"Things Nearly Went Nuclear When the Chinese Stole..." Topic

… a Soviet Tank.

"In 1900, Russia signed the Treaty of Beijing which gave them Outer Manchuria and other Chinese lands. When both countries became communist, their nagging border dispute was swept under the rug, especially since China needed Russian technological expertise.

At least till Nikita Kruschev ruined it. In February 1956, he hosted the 20th Congress of the Communist Party and denounced Joseph Stalin as a monster, demanding reforms.

Mao Zedong, China's head honcho, was shocked. He thought of Stalin as a comrade-in-arms. Worse, he believed that Kruschev was also attacking him, for Mao felt that purges and summary executions were necessary for China's transition from its feudalist past…"
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Amicalement
Armand

Misunderstandings of such a nature, caused by Kruschev, resulted in crimes against humanity. It is evident that this history will not repeat itself.

For all his bluster and shoe-banging rhetoric, Krushchev was a realist and pragmatist. Mao's excesses exceeded even Stalin's, as evidenced in the human costs of his Five-Year agricultural commune disasters, Great Leap Backward and the Great Proletarian Cultural Rewind.

The rapprochement with America was not due to the split between Mao and Krushchev over the latter's betrayal of Stalinism. It was due to the fact that Mao's successor Deng Xiaoping was also a realist (he was quoted as saying "it doesn't matter if a cat is black or white as long as it catches mice") and the diplomatic efforts of Nixon's Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

Interesting story about how Chinese persistence won in recovering the then-state of the art T-62 though.

China has managed to move on up the road solely by its theft of tech, take it all away and they'd still be executing farmers for not reaching quota, part of their cultural identity.

Glad you find it interesting my friend!. (smile)

Amicalement
Armand