ze the Soviet policy because the Soviets regarded theGreat Leap Forward in the utmost contempt. Relations bewteen the two nations werestrained to the point of collaspe and any real cooperation bewteen the two nations wasunimaginable. The Soviets also criticized the territorial ambitions of the Chinese. The Chinesehad many disputes over borders especially with India, Hong Kong, and Macao. Theyasked the USSR why they were allowing these countries to stay in capitalist andimperialist hands. The USSR responded by saying “The artificial creation of any territorialproblems in our times....would be tantamount to embarking on a very dangerous path.”The two countries also accused each other of inciting border incidents. In the early 1960’sChina accused the Soviets of conducting “large-scale subversive activities” in the Chineseprovince of Sinkiang. This is the province that borders the Soviet republics of Tadjikistan,Kirghizia and Kazakhstan. The Chinese claimed that the Soviets coerced ten of thousandsof people into fleeing to the USSR. The Soviets in turn accused the Chinese of persecutingKazakhs and causing some 50,000 Kazakhs to seek refuge in the Soviet Union. Thesesorts of unwarranted accusations caused great strife between the two nations. (Nogee,270-5) Many historians agree that it is difficult to pinpoint the exact time when eachcountry decided that the other constituted the greatest threat to it, but most historians feelthat the point was reached sometime in the mid 1960’s. Khrushchev began to plan for ashowdown with China very early in his regime, he had said in 1957 that “Conflict withChina is inevitable.” Had Khrushchev remained in power the Chinese would have beenexpelled from the world communist movement as early as 1965, but Khrushchev’soverthrow prevented him from taking action against the Chinese. In 1966 the Chinesenamed the Soviet Union as their number one threat. (Salisbu...
