Sino-Soviet Relations, 1949–1991

by

Yafeng Xia, Alsu Tagirova

• LAST MODIFIED: 22 November 2024
• DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199920082-0223

Introduction

Less than three months after the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in October 1949, Mao Zedong, the chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), arrived in Moscow for a historic meeting with the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. After many rounds of difficult negotiations, Stalin submitted to Mao’s wish to sign an alliance treaty with the PRC. In February 1950, China and the Soviet Union signed a thirty-year Treaty of Friendship, Alliance, and Mutual Assistance. The forty-two-year history of Sino-Soviet relations could be divided into four periods. The first period, the Sino-Soviet political and military alliance, was short and only lasted about ten years (1949–1959). The second period, from 1960 to 1973, featured the gradual disintegration of Sino-Soviet party-to-party relations and subsequent conflicts and confrontations in state-to-state relations. In the third period, from 1974 to 1981, the Sino-Soviet alliance, although not formally abolished, existed in name only. In the fourth period, from 1982 to 1991, Beijing and Moscow gradually broke the political deadlock and achieved “normalization” of relations in 1989. During the Cold War, the study of the history and development of Sino-Soviet relations was among the most popular yet under-researched topics in international academic circles. Many articles and books were published on this topic, mainly in the English-language-speaking world. However, due to the lack of original documents, the conclusions of these publications were primarily based on educated guesses and inferences and shaped by the ideological notions of the Cold War era. Publications by the Chinese and the Soviets were little more than political propaganda because of the sensitive nature of the Sino-Soviet confrontation. These publications have very little academic value. The academic study of the history of Sino-Soviet relations started in the early 1990s, following the publication of large quantities of Chinese historical documents and access to then newly declassified Russian historical archives. Scholars have published widely on such topics as the formation of the Sino-Soviet alliance, Sino-Soviet relations during the Korean War, Sino-Soviet cooperation in the 1950s, the Sino-Soviet split, Sino-Soviet border clashes and changes in China’s security and diplomatic policies, and the Sino-Soviet normalization in the 1980s.

General Overviews

Several scholarly works in Chinese, Russian, and English aim to provide an overview of the Sino-Soviet relations in the twentieth century. In Chinese, earlier attempts by Kong 2004, and Liu 2005 to capture the contours of the history of Sino-Soviet relations were based primarily on published sources. Shen 2016 is the most authoritative and comprehensive account of the history of Sino-Soviet relations from 1917 to 1991 premised on a large array of declassified sources. The volume is also available in English in Shen 2020. Yang 1999 offers a convoluted history of Mao Zedong’s relations with Moscow from the late 1920s to the mid-1970s. In Russian, the available literature includes both the works from the Soviet era, which often present a narrative significantly distorted in favor of Soviet diplomatic policies, and the more recent academic works, which recognize the complexity of Sino-Soviet engagements. Borisov and Koloskov 1975 explores the history of bilateral relations during the period between 1945 and 1970, with subsequent Russian language editions extending the narrative to 1980. In English, Jones and Kevill 1985 is a convenient reference based on a careful reading of the public record for what was said and done by each side as the relationship moved from alliance to confrontation and ultimately conflict from 1949 to 1984. Chang 1990 is a history of US government analysis of Sino-Soviet relations from 1948 to Nixon’s opening to China in 1972. The author tends to overestimate the effects of US policies on the Sino-Soviet split. Lukin 2003 is a more recent and balanced account of bilateral relations premised on the backdrop of Soviet domestic policies.

• Borisov, Oleg Borisovich, and B. T. Koloskov. Sino-Soviet Relations, 1945–1973: A Brief History. Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1975.

  Often criticized for his hawkish views, Soviet bureaucrat O.B. Rakhmanin, writing under a pen name, together with his co-author, provide an extensive overview of Soviet positions on bilateral relations.

• Chang, Gordon H. Friends and Enemies: The United States, China, and the Soviet Union, 1948–1972. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1990.

  DOI: 10.1515/9781503621589

  Explores the history of the US-Soviet-Chinese relationship from 1948 to 1972. Highlights the dangerous political maneuvers that engaged America with both China and the Soviet Union. Provides a comprehensive account of the trilateral relationship at this structural level, with a critical assessment of policy at each stage.

• Liu, Dexi 刘德喜. Cong tongmeng dao buoban: ZhongE (Su) guanxi 50 nian (从同盟到伙伴:中俄{苏}关系50年). Beijing: Zhonggong dangshi chubanshe, 2005.

  A narrative history of Sino-Soviet relations from the early 1950s to Sino-Russian relations in the 1990s. Relies primarily on secondary sources.

• Lukin, Alexander Vladimirovich. The Bear Watches the Dragon: Russia’s Perceptions of China and the Evolution of Russian-Chinese Relations Since the Eighteenth Century. London and New York: M. E. Sharpe, 2003.

  Traces the evolution of Russian China policy from the early 18th century to the 1990s based on unique archival documents and personal interviews with Soviet and Russian career diplomats. A Russuan edition came out in 2007.

• Jones, Peter, and Sian Kevill, eds. China and the Soviet Union, 1949–84. London: Longman,1985.

  An updated and revised version of The Sino-Soviet Dispute documentary collection, originally published in 1969 by Keesing’s Contemporary Archives. Provides detailed description of the context, the content of the dispute’s dramatic escalation, and its gradual diminution with little analysis. No coverage of the Sino-Soviet normalization in the late 1980s.

• Kong Hanbing 孔寒冰. ZhongSu guanxi jiqi dui Zhongguo shehui fazhan de yingxiang (中苏关系及其对中国社会发展的影响). Beijing: Zhongguo guoji guangbo chubanshe, 2004.

  Explores the evolution of Sino-Soviet relations from alliance to split to normalization from the mid-1940s to the early 1990s. Relies primarily on secondary sources.

• Shen, Zhihua 沈志华, editor-in-chief. ZhongSu guanxi shigang: 1917–1991 nian ZhongSu guanxi ruogan wenti zai tantao (中苏关系史纲:1917–1991年中苏关系若干问题再探讨). 3d ed. Beijing: Shehui kexue wenxian chubanshe, 2016.

  This is a substantively revised version of Shen Zhihua, ZhongSu guanxi shigang, 1917–1991, first published in 2007. Covers Soviet relations with both Nationalist China (1917–1949) and Communist China (1949–1991). Makes extensive use of newly available Chinese, Russian, American documents. Contributors include leading Chinese Cold War historians Yang Kuisong, Shen Zhihua, Li Danhui, and Niu Jun.

• Shen, Zhihua, ed. A Short History of Sino-Soviet Relations, 1917–1991. Beijing and Singapore: Social Sciences Academic Press and Springer, 2020.

  Translation of Shen 2016.

• Yang, Kuisong 杨奎松. Mao Zedong yu Mosike de enen yuanyuan (毛泽东与莫斯科的恩恩怨怨). Nanchang, China: Jiangxi renmin chubanshe, 1999.

  Premised on extensive Chinese and Russian historical documents, discusses Mao’s relations with Moscow from the late 1920s to the early 1970s. Elaborates on how Mao’s personality and way of doing things affected his decision-making regarding China’s policies toward the Soviet Union, in particular, from 1949 to the early 1970s. Highly regarded and most accessible general analysis of the topic in Chinese.