Sino-Soviet Split

USSR offered moral support to the Tibetans

Khrushchev and Mao openly insult one another in front of assembled delegates

Chinese walk out over Albania, Khrushchev called Mao an Asian Hitler, Mao called Khrushchev a useless old boot

Albania government refused to obey Moscow, USSR withdrew financial support, Mao gave Albanians money and technical aid

Mao accused Khrushchev of capitulating to the Americans during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Soviet leader replied that Mao's policies would lead to nuclear war.

Border war between India and China, USSR gave Indians fighter-planes

Almost went to war

Nuclear weapons: blueprints, paper tiger
Khrushchev's proposed joint army

China and USSR oriented nuclear weapons at each other

Over foreign nations (ex: Vietnam)

When the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979 to prop up their client government there, the Chinese saw this as an aggressive move to surround China with Soviet satellite states. As a result, the Chinese allied themselves with the U.S. and Pakistan to support the mujahideen, Afghan guerrilla fighters who successfully opposed the Soviet invasion.

When Saddam Hussein invaded Iran, sparking the Iran-Iraq War of 1980 to 1988, it was the U.S., the Soviets, and the French who backed him. China, North Korea, and Libya aided the Iranians. In every case, though, the Chinese and the U.S.S.R. came down on opposite sides.

When Mikhail Gorbachev became the Soviet premier in 1985, he sought to regularize relations with China. Gorbachev recalled some of the border guards from the Soviet and Chinese border and reopened trade relations. Beijing was skeptical of Gorbachev's policies of perestroika and glasnost, believing that economic reforms should take place before political reforms.

Nonetheless, the Chinese government welcomed an official state visit from Gorbachev late in May of 1989 and the resumption of diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union. The world press gathered in Beijing to record the moment.

Nonetheless, the Chinese government welcomed an official state visit from Gorbachev late in May of 1989 and the resumption of diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union. The world press gathered in Beijing to record the moment.

However, they got more than they bargained for — the Tiananmen Square Protests broke out at the same time, so reporters and photographers from around the world witnessed and recorded the Tiananmen Square Massacre. As a result, Chinese officials were likely too distracted by internal issues to feel smug about the failure of Gorbachev's attempts to save Soviet socialism.