Guns on the Sino-Soviet border

July 24, 2020 12:05 am | Updated 02:07 am IST

The long frontier running from the east of the Mongolian People’s Republic to the Pacific is in dispute between Russia and China. In fact, Peking resents the fact that Mongolia itself is a virtual Russian protectorate bristling with rockets and guarded by Soviet troops. The Russians fear that the enormous Chinese forces might overrun thinly-populated Siberia. The Chinese fear that Russia might launch a nuclear war in order to overthrow the Maoists who have rejected Moscow as the theoretical guide to world communism. The build-up of armed strength on either side of the Siberian frontier represents a new factor in the world balance of power. The Chinese threat has compelled the Russians to seek a settlement in Europe and to make friendly overtures to Japan and non-communist countries in South-East Asia. Japanese and British civil airlines now fly from Tokyo to London across Russia and the latter publicly invites Japanese investment in its Asian provinces. Communist China has also turned a more genial face to the non-communist world. Japan, West Germany, Britain, and France are now the major trading partners and investors in China and foodgrains come from Australia and Canada. The United States remains, aloof, but has announced its neutrality in the Sino-Soviet dispute. However, if Russia moves closer to the United States in the current negotiations on arms limitation, the Chinese could resume their talks with the Americans at Warsaw. Though some commentators believe that a clash between the communist giants is imminent, the general impression is that the Sino-Soviet quarrel will not erupt into open war. In 1968, both countries recalled their Ambassadors. Now the Chinese, after a long delay, have accepted a Soviet envoy and will probably send their own man to Moscow. Though the talks on the border dispute have been deadlocked, negotiations are going on regarding fishing and navigation rights on four rivers which flow along a section of the Siberian border. But authoritative diplomatic sources recently said that China had turned down the offer of a large Soviet credit. Mao Tse-tung is determined to carry on a political and diplomatic offensive against the Russians, and this is raging all over the world. Curiously enough, both seek influence in the same areas of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. If the Russians supply arms to Egypt, China sends guns to the Arab guerillas. In North Vietnam, a pro-Russian faction in the government is matched against a pro-Chinese one. The Russians have the advantage in material supplies while the Chinese have the edge in ideology, even in the Western countries. Both countries are aware that there cannot be two centres of world revolution with different interpretations of Marxist scripture. Their quarrel has therefore spawned rival communist factions everywhere and weakened the impact of totalitarian communism.

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