ABSTRACT
Moscow is extremely sensitive to the development of Washington-Peking relations because of the Soviet Union’s fear that these relations might lead to an encirclement of the USSR. Peking tries to gain as much benefit as it can from the two superpowers. The removal of Khrushchev in 1964 brought a brief lull in Sino-Soviet polemics, but since the new Soviet leadership continued to adopt Khrushchev’s foreign policy, Communist China soon resumed its intense polemic attack. In the 1950s, the United States was regarded by Peking as the principal enemy and as attempting to gain control over most of the world in order to attack the Soviet Union, Communist China, and the socialist system. It is very clear that the Soviet Union has transformed itself from a continental military power into one of the two most powerful countries in the world, and its military history reveals that Moscow’s military buildup has proceeded in line with its foreign policy.
