History Test
Source A:
The USSR has helped the Chinese People’s Republic build in a short space of time more than 200 large industrial factories and workshops, install the latest equipment and create many new industries.
A) How far does this source prove that relations were good between China and the USSR from 1949 – 1976?
This source shows that the USSR was actively involved in the industrial enhancement of the PRC. China wanted to become a player on the world stage and the Russians actively supported and helped the Chinese to do so. They was clearly a feeling of alliance and Russia wanted to promote the spread of Communism, they welcomed another communist state, especially as it would panic the Americans and they were engaged in the Cold War at the time, however they were wary of the power of the Chinese and wanted to keep their development under control.
The Russians send approximately 15 000 advisors to China and received many thousands of Chinese in Russia to help with training and education on how to industrialise. Without the Russians the Chinese industrialisation would have taken much longer. You don’t help someone out unless there is some mutual gain or a mutual understanding on the relations front and initially there was. After the Second World War Stalin sought to aid the Chinese who had just come out of a bloody civil war and did so with the Treaty of “Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance” on Valentine’s Day, 1950. Mao saw Stalin as a major influence as he was a father of communism and he wanted to establish a solid relationship with him. Stalin saw their allegiance as the best way to control the yet to be harnessed power of the Chinese state.
However, what this statement doesn’t tell us is that relations were far from “good” by 1976 as the Chinese had established friendliness with the Americans and had been on the brink of nuclear war with the Russians over disputes of land control of islands in the Ussuri River and off the...