ABSTRACT
In 1950 the friendship between the Soviet Union and China seemed to many an unshakable alliance pitting East against West and communism against democracy. The Cuban missile crisis occurred almost simultaneously with the Sino-Indian border conflict, and added fuel to China's complaints about Soviet timidity. Beijing's anti-Soviet propaganda, however, continued unabated, and a message of congratulations sent by Leonid Brezhnev to Hua Guofeng on his appointment as chairman of the Chinese Communist Party was rejected. Mao Zedong told Kosygm when he last saw him in 1969 that it might be possible to improve state-to-state relations, but that inter-Party ties would be much harder to ameliorate. Although there have been developments and changes in state, Party and personal relations, there has been no major breakthrough. Soviet propaganda in the post-Mao period has continued to attack 'Maoism' and has argued that 'de-Maoization' was a myth, but personal attacks on Chinese leaders have been rare.
