Leaning to one side (1949)
일변도 (1949)
The foreign policy of the new China proclaimed by Mao Zedong in “On the People’s Democratic Dictatorship” in June 1949. Since the world was divided into imperialist and socialist camps, China must stand with the socialist camp led by the Soviet Union; there was no neutrality and no “third road”. It was institutionalised in the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance of 1950 and ended with the Sino-Soviet split at the end of the 1950s.
In depth
Mao wrote that the forty years’ experience of Sun Yat-sen and the twenty-eight years of the Communist Party had taught them to lean to one side; all Chinese without exception must lean either to imperialism or to socialism, and “sitting on the fence will not do, nor is there a third road”. He called for an “international united front” with the Soviet Union, the People’s Democracies and the proletariat of all countries, and saw Western aid such as the Marshall Plan as an instrument of exploitation and interference. Article 11 of the Common Program spelled out alliance with the Soviet Union and the People’s Democracies.
Behind the policy lay the realities of Nationalist air raids, the lack of naval power, wrecked industry and the absence of technical cadres. The 1950 treaty, reached through Liu Shaoqi’s secret visit of 1949 and Mao’s stay in Moscow in 1949–1950, brought a $300 million loan, Soviet specialists and later the 156 projects. But its terms were stricter than those for Eastern Europe and came at the price of recognising Outer Mongolia’s independence and repaying in strategic resources. As the disputes of the late 1950s over de-Stalinisation and peaceful coexistence grew into the Sino-Soviet split, the policy came to an end.