The Sino-Soviet Split

Résumé du document

"From 1945 to 1962 and from 1979 to 1991, the international order was divided between the East and the West?. This famous statement is the core of what has been called the "cold war" by the International Relations Theorist. The split between two models (Capitalism-liberalism and Marxism) has shaped the world through alignments with the US and the USSR for more than 30 years. However, one of the most powerful communist countries of the world, the People's Republic of China, was not perfectly aligned with the USSR. Moreover, the two models were competing in the world, and China had its own relations with the US that led to the so-called "Sino-Soviet Split", approximately from 1956 (and the destalinization) to 1991 (and the collapse of the Soviet Union). The Sino-Soviet split can be considered the new cold war within the Communist World.

Extraits

[...] Besides, the restoration of relations between USSR and Tito's Yugoslavia irritated Mao. Back in 1945, Stalin gave China the Manchuria and almost 1bn military aid to support Mao in the creation of the People Republic of China. Soon after, Mao's visit too Stalin in Moscow led to the “treaty of friendship and alliance” (1950), including a low-interest Soviet loan of 300 million $ and a 30 years military alliance. As a consequence of the split, the USSR decided to stop the economic aid toward China in 1960, which damaged the Chinese economy substantially 3. [...]

[...] Chang, Friends and Enemies, the United States, China and the USSR, 1948-1972. Stanford University Press - Jackson, Roberts and Georg Sorenson Introduction to International Relations: Theories and Approaches. 3rd Ed. Oxford University Press. - Hoffmann S., Raymond Aron et la théorie des relations internationales Politique étrangère 2006/4 pp. 723-734 - David M. Bechman “Mobilizing for War: China's Limited Ability to Cope with the Soviet Threat” in Issues and studies, institute for the International relations. (2007/12). Vol. 43-4, pp.1-38. [...]

[...] Explanations of two specific cases : the Korea and Vietnam War China and the USSR provided communist allies with military assistance in Korea. In 1952, the CIA figured out that it was not a common communist policy, but that China and the USSR had two different kinds of propagandas: the USSR was introducing it as aid to China's forces in Korea, while China was willing to prove it had a great influence in the communist world. In fact, they were supporting two different communist parties (the Maoist and the Leninist). [...]

[...] The foreign policies of both countries as well as their historical relations, and the double application of the Marxist theory on international relations are major issues. These are the basic origins of the split. Moreover, the role of the US is also major, as relations of the PRC and the USSR with the US influenced the Chinese and Soviet foreign policies toward each other and toward the US. Meanwhile, the US foreign policies are also essential to explain how the bipolar world of the cold war turned into a “tripolar” world. Obviously enough, the whole international order changed with that new organization of powers. [...]

[...] Moreover, the two models were competing in the world, and China had its own relations with the US that led to the so-called “Sino-Soviet Split”, approximately from 1956 (and the destalinization) to 1991 (and the collapse of the Soviet Union). Thesis statement: The Sino-Soviet split can be considered as a new cold war within the Communist World. We will first study the characteristic of that split and how the two Communist Powers split from each other. Then, we will focus on the implication of that split on the international order, proving thus that the Sino-Soviet split can be seen as another war”. I. The characteristic of that split: a small cold war 1. [...]