ABSTRACT
When Japan signed the Peace and Friendship Treaty (PFT) with China, Soviet displeasure was anticipated. The Soviets noted that many Japanese in government and in the media had urged caution, but the government had capitulated to Beijing’s pressures. The Soviets clearly resented the PFT. It represented a failure of diplomacy towards Japan, and more important, it was the possible beginning of a triple entente against the USSR in the East Asian region. The Sino-Soviet dispute had lost little of its intensity since the death of Mao Zedong. In the Soviet perspective, no nation on China’s borders is safe from Maoist expansionism. Historical maps were cited as proof of China’s encroachments. Soviet invectives stressed that the People’s Republic of China was becoming a most dangerous enemy. The Soviets suspected that the new face of China - after the fanaticism of the Cultural Revolution - was a part of the continued strategy against Soviet socialism.
