Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance

The Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance (simplified Chinese: 中苏友好同盟互助条约; traditional Chinese: 中蘇友好同盟互助條約; pinyin: Zhōng-Sū Yǒuhǎo Tóngméng Hùzhù Tiáoyuè), or Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance for short, is the treaty of alliance concluded between the People's Republic of China and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on February 14, 1950. It was based to a considerable extent on the 1945 prior Treaty of the same name, which had been arranged between the Soviet Union and the Nationalist Government of China and it was the product of extended negotiations between Liu Shaoqi and Joseph Stalin. By its terms, the Soviets recognized the People's Republic of China and recalled recognition of the Republic of China.

Mao traveled to the Soviet Union to sign the treaty after its details had been concluded, one of only two times that he traveled outside China in his life. The treaty dealt with a range of issues such as Soviet privileges in Xinjiang and Manchuria; specifically, the Chinese Eastern Railway and the ports of Dalian and Lushun were to be returned to China.[1] One of its most important points was the provision of a $300 million loan from the Soviets to the Chinese, who had suffered economically and logistically from over a decade of intense warfare. The treaty did not prevent relations between Beijing and Moscow from drastic deterioration in the late 1950s to the early 1960s, during the Sino-Soviet split.

After the expiration of the treaty in 1979, Deng Xiaoping wanted China not to negotiate with the Soviets unless they agreed to China's demands such as for the Soviets to withdraw from Afghanistan, remove their troops from Mongolia and the Sino-Soviet border, and cease support of the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia.[2] The expiration of the treaty allowed China to attack Vietnam, a Soviet ally, in the Third Indochina War as a response to Vietnam's invasion of Cambodia since the treaty had prevented China from attacking Soviet allies.