The Soviet Union and China in the 1980s: reconciliation and divorce

This article discusses Soviet and Chinese reforms and foreign policies in the 1980s in comparative perspective, in the light of recent archival findings. Ideological rivalry, the main driver of the Sino-Soviet tensions, disappeared and new interests of Beijing and Moscow pushed the two communist countries towards normalisation of relations. The role of geopolitics, security interests, and memories of the past played the role in the Sino-Soviet relations, but this role was secondary to the strategies of reforms and modernisation. Ultimately, the reformist aspirations in both countries pulled them towards the US-led global capitalist system, not towards each other. The article argues that key policy choices by Deng Xiaoping and Mikhail Gorbachev, which made possible China’s rise and the Soviet Union’s collapse, can be better understood in the comparative perspective.