Friday, November 8, 2013
China's Path
While China may have initially shaped its communist policies more directly in tandem with the Soviet Union, its Cold War evolution deviated much more drastically from the USSR than most policy analysts at the time could recognize. In your interpretation of the reading, what are some of the most prominent reasons for China developing its own identity apart from the Soviet Union? Why does it take so long for Americans to recognize this difference? Once we did recognize the changes, how did US opinions towards China shift? How do you think this Cold War evolution has shaped the US relationship with China today?
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The PCR separated from the USSR much like a moody teenager. After Stalin's death the Soviet Union simply didn't really "get" them anymore and saw them as Marxists while the Soviets seemed to the PCR to be wimpy deviationists who couldn't even follow through on the Cuban Missile Crisis. So what does the pubescent China do? they become friends with the country their communist parent would ardently disapprove of; the US. The US, however, hadn't even noticed just how totally cool China was lookin' nowadays however because they had still had their heads in the sand and denied the very existence of the larger portion of China, focusing only on the nationalists in Taiwan. after they discovered just how totally rad each other were at the Olympic Ping Pong games they became practically, like, BFF's (but they're also kind of "frienemies" too)
ReplyDeleteThe reason for the People's Republic of China or PCR's break from its once sturdy relationship with the soviet union was due to leadership changes. These changes occurred on both sides of the once friendly communist nations. Not to that china and russia are enemies. With Moa(who is that guy again?) practically worshipping Stalin as the leader of communist party, it made sense for China to follow closely in the Soviet's footsteps. But with the death of both stalin and mao, both nations began drifting farther and farther apart. Until the main breaking point between the Soviets and the PRC was when China questioned the soviets resolve after their failure during the cuban missile crisis and then the PRC decided to make economic deals with the sworn enemy of communism; the United States. The lag time on the US;s realization the China had "split" from the USSR was due to US anti-communist policies. With the i guess...infamous ping-pong invitations around 1971 the US began to gain a small, cautious, yet ambitious likeness toward China. But primarily Taiwan NOT the PRC.
ReplyDeleteAmericans were blind to the realities of the communist world. They never recognized China's deviation because they juvenilely assumed that "the communist world was monolithic." Also, because they refused to recognize the Chinese government as legitimate because it was communist, the USA "had no diplomatic relations with Communist China and thus very little insight into its distinct nature and approaches to domestic and foreign policy."
ReplyDeleteAfter Stalin dies and Krushchev starts the process of de-stalinization, China finds itself deviating form the USSR's definition of communism. Once America recognizes this deviation, they begin to support China because of this overall Cold war mentality that the the influence of the USSR needs to be suppressed.
Mao admired Stalin because he was the one who defined communism. For him, Stalin was the "head" of all communistic countries. No wonder that the rest of the world saw China and Ussr as allies. But when Stalin died and Khrushchev introduced de-stalinazation, MAo's respect for the Soviet's decreased. Despite their treaty of friendship made in 1950, the Sino-Soviet-split started. America of course still put both countries into the same drawer. For them, all communists were the same. But when they could see beyond their hate for communism, they realized that China was a potential ally.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, China developed its own identity because China had a different interpretation of what it meant to be Communist. It takes so long for America to see this change because America saw only one communist world. Also, the US placed and embargo on the PCR during the Vietnam War. The US supported China because China shared a common interest- making the USSR less powerful. I think this has shaped a positive relationship between the US and China today. For example, a lot of items and clothing are made in China that we use on a day to day basis.
ReplyDeleteWhen examining the reading I too found that the reason behind the differentiation in identity between china and Russia is because they both looked at communism differently. Also, they really didn't see eye to eye so maybe they didn't want to really be affiliated with eachother. The text even says, "the Russians and Chinese had a long and troubled history that was informed as much by nationalism and conflict as it was ideology and cooperation." And we didn't really see them as individuals because well quite frankly, communism is communism. We didn't care what "type" it was.
ReplyDeleteMao created his government in the same way and design as stalin's government. he wanted to bring the backward seeming Chinese economy and way of life to full force and become a industrialized superpower. When Stalin died, Mao did not take well to Khrushchev's new view of government. Khrushchev was anti-stalin and Mao was pro stalin so that is why China went on their separate path. America assumed that every communist country was associated with Russia and ultimately and enemy. but when Stalin died and there was a chance run in with some athletes, America began to saw that china was cut off from Russia. When we realized this, we started to talk to china again and became friends with them. I think that as the PRC was recognized as a legitimate government by the UN, we have embraced the friendship and now have a somewhat functioning relationship with China.
ReplyDeleteChina didn't want to be associated with the Soviet Union too closely. I feel that the general public put things into two categories: 1. communist 2. not communist. China and the USSR viewed communism differently so obviously they wouldn't want to be put in the same category as each other. Mao (whatever that is) had a large say in the matter as he tried to push China towards its own sense of power.
ReplyDeleteThe Western world saw the communist world as "monolithic" and all its leaders as "equal and linked". This mentality caused it to take forever for the Americans to note that Chinese communism differed from Soviet communism. The USA had no diplomatic relations with China, which made it impossible to "recognize the communist government as the legitimate government."
ReplyDeleteUntil 1969, the Sino-Soviet split was not recognized by the USA. But then, we finally saw what happened between China and the USSR and seemed to take China under our wing to prevent the spread of Soviet influence.
China of course wanted to create something better than the Soviet Union could. The Soviet Union of course had its troubles because of its economic policy. China wanted to be more economical and stable than the Soviet Union. Also, China wanted to have minimal association with the Soviet Union.
ReplyDeleteLeadership changes and the growing world tension with the USSR caused China's split with the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was constantly making it known that they are not allies and are displeased with the ways in which Mao ran his communistic society.
ReplyDelete