The Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance (Russian: Советско-китайский договор о дружбе, союзе и взаимной помощи, ), or Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance for short, was a bilateral treaty of alliance, collective security, aid and cooperation concluded between the People's Republic of China and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on February 14, 1950. It superseded the previous Sino-Soviet treaty signed by the Kuomintang government. This treaty was signed against the background of the establishment of China's communist regime and the Cold War confrontation, resulting directly from Mao's foreign policy directive of "leaning to one side" (siding with the socialist camp) and Joseph Stalin's strategic and ideological considerations pertaining to the extension of Soviet influence in East Asia. Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party Mao Zedong travelled to the Soviet Union to sign the treaty, one of only two times in his life that he left China. The treaty laid the groundwork for Sino-Soviet cooperation and partnership. It provided China with security guarantees, and increased the scope for economic cooperation between the two countries. However, it did not prevent relations between Beijing and Moscow from drastically deteriorating in the late 1950s to the early 1960s, during the Sino-Soviet split.
After the expiration of the treaty in 1979, Deng Xiaoping wanted China not to negotiate with the Soviets unless they agreed to China's demands such as withdrawing from Afghanistan, removing their troops from Mongolia and the Sino-Soviet border, and ceasing their support of the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia. The expiration of the treaty allowed China to attack Vietnam, a Soviet ally, in the Third Indochina War as a response to Vietnam's invasion of Cambodia since the treaty had prevented China from attacking Soviet allies.
Background
Yalta Agreement
At the end of World War II, Joseph Stalin identified two strategic objectives for the Soviet Union in the Far East after the war: the independence of Outer Mongolia from China and restoration of the sphere of influence of Tsarist Russia in Northeast China to ensure its geopolitical territorial security. To this end, Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill reached an agreement on February 11, 1945, at the Yalta Conference in which the Soviet Union recognized the Kuomintang (KMT) government as the legitimate government of China, regardless of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). For the United States, it hoped that the Soviet Union would enter the war against Japan as soon as possible and support the KMT as the only legal government of China. In return, the United States would help the Soviet Union persuade the KMT to recognize the legal regime of the Soviet Union in Outer Mongolia. At that time, the relations between the Kuomintang and the CCP were very tense, and Chiang Kai-shek always tended to seek help from the United States and the Soviet Union in dealing with the conflict with the CCP. Thus, although no representative from either party came to the meeting at Yalta, Roosevelt still made it clear that every treaty that included China's problems needed Chiang's approval in the agreement because of his friendship with the KMT. After that, in order to force the Chinese Nationalist government to accept Soviet terms, the Soviet Red Army had entered northeast China in large numbers, and the KMT government led by Chiang was forced to agree on the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance.
Converging interests Later, after the victory of the CCP in the Chinese Civil War, fundamentally changed the pattern of Asia and the Far East forcing the Soviet Union to reassess and adjust its policy towards China. The demands of China and the Soviet Union were common and mutual in some respects. To enhance the strength of the communist bloc against the US-led capitalist world in the international system of the Cold War, Stalin saw China under the leadership of CCP as a viable partner in checking US encroachment on the Soviet sphere of influence in East Asia. The CCP also needed the Soviet Union's support and assistance in its struggle to consolidate its rule and curb the attempts of the United States to overthrow the communist regime. Although the CCP won the final victory, many problems were left by the war. Therefore, China needed assistance from the Soviet Union in reconstruction, economic development and industrial production. Moreover, the ideological opposition and hostility between China and the US-led western camp ruled out the possibility of receiving aid from the west necessitating, the establishment of a stable and predictable diplomatic relationship with the Soviet Union.
Attitudes towards the implementation of the Treaty However, the two parties' leaders had different views on the content and implementation of the treaty. Stalin hoped that the new treaty would remain under the framework of the Yalta agreement, which secured Soviet vested interests in Northeast China. On the other hand, Mao was preoccupied with setting up China's independent foreign image and abolishing all the unequal treaties imposed by imperial powers. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the settlement of the alliance treaty between China and the Soviet Union has become an urgent matter for Chinese leaders to conduct diplomatic activities and make decisions. Therefore, Mao's first consideration on diplomatic issues was to have a direct talk with Stalin and sign a new Sino-Soviet treaty.
Signing reasons Having gone through the prolonged Second Sino-Japanese War and the civil war from 1945 to 1949, the newly established Communist regime inherited a devastated economy and volatile socio-political environment. The signing of the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance materialized the cooperative relationship between the CCP of China and the Soviet Union. For China, the aim was to secure Soviet economic assistance for domestic development and replace the 1945 Sino-Soviet Treaty signed between the KMT government and the Soviet Union.
Domestic situation of the PRC Despite the successful military campaigns ousting KMT presence in the mainland, years of prolonged warfare left the communist regime with the devastated industrial base, part of which resulted from the heavy bombardment of the industrial heartland by the KMT air force in the later phase of the civil war. For example, between October 1949 and February 1950, the KMT Air Force carried out 26 airstrikes against military and industrial targets in the communist-controlled regions, among which February 6, 1950, bombardment of Shanghai was most effective, inflicting heavy damage on the local industries and brought production to a halt because of the paralyzed electricity grid. The leaders of the CCP well understood the situation they faced, namely, lacking not only financial assistance, equipment, and industrial plants but also competent specialist capable of directing, managing, and restarting the national economy and industrial production. Anastas Mikoyan, a Soviet diplomat and the politburo member of the CPSU responsible for negotiation with Mao about the aid, reported that his Chinese comrades were politically sophisticated but had severely limited information about economic mechanisms and information.
Military concerns The military occupation of Taiwan was given top priority during the later phase of the civil war and constituted the primary source of hostility between China and the US when communist victory seemed inevitable. However, a significant obstacle to seizing Taiwan was the lack or absence of functional air and naval force essential to any cross-strait military operation. Although Chiang Kai-shek had retreated to Taiwan by the time of the negotiation of the treaty, the KMT still maintained air and naval superiority over the PLA, which put the PLA in a disadvantageous position. A reflection of that was PLA's defeat in the Battle of Guningtou, where wooden boats of the CCP were met with well-equipped KMT armoured warships, and landing troops had to fight without air cover. The lack of air force capable of interception led to frequent and unimpeded KMT airstrikes against industrial targets following the seizures of large cities by the CCP, which elevated the importance of Soviet support in building a national air force and navy.
In the early stage of the negotiation, Zhu De proposed buying 100 aircraft, 100-200 helicopters 40-80 bombers, as well as training 1,000 Chinese pilots and 300 personnel at the Soviet Union. Mao also expressed his hope in Soviet air support for the planned attack on Taiwan but was rejected by Stalin for it would give the US an excuse to intervene.
Leaning to One Side In his "On the People's Democratic Dictatorship" published on July 1, 1949, Mao articulated the "leaning to one side" foreign policy directive, in which he framed a world divided between the confrontational Socialist and imperialist camps and that "sitting on the fence will not do, nor is there a third road." Thus, faced with the bleak situation and threats from both within and without, consolidating the communist rule under the Cold War framework of the mid-20th century Mao saw the necessity and benefits in firmly siding with the Soviet Union and joining the socialist camp. He perceived the cooperation within the socialist camp as goodwill and sincere assistance in countries' development in contrast to the Marshall Plan, which Mao considered a pretense of exploitation and the US agenda to exert political influence into the recipient countries. For China, materializing rapid industrialization through economic assistance was one of the primary goals, which rendered the need for Soviet economic and technological assistance the driving force behind the 1950 treaty.
Ideology When faced with the choice between the American-led Western Bloc and the Soviet-led Eastern Bloc, Mao chose to side with the Soviet Union because of ideological proximity. In contrast to the Marshall Plan bearing "imperialist" and "interventionist" connotations, Soviet aid was framed as international support from the world proletariat revolutionary forces. The fraternal relationship between China and the Soviet Union embodied a socialist internationalism and coherent ideological framework which gave impetus to the signing of the treaty, and according to Stalin, China's enrollment "formed a strong, united socialist camp to confront the capitalist camp" and constituted a socialist international cooperation framework more genuine than the capitalist one.
Negotiation process
Prelude to negotiations
On December 6, Mao travelled by train to Moscow, along with Chen Boda, Mao's chief secretary for political and ideological affairs, Ye Siluo, Mao's private secretary for secret affairs; Wang Dongxing, who was responsible for Mao's security and Shi Zhe, Mao's interpreter. The first official interaction between Mao and Stalin took place in the Kremlin on the night of the 16th. Mao first claimed that the most important concern for China was securing peace. China needed three to five years of peace to restore the economy to pre-war standards and stabilize the country. The resolution of China's major issues depended heavily on the prospects for peace. Mao's concern resonated well with Stalin, who responded that there was no direct threat to China from foreign powers since Japan and Germany were still recovering. Most Western countries, including the United States, were reluctant to wage another war. Stalin also claimed that if the two countries work together and maintain friendly relationships, they can guarantee peace for 20 to 25 years, or even longer. Hence, this view is consistent with the standpoint of the CCP Central Committee at that time.
Diverging views