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The Initial Soviet Reaction to the Events in China in and the Prospects for Sino-Soviet Relations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2009

Alexander Lukin
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Extract

The tragic events in China of June 1989 have had a considerable influence on the development of the international situation and have triggered a stormy reaction from public opinion in many countries. The stand on the Tiananmen tragedy has become a litmus test of the political position of governments, parties and groupings in a number of states. China's prime minister Li Peng declared in the wake of the events that they had demonstrated who was a true friend of China. A closer study of the issue would reveal that these events in fact led to a situation whereby “friends” and “enemies” (if we agree to identify China's “friends” and “enemies” with those of her premier) reversed roles. Whereas all governments and public and political groups in the west, including some orthodox communist parties, were united in their condemnation of Beijing, China's former opponents whom she used to label as “regional hegemonists,” such as Cuba and Vietnam, as well as East Germany and North Korea who have similar regimes, assured Beijing of their support for its actions.

Type
Research Notes
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 125 , March 1991 , pp. 119 - 136
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 1991

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References

1. 1985 saw the resignation of Konstantin Rusakov, Secretary of the Communist Party Central Committee and head of the department dealing with socialist countries. He was soon followed by the leader of the anti-China groupings, Rusakov's deputy Oleg Rakhmanin, and deputy foreign minister Mikhail Kapitsa.

2. Such groups were active in the Central Committee, the KGB, the army, and the Foreign Ministry, i.e. in organizations reaping dividends from confrontation and therefore having a stake in it.

3. Izvestia, 8 June 1989.

4. Pravda, 20 May 1989.

5. Ekho Planeti (The Echo of the Planet), No. 22 (61) (1989) p. 22.

6. Pravda, 6 July 1989.

7. Pravda, 16 June 1989.

8. Pravda, 2 August 1989.

9. Izvestia, 5 June 1989.

10. Moscow, Congress, 6 June 1989. Quoted from Tartusski Kuryer, No. 2,1–15 July 1989.

11. Moscow News, No. 25, 18 June 1989.

12. Ogonyok, No. 31, 29 July–5 August 1989, p. 27.

13. Moscow News, No. 32 (1989).

14. The Twentieth Century and Peace, No. 8 (1989), p. 4.

15. New Times, No. 25, 16 June 1989, p. 35.

16. DrBazhanov, E., in New Times, No. 16 (1990)Google Scholar.

17. Moscow News, 7 September 1989.