Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance

The Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance, 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 Soviet Union on February 14, 1950. It was based to a considerable extent on the prior Treaty of the same name that had been arranged between the Soviet Union and the Nationalist government of China in 1945 and it was the product of extended negotiations between Liu Shaoqi and Stalin. By its terms the Soviet Union recognized the People's Republic of China and recalled recognition of the Republic of China.

Mao travelled to the Soviet Union in order to sign the Treaty after its details had been concluded, one of only two times he travelled 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. One of its most important points was the provision of a $300 million loan from the Soviet Union to the PRC, which 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 – early 1960s, at the time of the Sino-Soviet split.

After expiration of the treaty in 1979 Deng Xiaoping wanted China not to negotiate with the Soviets unless they agreed to China's demands. Those were that the Soviets retreated from Afghanistan, removed their troops from Mongolia and Sino-Soviet borders and stopped supporting Vietnam's invasion of Cambodia. 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, as the treaty had prevented China from attacking Soviet allies.