Sino-Soviet Relations

On the orders of Stalin, Anastas Mikoyan makes a secret visit to Xibaipo, the temporary headquarters of the Chinese Communist Party, during January and February 1949. Mikoyan holds several meetings with Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai to discuss the future of the Sino-Soviet relationship.

In a famous article entitled “On the People’s Democratic Dictatorship,” Mao Zedong announces that China will “lean to one side” in its foreign policy. Mao wrote that China must “ally with the Soviet Union” and “form an international united front.”

Liu Shaoqi, the Chinese Communist Party's second in command, secretly visits Moscow and remains in the Soviet Union until 14 August 1949. During a meeting on 11 July 1949, Stalin informs Liu Shaoqi that China has the obligation to support revolutions and anti-colonial struggles in Asia, while the USSR will focus its resources on western countries. 

Mao Zedong leaves Beijing via train on 6 December 1949, arriving in Moscow on 16 December. Desiring to negotiate a new Sino-Soviet Treaty, Mao meets with Stalin on the day of his arrival but a breakthrough in negotiations is not reached until early January 1950. Mao remains in the Soviet Union until 17 February 1950.

Following months of difficult negotiations, the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance, and Mutual Assistance is signed in Moscow, marking the formal beginning of the Sino-Soviet alliance. China benefits from the treaty by gaining military and material support from the Soviet Union, while the Soviets retain many economic privileges in Northeast China and Xinjiang.

Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai arrives in the Soviet Union on 17 August 1952, where he remains until 22 September 1952. Zhou meets with Stalin several times to discuss the Korean War, Soviet technical assistance for China, China's First Five-Year Plan, and the Soviet withdrawal from Port Arthur.

Nikita Khrushchev, Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union following Stalin's death in March 1953, leads a delegation to visit China from 29 September through 12 October 1954. The beginning of the so-called honeymoon period of the Sino-Soviet alliance, the visit contributes to the development of economic and military cooperation between China and the Soviet Union. By the end of 1956, the number of Soviet experts in China had reached a peak of 3,113.

On 27 April 1955, a delegation led by Qian Sanqiang signs an agreement with the Soviet Union in Moscow under which the USSR agrees to offer China nuclear technology and to dispatch nuclear experts to China. 

Nikita Khrushchev delivers a speech criticizing the leadership of and cult of personality surrounding Stalin at the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Khrushchev’s speech greatly offends Mao Zedong and other leaders in the Chinese Communist Party and marks the beginning of the Sino-Soviet split. The schism between Beijing and Moscow deepens in 1958 following disputes over a proposed jointly-owned long-wave radio station and a joint submarine fleet.

The Soviet Union signs a secret agreement  to provide the People's Republic of China with a model of an atomic bomb and other nuclear equipment,  though the Soviets are deliberately vague as to precisely what equipment would be delivered and when such deliveries would take place.

Chinese Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong visits Moscow to attend the 40th anniversary of the October Revolution and to participate in the Moscow Meeting involving sixty-four communist parties from 2 November through 21 November 1957. The Moscow Meeting marks a turning point after which the Sino-Soviet relationship became increasingly bitter and hostile.

Mao Zedong summons Soviet Ambassador Pavel Yudin to Zhongnanhai and, in an emotional tirade, announces "you never trust the Chinese!  You only trust the Russians!" After reviewing the history of Sino-Soviet relations, Mao rejects the Soviet Union's proposal for a joint submarine flotilla.

Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev visits China from 31 July through 3 August 1958. Khrushchev holds several meetings with Mao Zedong which were characterized by mistrust and uneasiness. The two discuss atomic weapons, the global strategic balance of power, and American politics, among other topics. Khrushchev and Mao also agree to table the joint submarine proposal.

With tensions growing between the two communist superpowers, Moscow informs Beijing that the Soviet Union will no longer provide China with nuclear technology, including atomic bomb prototypes and technical data for producing bombs, because of the Soviet-American negotiations in Geneva.

On 18 July 1960, Moscow decides all Soviet advisors and experts in China are to be withdrawn, bringing the Sino-Soviet schism into a new and heightened phase. By the end of August, approximately 1,400 Soviet personnel leave China and more than 200 projects of scientific and technological cooperation are abruptly brought to a halt. The withdrawal of Soviet advisors does a great deal of harm to China’s economy and angers the leadership in the Chinese Communist Party.

In the spring of 1962, approximately 67,000 people flee from Xinjiang to Soviet Kazakhstan. Blaming the Soviet Union for causing the unrest, Beijing closes all Soviet consulates throughout China. Known as the "Yi-Ta Incident", the crisis in Xinjiang marks the further deterioration of Sino-Soviet relations.

Beginning on 2 March 1969, a bloody conflict erupts on Zhenbao Island (Damansky Island), located near the Chinese bank of the Ussuri River between China and the Soviet Union. Taking place during the height of the Sino-Soviet split, the Sino-Soviet Border Conflict lasts for seven-months and brings the two rivals to the brink of war.

Mikhail S. Gorbachev travels to Beijing for meetings with Deng Xiaoping from 15 May through 18 May 1989, the first high-level summit meeting to take place between China and the Soviet Union since 1959. Gorbachev's visit to China marks the normalization of Sino-Soviet relations after years of hostilities.