ABSTRACT
The decision to take the Great Leap transformed the nature of Sino-Soviet relations and of Chinese leadership politics. The following six years witnessed a widening of the breach between the two powers and the increasing polarization of Chinese domestic politics. Increasingly, a primary issue which acted as the implicit touchstone for coalescing domestic factions was China's relationship with the Soviet Union. Indeed, major policy considerations were ultimately reducible to whether the choice involved cooperation or conflict with the Soviet Union—a choice which became painfully explicit in the foreign policy "debate" of 1965. Kosygin's trip to Peking, the American escalation of the conflict, and insistent Soviet demands for closer cooperation created intense political pressures in Peking, which in turn precipitated a lengthy and heated foreign policy "debate" within the Chinese leadership. The Chinese granted the Soviet Union minimum transit requirements and by early April Soviet equipment was rolling across Chinese territory.
