A NEW COLD WAR?

When he visited China in June 1989 Michail Gorbachev, Secretary General of the PCUS and President of the Soviet Union, had two objectives. He wanted to see for himself how Deng Xiaoping's reforms were transforming the country and hoped to patch up the political and ideological strains that had upset relations between Moscow and Beijing, from the withdrawal of Soviet advisors at the time of Krushev to the harsh military clashes over the Ussuri in 1968 and the different positions taken by the two countries during the Afghan crisis of 1979. At the same time, the Soviet President tried to explain his perestroika to Deng. The intentions were reasonable, but the climate changed when the Soviet leader's presence in Beijing had the effect of enthusing the young people of the capital. While the Chinese leaders were gradually introducing the rules of the market into the economy, Gorbachev spoke of "glasnost" and seemed determined to change those of the political system. As soon as the Soviets left Beijing to return to their homeland, several thousand young Chinese began to meet in Tiananmen Square to demand democratic reforms. From that moment the Soviet leader ceased to be a possible model for China and his fall in December 1991 showed the Chinese leadership that the reform attempted by Moscow was a risk to avoid. I believe that this explains why the date of 3 June 2019 was awaited by Xi Jinping, President of the People's Republic of China, with some apprehension. [Continues]