The US, USSR and China — Sino-Soviet and Sino-US relations (1947–1979)
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Flip to reveal answersWhat was proclaimed on 1 October 1949, and by whom?
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Question
What was proclaimed on 1 October 1949, and by whom?
Answer
The People's Republic of China (PRC), proclaimed by Mao Zedong after the CCP won the Chinese civil war.
Question
What did the 1950 Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance provide?
Answer
A 30-year pact: mutual defence if either state was attacked, plus Soviet loans and technical aid to China.
Question
How did China support North Korea in the Korean War (1950-53)?
Answer
China sent hundreds of thousands of troops to fight, while the USSR mainly supplied weapons and air support rather than soldiers.
Question
What was Khrushchev's Secret Speech (1956) and why did it anger Mao?
Answer
A speech attacking Stalin's crimes and cult of personality; Mao saw it as a betrayal of revolutionary discipline, especially since he ran China similarly.
Question
What happened to Soviet technical advisers in China in 1960?
Answer
The USSR abruptly withdrew all of them, taking blueprints with them and halting dozens of Chinese industrial projects.
Question
What triggered the Zhenbao/Damansky Island clashes of March 1969?
Answer
An unresolved, unfairly-drawn Sino-Soviet border dispute over a small island in the Ussuri River, leading to armed skirmishes between Chinese and Soviet troops.
Question
What was 'ping-pong diplomacy' (April 1971)?
Answer
The US table-tennis team was unexpectedly invited to visit China, the first American sports team allowed in since 1949, signalling a diplomatic thaw.
Question
What did Henry Kissinger do in July 1971?
Answer
He made a secret trip to Beijing, pretending to be ill in Pakistan, to meet Zhou Enlai and arrange Nixon's presidential visit.
Question
What happened in the UN in October 1971 regarding China?
Answer
The UN transferred China's seat, including its permanent Security Council place, from Taiwan's Nationalist government to the PRC.
Question
What was the Shanghai Communiqué (February 1972)?
Answer
The agreement signed during Nixon's visit acknowledging Taiwan as part of 'one China' and expanding US-China trade and cultural contact, without full diplomatic recognition yet.
Question
Define 'triangular diplomacy'.
Answer
Kissinger's strategy of playing the USSR and China off against each other for US advantage, since the two communist powers deeply distrusted each other.
Question
Compare Sino-Soviet and Sino-US relations across 1947-1979.
Answer
Sino-Soviet relations moved from alliance (1950) to near-war (1969); Sino-US relations moved from total non-recognition to full normalisation (1979) — opposite directions, both driven by national interest.
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Topic 17.1 hub
Rivalry, mistrust and accord
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