Face of Sino-Soviet economic cooperation, senior operational manager of the Soviet economy under four general secretaries
When he arrived in Beijing in December 1984 as the highest-ranking Soviet visitor in 15 years, the Chinese called him lao pengyou — 'old friend.' His nine-day visit produced three accords and the first step toward normalizing Sino-Soviet relations.
A lathe operator who rose to First Deputy Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers, he was sent by Stalin to China in 1950 to oversee Soviet technical aid for 156 industrial projects, working with Zhou Enlai during the golden age of Sino-Soviet economic cooperation. From 1980 he managed the Soviet economy under four general secretaries (Brezhnev, Andropov, Chernenko, and Gorbachev) and in 1984 became the highest-ranking Soviet official in Beijing in 15 years, signing accords that reopened normalization.
Career Timeline
- 1921–1929Turner, Kaluga railway workshops
- 1938–1939First Secretary, Krivoy Rog City CP(b)U
- 1939–1943Head, Non-Ferrous Metallurgy Dept, CC VKP(b) Cadres
- 1943–1950Deputy Commissar/Minister, non-ferrous metallurgy
- 1950–1958Chief Economic Adviser to the PRC
- 1958–1974First Dep. Chairman, State Cttee for Foreign Economic Relations
- 1974–1980Deputy Chairman, USSR Council of Ministers
- 1980–1986First Deputy Chairman, USSR Council of Ministers
Related historical events
Sino-Soviet Economic Cooperation and the 156 Projects
Sent to China on Stalin's orders in February 1950, Arkhipov served as Chief Economic Adviser to the State Council and directed the golden age of Sino-Soviet economic cooperation from the ground. His core mission was overseeing Soviet technical aid, equipment deliveries, and specialist deployments for 156 heavy-industry projects (the Anshan steel complex, the Changchun No. 1 Automobile Works, the Luoyang tractor plant, the Wuhan Yangtze bridge) which became the backbone of Chinese industrialization. At its height, some 5,000 Soviet advisers and technicians worked in China, and the 156 projects built China's first modern heavy-industry system, driving average annual industrial growth of 11.3% through the 1950s.
Even after his withdrawal in 1958, Arkhipov remained the Soviet Union's preeminent 'China hand.' In December 1984 he became the highest-ranking Soviet official to visit Beijing in 15 years. Chinese leaders welcomed him as lao pengyou, 'old friend', and he signed three economic and technical cooperation accords with Vice Premier Yao Yilin, opening the first channel for normalizing Sino-Soviet relations. In 2009, for the 60th anniversary of the PRC, the Chinese government named Arkhipov one of '60 Foreigners Who Influenced New China.'