ABSTRACT
The eight years that followed Mao Tse-tung's last visit to Moscow and the adherence of the People's Republic of China to the Common Program of the twelve Communist and Workers' Parties in power witnessed the consummation of a gradual but final ideological break between China and the Soviet Union and the growing weakness of the political, economic, and cultural links between the two countries. The ideological debate resumed in the spring and early summer of 1958, in a roundabout way, by means of Yugoslav affairs. Several extremely violent articles in the People's Daily were quickly followed by two major texts contributed by the two most experienced theorists of the Party, Ch'en Po-ta and K'ang Sheng. A few weeks later, Mao and Khrushchev found themselves face to face, as a result of the crisis between Lebanon and Jordan. Khrushchev, who paid an unexpected visit to Peking, wanted it to be settled by the United Nations.
