Polemic on General Line of International ... - From Marx to Mao

the then P.R.C. Ambassador to the U.S.S.R., before his departurefrom Moscow. In the course of this conversation, themembers of the Central Committee Presidium again took theinitiative in strengthening Chinese-Soviet friendship. ComradeN. S. Khrushchov asked Comrade Liu Hsiao to convey toComrade Mao Tse-tung our proposal: “To set aside all disputesand differences, not to try to establish who is right and whois wrong, not to stir up the past, but to start our relationsfrom a clean slate.” But we did not even receive an answerto this sincere appeal.Deepening their ideological differences with the fraternalparties, the leaders of the CPC began to carry them over togovernmental relations. Chinese government agencies begancurtailing economic and trade relations with the Soviet Unionand other socialist countries. On the initiative of the P.R.C.government, the volume of China’s trade with the SovietUnion was cut to nearly one-third in the past three years;delivery of complete sets of industrial plant dropped to onefortiethof the former volume. This was done on the initiativeof the Chinese leaders. We regret that the P.R.C. leadershiphas embarked on such a policy. Now as always, we believeit is necessary to go on developing Soviet-Chinese relationsand extend co-operation. This would be mutually beneficial,above all to People’s China, which has received great assistancefrom the Soviet Union and other socialist countries. In thepast, the Soviet Union developed extensive relations withChina, and today, too, it wants their expansion, not curtailment.One would expect the CPC leadership to be the firstto display concern for the development of economic relationswith the socialist countries. However, it has been acting inthe opposite direction, disregarding the damage such actionscause the P.R.C. economy.The Chinese leaders did not tell their people the truthabout who is responsible for curtailing these relations. Extensivepropaganda aimed at discrediting the foreign anddomestic Policy of the CPSU, at stirring up anti-Soviet senti-536