During the Cold War, why didn't China get along with the Soviet Union?

Question

They were both communist, so what was the beef? Didn't they know that, if they stuck together, they could rule the world?

Answer 1

They fell out over a border dispute.  I remember the news covering fighting on the Sino (Chinese)-Soviet border during the late 60s and early 70s.

Here's more:

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAE...

It had no basis in ideology;  it was all about land.

Answer 2

China and Russia had different types of communism. China was more peasant orientated whil Russia was the cities.

Answer 3

They had different philosophies to a certain extent. Also, they share a fairly long border and the Russians were a little to interested in expansion for the chinese to trust them. In fact, there were several border skirmishes, and very nearly open warfare between them.

Would you trust the USSR if you shared a border with them?

Answer 4

Because

the soviet union's type of communism was some what corrupt. Like a lot of high officials had nicer things than the general public.

China was trying to install a true communist government and didn't really agree with the Soviet Union's style of communism.

Kinda ironic now don't you think?

Answer 5

they had problem over Vietnam, the Vietnamese communist attack China over border issue and Russia support Vietnam.

That was the turning point China - Russia relation become strained.  Furthermore during cold war Russia made many huge expansion in the east Europe, more interested in east Germany progress than Mongolia or China progress; that means Moskow has less time to talk with China for co-operation.

And China saw plain communism will not feed a billion people, and China changed the socialist communist economic system to market oriented socialist system.

Answer 6

Basically, Mao liked Stalin. When Khrushchev renounced Stalin's policies and tried to improve relations with the west, Mao was furious.

"From the Soviet point of view, however, they were taking prudent measures in light of the existing international situation and the threat of nuclear war. By the late 1950s, both the United States and the Soviet Union had massive nuclear arsenals, and the Soviet leadership was engaged in a strategy that balanced confrontations over issues such as Berlin with negotiations to avoid an outbreak of war."



"During 1962, international events caused a final rupture between the Soviet Union and China. Mao criticized Khrushchev for backing down in the Cuban missile crisis, to which Khrushchev responded that Mao's policies would lead to a nuclear war."

"By 1964, Mao was asserting that there had been a counter-revolution in the Soviet Union, and that capitalism had been restored. Relations between the Chinese Communist Party and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union broke off, as did relations with the Communist parties of the Warsaw Pact countries"

Answer 7

The heart of issue was a matter of doctrine, and Stalin's rule was the great issue. There could be only one pope for the international communist movement. Both Moscow and Beijing claimed legitimacy.

In China today, Stalin's picture hangs together with Marx, Engels, and Lenin--grouped with Mao, of course.

Khrushchev's "Secret Speech" (1956) denouncing the crimes of Stalin started it, and the Soviet retreat from confrontation in Cuba (1962 )was the last straw.

Oddly, Mao's immediate circle were the first Communist rulers  to realize the Soviet economic/political model was bankrupt. China began its internal reforms at the time of Russia's ossification under Brezhnev.

Answer 8

China, which was created by the USSR, desired its own identity and was jealous of the power and scientific advances of the Soviets.  Each was jealous of the other and tried to outdo the other.  Often they helped each other out, but if one side went too far, problems arose.  China invaded northern India in the early 1960s and the Russians used experimental weapons on them and killed so many that the Chinese had to save face and claim that a "famine" did the killing.   Later, when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, the Chinese had military training posts helping the Afghani not more than a mile from bases I worked at which were helping the exact same people.

These were two VERY EVIL giants, with the most evil people who ever lived running them, each trying to take over the world.