TOPIC 3

Question 1

Introduction

Answer 1

November 1960: Cominform Congress
- Delegates from 81 nationalities met in Moscow
- China accused Khrushchev of revisionism – diverted the USSR from the true path
- Albania sided with China – also a Stalinist side of leadership

Question 2

Conflict between India and China (October/November 1962)

Answer 2

• China invaded India and seized land
• USSR condemned China – public knowledge of split
• China thought Khrushchev was too weak and a loser of the Cuban Missile Crisis

Question 3

Conflict between the USSR and China (March 1963)

Answer 3

Called into dispute China’s frontier with the USSR publicly

1963: Formal letter from China to the USSR
- Said the Soviet Union was no longer the dominant communist state (and indirectly that China was)

Question 4

Sino-Soviet Split Formalised: 1964

Answer 4

The central committee of the Chinese Communist party wrote a formal letter to the Soviet Central Committee stating that the Communist Party of the USSR was no longer preeminent in the socialist camp
- The letter was an ideological denunciation of his Soviet Communist Party and the USSR itself
- This formalised the Sino-Soviet split

1966: cultural Revolution in China
- Mao called on the youth of China to form Red Guards – 12 million
o The aim was to cleanse China of its enemies – sent to re-education to work as peasants
- Country economically suffered
- Led to the Red Guards attacking each other
- Mao and Chinese Communist Party became supreme

Question 5

China

1956/7

Answer 5

Wanted to be free of foreign exploitation and independent
- Democratic or communist

1st October 1949: China became communist
- People’s Republic of China
- The Nationalists (together with Chiang Kai-Shek) fled to Taiwan (Formosa)

Chairman Mao of the Communist Party
- Redistribution of land from rich landlords to peasants
- Formation of cooperatives
- Nationalisation of smaller businesses

1956 to 1957: speech – “Let 100 flowers bloom”
- Freedom of speech
o This led to increased criticism –
o This allowed Mao to know who were free-thinkers/opponents

Question 6

China’s relationship with the US

Answer 6

Late 1949: Communist China applied for membership of the UN
- Applied for Communist China to hold the UN seat
- Us vetoed this until 1971
o In preparation for Nixon’s visit to China – Communist China held their seat in the Security Council and had representation in the General Council
US is depicted as the evil capitalist country
No relationship until 1971

Question 7

China’s relationship with the USSR

Answer 7

Stalin thought Mao would lose the Civil War
1949: welcomed China as a fellow Communist country

Stalin believed China had a role to play in Asia, helping others become communist
Mao came to power through his own efforts
- Disliked the Soviet attitude

Mao went to train by the USSR
- From December 1949 to February 1950 (3 months)

Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance
- Signed the 14th of February 1950
o Military alliance against Japan (+ USA)
o Credit: $300 million with 1% interest rate – repaid over 10 years starting in 1954
o Territory: USSR to restored to China Port Arthur and the South Manchurian Railway. Outer Mongolia to be recognised by China as being influenced by the USSR

1955: Afro-Asia conference in Bandung, Indonesia
- Khrushchev emerged as leader of the USSR
o Wanted an invite but it wasn’t offered
- China was invited so it felt superior
o Over USSR
o Main Asian communist country