Search

The Russian and Chinese revolutions, long celebrated by their claqueurs as trailblazing events leading to what Karl Marx asserted would be the inevitable worldwide victory of socialism, were linked...

This forum includes six commentaries on Lorenz M. Lüthi's book The Sino-Soviet Split: Cold War in the Communist World, published by Princeton University Press in 2008. Drawing on recently declassified documents and memoirs from numerous countries, Lüthi explains how and why the close alliance between the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China fell apart in a remarkably short time, dissolving into fierce mutual enmity. Amassing a wealth of evidence, Lüthi stresses the role of ideology in the split, lending support to the arguments put forth nearly five decades ago by analysts like Donald Zagoria in his pioneering book on the Sino-Soviet rift. Six leading experts on Chinese foreign policy and Sino-Soviet relations discuss the strengths of Lüthi's book but also raise questions about some interpretations and omissions. The forum includes Lüthi's reply to the commentaries.

This forum includes five commentaries focusing on a much-acclaimed book by Roderick MacFarquhar and Michael Schoenhals, Mao's Last Revolution, published by Harvard University Press. The book provides a meticulous account of the Cultural Revolution in China, from 1966 to 1976. MacFarquhar and Schoenhals assess the roles of Mao Zedong and other senior Chinese officials and discuss what was happening in all regions of China during this period of terror and upheaval. Five leading experts on Chinese politics and society discuss the book's many strengths but also raise questions about some specific interpretations and omissions. The forum includes a reply by MacFarquhar and Schoenhals to the commentaries.

Tom was raised in a close-knit, church-going, middle-class family in Wisconsin. His strong Midwestern roots were evident throughout his life. Early on he acquired his love of nature and the world of ideas two lifelong attributes. A man of many talents, he was both musical and athletic playing the piano and starring on his high school basketball team. He had an affinity for foreign languages mastering German, Russian, Chinese, and acquiring some Korean. He was incredibly wide-read, and this was reflected in his scholarship. His erudition began with literature in his youth, science and philosophy in college, international affairs and social science in graduate school, history and biography in adulthood. A childhood bout with mumps left Tom deaf in one ear, self-conscious about his disability, and chary of close personal contacts (a trait easily mistaken for aloofness). In reality, he was sociable, extremely warm and solicitous of his friends and family. He cherished intellectual and social engagement with his academic and professional colleagues. At Carleton College, his alma mater which he so loved, Tom excelled academically, athletically, and socially. Not an ivory tower intellectual, Tom supported himself at college and graduate school by driving trucks in New York, working in a South Chicago steel mill, and returning to Green Bay for a variety of odd jobs during summers. Tom's interest in international affairs began to develop in his third and fourth undergraduate years at Carleton. The key intellectual turning point occurred during his junior year, when he spotted a flyer in the student union for an organization called SPAN (Student Project for Amity Among Nations), which he recalled had been established by a group of "idealistic veterans" of World War II. With a US$1,000 stipend from SPAN, plus travel expenses, Tom spent the summer between his junior and senior years in Europe, doing a project on the formation of EURATOM, a project which drew on his background in physics, but linked it to the study of international relations. As part of the project, he had the opportunity to interview both Jean Monnet ? The China Quarterly, 2006 doi: 10.1017/S0305741006000683

The normalization of Sino-Soviet relations in 1989 represents an important element in the evolving post-cold-war system of East Asian regional and global politics. Unlike the Sino-Soviet security alliance cum ideological partnership of the 1950s, the new relationship is both pragmatic and limited. The improved security atmosphere is evidenced by mutual force-reduction agreements and the resumption of military exchanges. Border and regional trade are an increasingly important element in the economic relationship, but centralized trade still predominates. Chinese leaders are very disturbed by the weakening of Communist Party control and the erosion of socialist values in the USSR. Political uncertainties in both countries, particularly in the USSR, require us to consider alternative scenarios for the future of Sino-Soviet relations. In any event, the relationship is less central to each country than in the past because of the altered international environment in the Asian-Pacific region.

For more than a century and a half, the U.S.—China—Japan triangle has been a constant, if frequently changing, feature of international politics in the Asia-Pacific region. Presently, the rise of China and the reinvigoration of Japan at a time when the United States is bogged down in another neocolonial war make this an appropriate time to look, once again, at the interactions of these three powers.1 This chapter attempts two tasks. The first is to briefly review and assess the role that Japan plays in the U.S.—China relationship against the background of the past. The second, and necessarily much more speculative, undertaking, is to consider how Japan might respond in the event of a future global power transition from an international system marked by U.S. dominance to one marked by China’s dominance.