Chinese-Soviet Relations in the Context of Asian and International Politics
| Published date | 01 December 1979 |
| Date | 01 December 1979 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070207903400406 |
| Author | Thomas W. Robinson |
| Subject Matter | Article |
THOMAS
W.
ROBINSON
Chinese-Soviet
relations
in
the
context
of
Asian
and
international
politics
During
the
1970s
Sino-Soviet
relations
changed
very
little:
the
en-
tire
ten
years
saw
continued
military confrontation,
diplomatic
en-
circlement
and
counterencirclement,
ideological
estrangement,
and
the
atrophy
of
economic
ties.
In
contrast, all
around
the
two
coun-
tries,
and
throughout
the
globe,
the
character
of
political
and
eco-
nomic
relations
changed
more
in
this
decade
than
in
any
other
period
in
the
last
two
centuries,
save
perhaps
the
years
of
World
Wars
I
and
ii.
How
did
China
and
the
Soviet
Union
so
success-
fully
insulate
their
relationship
from
the
immense
shifts
that
occurred
everywhere
else?
Alternatively,
are
important
shifts
in
intra-communist relations
about
to
occur
in
response
to
the
cu-
mulative
effect of
recent
changes?
The
answer
is
important,
for
relations
between
Moscow
and
Beijing
form
one
leg
of
the
Sino-
Soviet-American
strategic
triangle
that
occupies
the
centre
of
in-
ternational
relations and
vitally
affects
the
foreign
policies
of
all
Western
states.
The
ten
years
from
1969
to
1979
began
with
the
two
communist
giants
in
Asia
at military
loggerheads.
Following
a
series
of
small-
scale
but
symbolically
important
border
clashes
in
the
spring
and
summer
of
1969,
the
Russians
had
coerced
the
Chinese
into
agree-
ing
to
several arms
control
measures
along
the
border
and
to
re-
opening
the
long-suspended
border
talks.
Moscow
followed
that
up
with
a
large
military
deployment
that
upset
even
further
the
bal-
ance
between
the
two
antagonists,
panicked
Beijing
into
thinking
that
war
was
around
the
corner, and
drove
the
Chinese
into
the
Professor
of
International
Relations,
The
National
War
College,
Washington,
Dc;
editor
and
co-author
of
The
Cultural
Revolution
in
China
(1971)
and
author
of
the
forthcoming
book,
Chinese
Foreign
Policy.
CHINESE-SOVIET RELATIONS
IN
INTERNATIONAL
POLITICS
625
hands
of
their
previously
most
hated
enemies,
Japan
and
Amer-
ica.
In
1971,
to
demonstrate
its
military
superiority
over
China,
Moscow
threatened
stern
action
were
Beijing
to
enter
the
Indo-
Pakistani war
over
the
secession
of
Bangladesh.
Through
the
decade,
Soviet
military
superiority
was
so
great
in
Beijing's
eyes
that
even
the
death
of
Mao
Zedong
(whose
personal
anti-Sovietism
was
the most
important
factor
in the
decline
of
Sino-
Soviet
relations) did not
immediately
free his
successors
to
renew
discussions
even
for
an
interim
settlement,
lest
the
Kremlin
drive
too
hard
a
bargain. Indeed,
although
the
threat
of
imminent
war
had
passed by
mid-decade,
China
still
felt
the need
to
continue
its
insurance
policies
in
Tokyo
and
Washington
by
striving
to
construct
an
all-around
global
anti-Soviet
coalition.
The
result,
thanks
to
Chinese
persistence,
perceived
Soviet
expansionism,
and
Japanese
and
American co-operation,
was
restoration
of a
diplo-
matic
balance.
This
paid
dividends
in
1979
when
China
turned
militarily
upon
its
erstwhile Vietnamese
ally
-now
solidly
linked
with
the
Soviet
Union
-
to
prevent
it
from becoming
the
dominant
force
in
Southeast
Asia.
So
things
ended
about
where
they
had
started:
Moscow
and
Beijing
still
faced
each
other
across a
long,
heavily
armed,
and
hostile
border
and
each
continued
to
mortgage
too
much
of
its
overall
foreign
policy
to
the
struggle
against
the
other.
The
end
of
the
decade
did,
however, differ
from the
beginning
in
several
regards. Perhaps
most
importantly,
decision
makers
in
both
Moscow
and
Beijing
were
sensitized,
by
the
three
occasions
of
Sino-Soviet
war
or
near
war,
to
the
ultimate
need for
a
modus
vivendi. In
this
regard,
the
Vietnam
crisis
of
1979
was
more
impor-
tant than
the
two
military
confrontations earlier
in
the
decade,
be-
cause
only
in
this
case
did
both
the
Brezhnev
and
the
Hua
Guofeng
leaderships
face
the
possibility
of
large-scale
war
and
uncontrol-
lable escalation.
Secondly,
the
character
of
Asian
international
relations
had
changed
enormously.
Thirdly,
the
overall
interna-
tional
system,
both
political and
economic,
had
undergone
great
modifications
that
have
influenced
all
actors,
including
Moscow
and Beijing. Finally,
the
Soviet
and
Chinese
societies have
each
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