+ Soviet Union

• In 1950, China and the Soviet Union got on well. Chairman Mao visited Moscow and both him and Stalin signed the Sino-Soviet treaty of friendship, alliance and mutual assistance.

  • Soviet Union would provide economic aid worth $300 million to China
  • Soviet military assistance would be provided if China was attacked by Japan or USA.
• Mao began to become offended by the treatment of Chinese delegates sent to Moscow: They were given poor accommodation and were not treated with respect.

  • China and the Soviet Union still collaborated in the Korean war which was going on during this period of tension though.

  However, when Khrushchev became leader of the Soviet Union, relations declined further

  • Khrushchev visited Beijing in 1958 and the two leaders did not get on.
• Khrushchev criticised Mao's policies in China whilst Mao complained that the invasion of Czechoslovakia (1968) had been an attack on a fellow communist state.

  In 1969, fighting broke out amongst Chinese and Soviet troops along the border and their was a risk of this clash leading to full scale war.

  Therefore China decided to adopt a more friendly approach towards the Soviet's rival, the USA, to protect itself from invasion.
• In 1954 and 1958 relations between the USA and China was poor as China threatened Taiwan and the USA showed that it was prepared to go to war to defend that island.

  • Mao's followers labelled Americans - 'capitalist running dogs'

  Showing that the two countries opposed eachother
• April 1971


  Americans and Chinese entered World Table Tennis Championships in Japan. Initially the Chinese were told to avoid Americans but the friendly interactions grew between them and the American team was invited to play matches in China.
• Henry Kissinger improved the USA-China relations further when he visited China and met with the PM: Zhou En-lai.

  • The two had a series of meetings and established friendly relations

  This became known in the US as 'ping-pong diplomacy' due to the fact that the two had bonded over the game.
• In February 1972, Mao and Nixon signed the Shanghai communique resolving the earlier issue of Taiwan in the late 1950s.

  The two leaders agreed that there is 'only one China and that Taiwan is a part of China'

  • Something that the US had not agreed with before