Free «China» Essay

We need to define the reasons that stood behind the main calculations behind Mao’s decision to lean toward the United States in the early 1970s. The foreign policy of the People’s Republic of China in the sixties was carried out under a slogan to «lay about with both hands», that propagated simultaneously against «revisionism and imperialism», which incarnated the USSR and USA accordingly. Soviet-Chinese relations began swiftly to get worse after a recall from China in 1960 of several soviet specialists. After this step trade and economic cooperation between the USSR and the Republic of China began to grow substantially.

The volume of economic cooperation between two countries in 1965 was approximately of 1,5 % level of the year 1959, and Soviet-Chinese trade was 15 % all commodity turnover of Republic of China. Considerably the cultural cooperation grew short, scientific and political contacts too. Mao Tsedun immediately laid the responsibility on Moscow for a catastrophic situation at the economic sphere which actually caused above all things as a «large jump». And subsequently within the country Beijing explained all confusions as a «perfidy» of Soviet Union. This is why the Soviet Union was no longer considered the most preferable ally, for it was no longer an ally but a source of problems and difficulties in the regional and sub-regional realm. The Sino-Soviet split occurred within the period of 1965-1972 and simultaneously the rapprochement with USA occurred.

China balanced against threats and used a number of criteria to define the biggest threat of all. One of them was geographic proximity, and this was important because USSR was able to exercise excessive influence over Chinese government. USA, on the contrary, may have been less dangerous. In addition, Both China and the United States take the Soviet Union as their enemy thus the Soviet revisionists do not dare to fight a two-front war.

Therefore, first the Chinese leaders adopted the strategy of balancing between the superpowers which was afterwards transformed into the bandwagon policy, or aligning with one of the option states.

All the most conflicting character was caused by ideological contradictions. The newly developed Chinese-Soviet rivalry in developing countries, divergences increased during Moscow and Beijing disarmament, regional conflicts China hindered the participating of the USSR in the different forums of countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America, laying it to the plot with the West. Considerably mutual criticism of internal position increased the territorial problem.

In the middle of sixties the Chinese leaders considered Soviet Union in the status of an enemy together with the USA - a thesis was coined as the «threat from North». In the USSR with warning began to fit for relations with Republic of China.

For China, neither of the historical ways that USA or USSR proposed was not suitable. Therefore, Beijing found itself before the choice between two evils and balanced between those in order not to become controlled by them.

Distribution of circle of contradictions with the outer world pushed Beijing to the search for new partners — economic, political, ideological ones. Activated to take off the sharpness of confrontation from the USA, through the various efforts to understand Chinese guidance made Washington that did not wish a collision stand aloof from war in Indo-Chinese of Republic of China. It set indirect economic contacts with the United States, in particular buying oil products and chemical commodities through Hong Kong and Macao.

In 1970s commodity turnover of Republic of China with developed capitalist countries exceeded the volume of trade with the states of the socialist system. However in the field of policy Western Europe and Japan did not dare to violate the line defined by Washington. And at all importance of capitalist partners for satisfaction of economic and political (counterbalance of the USSR) necessities of China Chinese government continued to make them ideological opponents.

Apparently, the reason why China leaned against the USA in the 1970s was not the intercultural penetration or alliance formation but rather the absence of other options and the necessity to gain a supporting side in the relations with the geographically close, politically powerful and tending to over-exercise its power.