ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses how Beijing's leaders perceived the Soviet Union's invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968, and how this prompted Beijing's redefinition of the Soviet Union as a country not only dominated by "modern revisionism" but also characterized by "social-imperialism." It analyzes how Beijing's new definition of the Soviet Union had created new political and ideological space that would allow Beijing's leaders to pursue improvement in relations with the United States. The chapter deals with a general discussion about how these developments, with 1968 as a critical point of departure, transformed China's own path of development as well as the orientation and nature of the global Cold War. In several senses, 1968 marked the beginning of a great transformative age for the whole world, not least of all China. A critical trigger for the coming of this age was the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.
