "secret speech". This offended the Chinese because, in their opinion, it downgraded them through not being informed ahead of time of this major change in international communist policy. This is what really marked the beginning of the Sino-Soviet split.

The second big difference in the two countries ideas was their attitudes towards foreign and, in particular, imperialist countries. During the period of the Alliance, the USSR felt less threatened by imperialism, both internally and externally, and wanted to trade with the West. However, China, which was less established than Russia, felt very intimidated by the prospects of imperialism taking control of the country. For this reason, Mao plainly believed that the United States were not to be trusted, despite President Truman's attempts to make a friendship between China and America. Khrushchev on the other hand was looking to soften the effects of the Cold War and the isolation policy of imperialism, putting aside whatever that meant for the governments and Communist Parties relying on Soviet support.

This approach by the Soviet Union was extremely threatening to the Chinese. Not only was the possibility of Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang regaining power but also a vast American army building up in Korea and Vietnam. The Chinese economy was especially backward at this time and with the threat of imperialism so close, Mao was obviously not pleased with Khrushchev's actions in this matter. China and Russia not only had large ideological differences, but were also under different circumstances physically. China was a very backward country and the USSR's economy was excelling. This was Mao's main reason for the treaty between them, as he needed the economic assistance from Russia to get started.

However, building up China's economy still wasn't easy. Severe measures were needed to check inflation, restore communications, and re-establish the domestic order necessary for economic development. The USSR always looked down on China as inferior to them for this reason. China disagreed with this idea. Soon after Khrushchev's "secret speech", China began to stress with renewed vitality that Russia had corrupted communism and being too soft in relations with the capitalist world.

Accusations between communist parties at this time were "levelled against the leaders of a fraternal party as being 'the biggest revisionists of our time,' who are in 'collusion with U.S. imperialism,' and 'throw wide open the gates for the restoration of capitalism,' " the split was obvious. Affairs worsened and in 1960 Russia withdrew all of it's technical advisers from China, refusing to help China develop it's own nuclear weapons. This was interpreted by China as a deliberate hindrance to any industrial progress and an attempt to keep China in an inferior position. Another big difference in the approaches the two countries took was that of their revolutions. These were two very different circumstances.