Khrushchev against Mao Zedong: who is to blame for the battles in Damansky?
At the end of August and the beginning of September of this year, it will be exactly half a century since the moment of the most severe crisis in Soviet-Chinese relations. From mutual accusations political reproaches and territorial claims, the two great countries then moved on to direct military confrontation, which could well end in a nuclear war.
In the battles near Damansky Island and, much less well-known to the general public, clashes near Lake Zhalanashkol, the blood of each other was shed by soldiers of the two largest countries of the world belonging to the socialist camp. And later the “arrow”, which measured the level of relations between Beijing and Moscow, practically did not deviate from the absolute “zero”, even if the conflict did not threaten to escalate into a war. How could this come to this? Who is to blame for what happened? Let's try to find answers to these questions together.
Subtitled words are a line from a song that everyone in the Soviet Union and the PRC knew at the beginning of the 50s without exception. There was another beautiful line in it: "Stalin and Mao are listening to us!" As soon as she “dropped out” of the musical work through the efforts of Nikita Khrushchev and his clique, the events took a turn, as a result of which, soon, under the ban in the USSR, not only the whole song, but also any attempts to mention Beijing other than in the negative context. However, let's not get ahead of ourselves ... The Russians and the Chinese really were brothers. Moreover, the Soviet people in this situation initially played the role of an older brother - wiser, stronger, ready to come to the aid in difficult times, regardless of any dangers and sacrifices. They didn’t just love the Celestial Empire - they idolized the soldiers of the Red Army, who fought on its side literally from the very beginning of the Sino-Japanese War, since 1937, who smashed the Japanese Kwantung army to pieces, destroying millions of civilians who defeated centuries-old enemies and expelled them from the Chinese land. They felt the most sincere gratitude to the Soviet engineers, technicians, scientists, doctors, whose efforts China, which was in 1949, in an even more terrible and miserable position than our country in 1917, got out of poverty and ruin.
However, most of all there was respected and honored Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin. In fact, all Soviet aid to China was associated with his name. Under him, hundreds of military aircraft, guns, tanks and other weapons were delivered to the Celestial Empire, roads and factories were built, hundreds of military advisers were sent. It was they who created from, to put it mildly, not too battle-worthy Chinese peasants, a kind of armed forces that could at least somehow withstand much better armed, equipped and trained Japanese. Soviet pilots not only trained the fighters and bombers of the local "aces" trying to master, but also took part in the hostilities. Soviet people helped the Chinese, sparing no strength and risking their lives - because such were the order and will of Stalin. Of course, even more sympathy for the Leader was experienced by the Chinese Communists and their leader, Mao Zedong. For them, Joseph Vissarionovich was a true idol and, by the way, has remained so to this day. Communist Beijing understood very well that without the help of the USSR it would have been much more difficult for them to win the civil war. Equally important was Moscow’s official recognition of the People’s Republic of China, which the Soviet Union announced the very first day of the world’s creation, the very day after its creation. This instantly put an end to the question: “To be or not to be communist China?” To challenge the Kremlin’s opinion in 1949 would not be enough for any world leader.
In 1949, Mao came to Moscow for a long time, where he personally met with Stalin. At the beginning of 1950, a historic Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation was concluded between the countries. After that, China begins to receive assistance from the Soviet Union, which, perhaps, has no analogues in history. $ 300 million loan? Yes please! Construction in the shortest possible time on the territory of the Celestial Empire at least fifty large industrial facilities? No problem! Assistance in training military specialists, the creation and commissioning of weapons and military enterprises equipment? Already done ... Someone, having read all this, start spitting and twirling a finger at the temple: “Stalin, what, is he crazy ?! In the country of devastation, the Great Patriotic War has just been completed, and he is such a lot of money for the Chinese! ” The fact of the matter is that Joseph Vissarionovich was by no means crazy, but an extremely tough pragmatist. For which he enjoyed the unlimited respect of the cunning and not at all prone to sentiments, Mao. Beijing received a loan, but only for the purchase of Soviet equipment, machinery, and other goods. Doesn’t resemble anything? So nothing? Yes, this is the favorite tactics and strategy of the Chinese themselves, which they use everywhere today! They know how to learn, there is nothing to say. The situation was approximately the same in all other questions. Going, seemingly, towards the Chinese, the Supreme tightly tied them to the USSR - so much so that they could not crumble. Of course, we created, trained and armed the army with them. And thus they included it not only among their faithful allies, but also in the orbit of their own military-industrial complex.
Clever settlements between countries clever Stalin immediately demanded to conduct in rubles and yuan, without any conversion there to enemy dollars! Today Moscow is barely approaching such an achievement. Socialism in the PRC was to be built not just according to the patterns of the USSR, but in a Stalinist way: collectivization, industrialization, and the strengthening of the armed forces. And no confusion and vacillations! Without a doubt, Joseph Vissarionovich saw in Beijing not just an ally in Southeast Asia and the Pacific region, where, sparing no effort, the United States tried to establish itself. Surely, the Supreme planned to use the Celestial Empire as a bridgehead for the development of Soviet expansion in this region, intending to sweep out the Yankees and their allies from there! Moreover, the version that the Generalissimo was seriously planning to use Beijing’s colossal human resources in the “last and decisive battle” he planned with the presumptuous, and even then aiming for US world hegemons, seems to me not just probable, but more than convincing . No, you can imagine: millions of Chinese comrades, even with the trophy rifles handed over to them by the USSR and the PPSh taken out of service by the Soviet army, poured through Alaska to the territory of the United States in 1955! And above them are our strategic bombers and fighter jets ... How many days would two red flags fly with the hammer and sickle and five golden stars over the White House?
Spoiled, spoiled, and corrupted everything, of course, the "evil genius" of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev. After the death of Joseph Vissarionovich in 1953, relations between Moscow and Beijing, at first glance, did not change at all. Although ... There is evidence that Mao tensed even then - seeing with whom he would later deal. However, instantly and completely changed all the famous XX Congress of the CPSU of 1956, if it was three times wrong. It was on it that the bald Kukuruznik began his false, hypocritical and criminal "debunking of the Stalin personality cult." And this could not be tolerated in China. Some people today are trying to argue that Mao Zedong, they say, was against Khrushchev's anti-Stalinist antics, as he "feared for his own power and authority." This is bullshit, excuse me! Mao sovereignly ruled China until his death, and his enormous authority could not be shaken by the phantasmagoric Great Leap Forward or the creepy Cultural Revolution, which took place with such “excesses” and sacrifices that Stalin had nowhere to take! Wise and wise and able to think in the long run, unlike the bald one, the leader of communist China simply knew perfectly well what ultimately such idiotic actions as spitting on his own great leaders, his own victories, his own history . Yes, he felt a certain personal gratitude to Stalin, who played a significant role in the Communists coming to power in China. However, according to numerous memoirs of contemporaries, the relationship between the two Leaders was not at all smooth - Joseph Vissarionovich naturally crushed Mao with his colossal authority, not missing the chance to point out his clearly subordinate role.
And yet, the Chinese leader was above petty personal insults and painful injections of pride. In Stalin, he, in contrast to the not-so-distant and miserable Khrushchev, saw, first of all, a majestic symbol with which the communists of the whole world could go to new victories. Mao was even more enraged that the insignificant Lysik, unworthy of wiping off the dust from the worn boots of the Supreme and never daring to speak against him during his life, began with enthusiasm for the last jackal to rattle and tear the dead lion. When in 1957, Khrushchev finally flew off the coils, ordered the Leader to take the ashes out of the Mausoleum, the Chinese offered to take the body to themselves and rebury there with all due honors. And what was the trick of the Chinese delegation that visited the XXII Congress of the CPSU in 1961? Its members left a magnificent wreath at the grave of Joseph Vissarionovich, on which, among other things, it was written: "This is a sign that the Chinese Communists do not share Khrushchev’s position regarding Stalin!" The main thing is that Mao Zedong, who openly honored Nikita as an “opportunist” and “capitulant” for his flirting with the West, primarily with the United States, absolutely predicted that his coming to power means the beginning of the end of the USSR. He was 100% right, once saying that, thanks to Khrushchev, the country is now ruled not by real Communists, but by “nationalists and careerists,” who will eventually “throw out party cards and turn into real feudal lords.” As he looked into the water, seeing the "perestroika" and 1991.
However, perhaps everything would have turned out differently, had Nikita been at least something, had he had at least one quality worthy of respect. So no - spitting on Stalin, the bald squalor immediately began to pose as the new “leader of the world proletariat”, allowing himself insulting remarks about the same Mao. Yes, in addition, trying to teach him, and Kim Jong Il, and other leaders of the socialist countries from the East and West, periodically, moreover, accusing them of a "cult" of their own personality. With all this, in relations with the same China, Khrushchev showed either donkey stubbornness and incredible arrogance, then weakness and gentleness, completely unacceptable for the leader of a great power. This inconsistency was especially wildly seen in the eyes of the people of the East, leaving not the slightest place for respect for the subject behaving in this way. It was not without reason that Mao, during his last meetings with Khrushchev, scoffed at him in the most natural way - the tobacco smoke would start to blow into his face (knowing full well that the bald man wouldn’t take him to the spirit), then he would suddenly offer to hold negotiations in a deep pool, being, again, aware that Khrushchev was swimming exactly like an ax. So the Chinese can humiliate not even the enemy, but the one whom he does not take seriously at all ...
But, okay, Khrushchev would only expose himself to the Chinese as an idiot! As I already said, in relations with them he rushed from one extreme to the other (as in everything else, however). He promised to help with the creation of the atomic bomb, and then he suddenly got into trouble after an eerie statement that “there is nothing to worry about in the third world war” made by Mao in Moscow at the next international meeting of communist leaders. And what is the result? Yes, Nikita has armed China with nuclear weapons, how nice! He also handed over the appropriate delivery vehicles (airplanes and missiles) in addition to the technologies necessary for the full launch and development of the nuclear program. As a result, Beijing, having become the owner of its own nuclear arsenal in 1964, began not only to look with bad interest at the Eastern lands of the USSR, but also to put forward very specific territorial claims to our country. It has come to talk about almost one and a half million square kilometers, which were once “captured” by the Russians, “originally Chinese lands”! And what did Khrushchev do? This idiot “partially recognized” the claims made, starting to promise the Chinese some kind of useless islets and wastelands in remote swamps. In Beijing, they claimed more, and they realized: “You can and must put pressure on Moscow!” By the way, for completely incomprehensible reasons, Kukuruznik refused our naval bases in Port Arthur and Dairen even earlier - in 1955. Stalin was just signing the friendship treaty with Mao, holding fast to them tightly.
All this happened against the background of Lysik’s even crazier decision - in 1959-1960 he ordered the immediate removal of all Soviet specialists, both military and civilian, from the Celestial Empire. Immediately stopped the supply of raw materials and equipment, the allocation of the promised financing. I think one can not explain how this affected the already barely standing Chinese industry then. Moreover, Khrushchev demanded that all loans previously allocated to Beijing be returned. The Chinese coped with this - all the same, in 1964 they paid off completely. Whatever it costs them. But the USSR in their eyes more and more was no longer even turning into a “bad friend”, but into the most natural enemy. The worst thing is that nothing has changed even after Khrushchev was finally kicked in the ass! I don’t know how true the story of how the USSR Minister of Defense, Marshal Malinovsky, blurted out to the Chinese ambassador in Moscow something like: “Here we are already rid of our old fool. And you and your Mao are there to solve the question in the same way - and everything will be fine with us! ” Well, really, you know, it seems like the truth! Especially, in light of how Soviet-Chinese relations "developed" further. It all ended in the grave crisis of 1969, the battles on Damansky and the border conflict at Zhalanashkol. But it could have come to the exchange of nuclear "courtesies"! In order to extinguish the conflict, it took the skill of Alexei Kosygin, a diplomat of the Stalinist school, who knew perfectly well with whom and how to negotiate.
What is the result? Kretinsky (I’m sorry, I can’t find the words) actions of Nikita Khrushchev and his followers, not only pushed the country from the Soviet Union, which would be for him a completely invaluable military, political and economic ally, but, in fact, unfolded it towards the United States of America. Yes, Beijing and Washington did not become the best friends. However, the Americans got a huge “workshop” in the person of China and a practically bottomless market that gave a tremendous impetus to their development economics. At the same time, the Chinese comrades managed not to make the terrible mistake that the USSR and Russia subsequently made. They did not fall into the trap of “Western values”, did not allow Americans and other newly-born “friends” to penetrate their own culture, ideology, and the sphere of educating young people. Not to mention the government ... And the economy was not so simple: despite all the pressure from the West, China did not begin to change its social system and turn into a humble vassal. All the while, the Americans thought that they were using and exploiting the shaggy Chinese - only in reality everything turned out exactly the opposite. Without breaking their own country, without spilling dirt on their own history and ideals, the Chinese managed in some incomprehensible way to combine communist ideology with the state-capitalist economy. And in the end they built what they built. Power, the second (and second ?!) in the world in terms of economic power, the third - in military, one of the first in scientific and innovative potential). You can list for a long time ...
Alas, during this time, the leaders of the Celestial Empire have learned to do well without those who were once considered "brothers", and even tricked us for decades as they could - in the same Afghanistan or Vietnam, for example. While lamenting today about their insidiousness and unwillingness to run towards Russia with open arms, it is sometimes worth remembering how cruelly the USSR, or rather its very specific leaders and politicians, "threw" China, forcing them to be disappointed in their own sincerity and their own reliability as partners. Today, fortunately, the situation is changing for the better. I would like to believe that the current leaders of Russia will not allow those blunders in relations with China that their predecessors have sinned. With this country, any attempts at pressure and the slightest manifestation of weakness are unacceptable. It is best to use Comrade Stalin's methods, combining sincerity and honesty with reasonable pragmatism. Of course, we will not be brothers, but good relations with China will bring undoubted benefits to Russia.
In the battles near Damansky Island and, much less well-known to the general public, clashes near Lake Zhalanashkol, the blood of each other was shed by soldiers of the two largest countries of the world belonging to the socialist camp. And later the “arrow”, which measured the level of relations between Beijing and Moscow, practically did not deviate from the absolute “zero”, even if the conflict did not threaten to escalate into a war. How could this come to this? Who is to blame for what happened? Let's try to find answers to these questions together.
“Russian with Chinese - brothers forever”
Subtitled words are a line from a song that everyone in the Soviet Union and the PRC knew at the beginning of the 50s without exception. There was another beautiful line in it: "Stalin and Mao are listening to us!" As soon as she “dropped out” of the musical work through the efforts of Nikita Khrushchev and his clique, the events took a turn, as a result of which, soon, under the ban in the USSR, not only the whole song, but also any attempts to mention Beijing other than in the negative context. However, let's not get ahead of ourselves ... The Russians and the Chinese really were brothers. Moreover, the Soviet people in this situation initially played the role of an older brother - wiser, stronger, ready to come to the aid in difficult times, regardless of any dangers and sacrifices. They didn’t just love the Celestial Empire - they idolized the soldiers of the Red Army, who fought on its side literally from the very beginning of the Sino-Japanese War, since 1937, who smashed the Japanese Kwantung army to pieces, destroying millions of civilians who defeated centuries-old enemies and expelled them from the Chinese land. They felt the most sincere gratitude to the Soviet engineers, technicians, scientists, doctors, whose efforts China, which was in 1949, in an even more terrible and miserable position than our country in 1917, got out of poverty and ruin.
However, most of all there was respected and honored Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin. In fact, all Soviet aid to China was associated with his name. Under him, hundreds of military aircraft, guns, tanks and other weapons were delivered to the Celestial Empire, roads and factories were built, hundreds of military advisers were sent. It was they who created from, to put it mildly, not too battle-worthy Chinese peasants, a kind of armed forces that could at least somehow withstand much better armed, equipped and trained Japanese. Soviet pilots not only trained the fighters and bombers of the local "aces" trying to master, but also took part in the hostilities. Soviet people helped the Chinese, sparing no strength and risking their lives - because such were the order and will of Stalin. Of course, even more sympathy for the Leader was experienced by the Chinese Communists and their leader, Mao Zedong. For them, Joseph Vissarionovich was a true idol and, by the way, has remained so to this day. Communist Beijing understood very well that without the help of the USSR it would have been much more difficult for them to win the civil war. Equally important was Moscow’s official recognition of the People’s Republic of China, which the Soviet Union announced the very first day of the world’s creation, the very day after its creation. This instantly put an end to the question: “To be or not to be communist China?” To challenge the Kremlin’s opinion in 1949 would not be enough for any world leader.
Stalin and Mao
In 1949, Mao came to Moscow for a long time, where he personally met with Stalin. At the beginning of 1950, a historic Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation was concluded between the countries. After that, China begins to receive assistance from the Soviet Union, which, perhaps, has no analogues in history. $ 300 million loan? Yes please! Construction in the shortest possible time on the territory of the Celestial Empire at least fifty large industrial facilities? No problem! Assistance in training military specialists, the creation and commissioning of weapons and military enterprises equipment? Already done ... Someone, having read all this, start spitting and twirling a finger at the temple: “Stalin, what, is he crazy ?! In the country of devastation, the Great Patriotic War has just been completed, and he is such a lot of money for the Chinese! ” The fact of the matter is that Joseph Vissarionovich was by no means crazy, but an extremely tough pragmatist. For which he enjoyed the unlimited respect of the cunning and not at all prone to sentiments, Mao. Beijing received a loan, but only for the purchase of Soviet equipment, machinery, and other goods. Doesn’t resemble anything? So nothing? Yes, this is the favorite tactics and strategy of the Chinese themselves, which they use everywhere today! They know how to learn, there is nothing to say. The situation was approximately the same in all other questions. Going, seemingly, towards the Chinese, the Supreme tightly tied them to the USSR - so much so that they could not crumble. Of course, we created, trained and armed the army with them. And thus they included it not only among their faithful allies, but also in the orbit of their own military-industrial complex.
Clever settlements between countries clever Stalin immediately demanded to conduct in rubles and yuan, without any conversion there to enemy dollars! Today Moscow is barely approaching such an achievement. Socialism in the PRC was to be built not just according to the patterns of the USSR, but in a Stalinist way: collectivization, industrialization, and the strengthening of the armed forces. And no confusion and vacillations! Without a doubt, Joseph Vissarionovich saw in Beijing not just an ally in Southeast Asia and the Pacific region, where, sparing no effort, the United States tried to establish itself. Surely, the Supreme planned to use the Celestial Empire as a bridgehead for the development of Soviet expansion in this region, intending to sweep out the Yankees and their allies from there! Moreover, the version that the Generalissimo was seriously planning to use Beijing’s colossal human resources in the “last and decisive battle” he planned with the presumptuous, and even then aiming for US world hegemons, seems to me not just probable, but more than convincing . No, you can imagine: millions of Chinese comrades, even with the trophy rifles handed over to them by the USSR and the PPSh taken out of service by the Soviet army, poured through Alaska to the territory of the United States in 1955! And above them are our strategic bombers and fighter jets ... How many days would two red flags fly with the hammer and sickle and five golden stars over the White House?
XX Congress - the end of everything
Spoiled, spoiled, and corrupted everything, of course, the "evil genius" of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev. After the death of Joseph Vissarionovich in 1953, relations between Moscow and Beijing, at first glance, did not change at all. Although ... There is evidence that Mao tensed even then - seeing with whom he would later deal. However, instantly and completely changed all the famous XX Congress of the CPSU of 1956, if it was three times wrong. It was on it that the bald Kukuruznik began his false, hypocritical and criminal "debunking of the Stalin personality cult." And this could not be tolerated in China. Some people today are trying to argue that Mao Zedong, they say, was against Khrushchev's anti-Stalinist antics, as he "feared for his own power and authority." This is bullshit, excuse me! Mao sovereignly ruled China until his death, and his enormous authority could not be shaken by the phantasmagoric Great Leap Forward or the creepy Cultural Revolution, which took place with such “excesses” and sacrifices that Stalin had nowhere to take! Wise and wise and able to think in the long run, unlike the bald one, the leader of communist China simply knew perfectly well what ultimately such idiotic actions as spitting on his own great leaders, his own victories, his own history . Yes, he felt a certain personal gratitude to Stalin, who played a significant role in the Communists coming to power in China. However, according to numerous memoirs of contemporaries, the relationship between the two Leaders was not at all smooth - Joseph Vissarionovich naturally crushed Mao with his colossal authority, not missing the chance to point out his clearly subordinate role.
And yet, the Chinese leader was above petty personal insults and painful injections of pride. In Stalin, he, in contrast to the not-so-distant and miserable Khrushchev, saw, first of all, a majestic symbol with which the communists of the whole world could go to new victories. Mao was even more enraged that the insignificant Lysik, unworthy of wiping off the dust from the worn boots of the Supreme and never daring to speak against him during his life, began with enthusiasm for the last jackal to rattle and tear the dead lion. When in 1957, Khrushchev finally flew off the coils, ordered the Leader to take the ashes out of the Mausoleum, the Chinese offered to take the body to themselves and rebury there with all due honors. And what was the trick of the Chinese delegation that visited the XXII Congress of the CPSU in 1961? Its members left a magnificent wreath at the grave of Joseph Vissarionovich, on which, among other things, it was written: "This is a sign that the Chinese Communists do not share Khrushchev’s position regarding Stalin!" The main thing is that Mao Zedong, who openly honored Nikita as an “opportunist” and “capitulant” for his flirting with the West, primarily with the United States, absolutely predicted that his coming to power means the beginning of the end of the USSR. He was 100% right, once saying that, thanks to Khrushchev, the country is now ruled not by real Communists, but by “nationalists and careerists,” who will eventually “throw out party cards and turn into real feudal lords.” As he looked into the water, seeing the "perestroika" and 1991.
From error to error
However, perhaps everything would have turned out differently, had Nikita been at least something, had he had at least one quality worthy of respect. So no - spitting on Stalin, the bald squalor immediately began to pose as the new “leader of the world proletariat”, allowing himself insulting remarks about the same Mao. Yes, in addition, trying to teach him, and Kim Jong Il, and other leaders of the socialist countries from the East and West, periodically, moreover, accusing them of a "cult" of their own personality. With all this, in relations with the same China, Khrushchev showed either donkey stubbornness and incredible arrogance, then weakness and gentleness, completely unacceptable for the leader of a great power. This inconsistency was especially wildly seen in the eyes of the people of the East, leaving not the slightest place for respect for the subject behaving in this way. It was not without reason that Mao, during his last meetings with Khrushchev, scoffed at him in the most natural way - the tobacco smoke would start to blow into his face (knowing full well that the bald man wouldn’t take him to the spirit), then he would suddenly offer to hold negotiations in a deep pool, being, again, aware that Khrushchev was swimming exactly like an ax. So the Chinese can humiliate not even the enemy, but the one whom he does not take seriously at all ...
But, okay, Khrushchev would only expose himself to the Chinese as an idiot! As I already said, in relations with them he rushed from one extreme to the other (as in everything else, however). He promised to help with the creation of the atomic bomb, and then he suddenly got into trouble after an eerie statement that “there is nothing to worry about in the third world war” made by Mao in Moscow at the next international meeting of communist leaders. And what is the result? Yes, Nikita has armed China with nuclear weapons, how nice! He also handed over the appropriate delivery vehicles (airplanes and missiles) in addition to the technologies necessary for the full launch and development of the nuclear program. As a result, Beijing, having become the owner of its own nuclear arsenal in 1964, began not only to look with bad interest at the Eastern lands of the USSR, but also to put forward very specific territorial claims to our country. It has come to talk about almost one and a half million square kilometers, which were once “captured” by the Russians, “originally Chinese lands”! And what did Khrushchev do? This idiot “partially recognized” the claims made, starting to promise the Chinese some kind of useless islets and wastelands in remote swamps. In Beijing, they claimed more, and they realized: “You can and must put pressure on Moscow!” By the way, for completely incomprehensible reasons, Kukuruznik refused our naval bases in Port Arthur and Dairen even earlier - in 1955. Stalin was just signing the friendship treaty with Mao, holding fast to them tightly.
All this happened against the background of Lysik’s even crazier decision - in 1959-1960 he ordered the immediate removal of all Soviet specialists, both military and civilian, from the Celestial Empire. Immediately stopped the supply of raw materials and equipment, the allocation of the promised financing. I think one can not explain how this affected the already barely standing Chinese industry then. Moreover, Khrushchev demanded that all loans previously allocated to Beijing be returned. The Chinese coped with this - all the same, in 1964 they paid off completely. Whatever it costs them. But the USSR in their eyes more and more was no longer even turning into a “bad friend”, but into the most natural enemy. The worst thing is that nothing has changed even after Khrushchev was finally kicked in the ass! I don’t know how true the story of how the USSR Minister of Defense, Marshal Malinovsky, blurted out to the Chinese ambassador in Moscow something like: “Here we are already rid of our old fool. And you and your Mao are there to solve the question in the same way - and everything will be fine with us! ” Well, really, you know, it seems like the truth! Especially, in light of how Soviet-Chinese relations "developed" further. It all ended in the grave crisis of 1969, the battles on Damansky and the border conflict at Zhalanashkol. But it could have come to the exchange of nuclear "courtesies"! In order to extinguish the conflict, it took the skill of Alexei Kosygin, a diplomat of the Stalinist school, who knew perfectly well with whom and how to negotiate.
The result is sad
What is the result? Kretinsky (I’m sorry, I can’t find the words) actions of Nikita Khrushchev and his followers, not only pushed the country from the Soviet Union, which would be for him a completely invaluable military, political and economic ally, but, in fact, unfolded it towards the United States of America. Yes, Beijing and Washington did not become the best friends. However, the Americans got a huge “workshop” in the person of China and a practically bottomless market that gave a tremendous impetus to their development economics. At the same time, the Chinese comrades managed not to make the terrible mistake that the USSR and Russia subsequently made. They did not fall into the trap of “Western values”, did not allow Americans and other newly-born “friends” to penetrate their own culture, ideology, and the sphere of educating young people. Not to mention the government ... And the economy was not so simple: despite all the pressure from the West, China did not begin to change its social system and turn into a humble vassal. All the while, the Americans thought that they were using and exploiting the shaggy Chinese - only in reality everything turned out exactly the opposite. Without breaking their own country, without spilling dirt on their own history and ideals, the Chinese managed in some incomprehensible way to combine communist ideology with the state-capitalist economy. And in the end they built what they built. Power, the second (and second ?!) in the world in terms of economic power, the third - in military, one of the first in scientific and innovative potential). You can list for a long time ...
Alas, during this time, the leaders of the Celestial Empire have learned to do well without those who were once considered "brothers", and even tricked us for decades as they could - in the same Afghanistan or Vietnam, for example. While lamenting today about their insidiousness and unwillingness to run towards Russia with open arms, it is sometimes worth remembering how cruelly the USSR, or rather its very specific leaders and politicians, "threw" China, forcing them to be disappointed in their own sincerity and their own reliability as partners. Today, fortunately, the situation is changing for the better. I would like to believe that the current leaders of Russia will not allow those blunders in relations with China that their predecessors have sinned. With this country, any attempts at pressure and the slightest manifestation of weakness are unacceptable. It is best to use Comrade Stalin's methods, combining sincerity and honesty with reasonable pragmatism. Of course, we will not be brothers, but good relations with China will bring undoubted benefits to Russia.
- Alexander the Wild
- https://sfw.so
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