Undesired Outcomes: China's Approach to Border Disputes during the Early Cold War

Abstract

This article will explore the evolution of China's border policy through the 1950s and 1960s. Drawing on newly available archival sources and recent secondary literature, it will argue that during the early Cold War, the PRC leadership lacked a clear sense of the concept of national sovereignty, and often attempted to use territorial negotiations with China's neighbours to bargain for broader foreign policy objectives. The article will also examine the historical and political assumptions underlying Mao Zedong's approach to border questions, suggesting that Mao combined longstanding imperial assumptions about universal emperorship with the modern, Marxist idea of a world revolution.

Notes

¹ Demographic statistics indicate that thirty of China's national minorities (a population of some 66,000,000) spill out over national borders and operate within multiple language groups.

² See, for example, Liao Xinwen, ‘Ershi shiji wushi niandai Zhongguo chuli ludi bianjie wenti de yuanze ye banfa’ (The principles by and ways in which post-1949 China managed issues relating to its land borders) (paper presented at the conference ‘China in the 1950s’, Shanghai, August 2004); Xu Yan, ‘Jiefanghou woguo chuli bianjie chongtu weiji de huigu he zongjie (A summary of China's management of border conflicts and crises since 1949), Shijie jingji yu zhengzhi 3 (2005): 16-21; Gao Fei, ‘Jianping Zhongguo chuli lingtu zhengduan de yuanze ji linian’ (A brief appraisal of the principles and concepts behind China's management of territorial conflicts), Waijiao pinglun 105 (October 2008): 25-31; Nie Hongyi and Li Bin, ‘Zhongguo zai lingtu zhengduan zhong de zhengce xuanze’ (China's territorial disputes and policy choices), Guoji zhengzhixue 4 (2008): 1-34; Liu Xiaoyuan, ‘Bianjiang Zhongguo he 1949 nian’ (1949 on China's frontiers), Zhongguo dangdai shi yanjiu 3 (2011): 117-136; Nie Hongyi, ‘Ding ding guojiang: xin Zhongguo chengli 60 nian Zhongguo bianjie wenti yanjiu’ (Fixing the frontiers: research into China's frontiers since the founding of the PRC) (Beijing: Falü chubanshe, 2011); Zhu Zhaohua, ‘20 shiji wu liushi niandai xin Zhongguo chuli bianjie zhengduan de yuanze yu shijian’ (Resolution of China's border disputes in the 1950s and 1960s: theory and practice), Suzhou keji xueyuan xuebao 29.5 (September 2012): 1-8; Qi Pengfei, Daguo jiangyu: dangdai Zhongguo ludi bianjie wenti shulun (The territory of a major power: on contemporary China's land border issues) (Beijing: Zhonggong dangshi chubanshe, 2013); Zhang Qingmin, ‘Zhongguo jiejue ludi bianjie jingyan dui jiejue haiyang bianjie de qishi’ (What China can learn from its land border disputes in resolving maritime border issues), Waijiao pinglun 4 (2013): 1-16.

³ Ma Dazheng, ‘Ershi shiji Zhongguo bianjiang shidi yanjiu’ (20^th-century research into the historical geography of China's frontiers), Lishi yanjiu 4 (1996): 137-151.

⁴ See particularly: Li Danhui, ‘Tongzhi jia xiongdi: 1959 niandai Zhong-Su bianjie guanxi – dui Zhong-Su bianjie wenti de lishi kaocha (zhi yi)’ (Comrades plus brothers: Sino–Soviet border relations in the 1950s – a historical investigation into the Sino–Soviet frontier issue (part 1)), Guoji lengzhanshi yanjiu 1 (autumn 2004): 71-102; ‘Zhengzhi doushi yu dishou: 1960 niandai Zhong-Su bianjie guanxi – dui Zhong-Su bianjie wenti de lishi kaocha (zhi er)’ (Political warriors and antagonists: Sino–Soviet border relations in the 1960s – a historical investigation into the Sino–Soviet frontier issue (part 2)), Shehui kexue 2 (2007): 146-167; Sergey N. Goncharov and Li Danhui, ‘E-Zhong guanxi zhong de ‘lingtu yaoqiu’ he ‘bupingdeng tiaoyue’’ (Territorial demands’ and ‘unequal treaties’ in Sino–Soviet relations), Ershiyi shiji (October 2004): 110-117; Dai Chaowu, ‘Zhong-Yin bianjie chongtu yu sulian de fanying he zhengce’ (Sino–Indian border clashes and the Soviet policy response), Lishi yanjiu 3 (2003): 58-79; Huang Xiangping and Qi Pengfei, ‘Qianxi Zhongguo zhengfu zai Zhong-Yin bianjie zhengduang zhong de weiji chuli’ (Preliminary Analysis of the Chinese government's crisis management in the Sino–Indian border dispute), Dangdai Zhongguo shi yanjiu 1 (2006): 79-86; Qiu Meirong, ‘Weiji waiguozhong de guonei yinsu: yi Zhong-Yin weiji (1959-1962) wei li’ (Domestic factors in crisis diplomacy: the case-study of the 1959-62 Sino–Indian crisis), Guoji guancha 4 (2007), 27-33; Ma Rongjiu, ‘Tongxiang chongtu zhilu: lun Yindi bianjie zhengce yu Zhong-Yin lingtu zhengduan’ (The road to conflict: on Indian border policy and the Sino–Indian territory dispute), unpublished Ph.D. dissertation (Beijing University, 2008); Zhu Zhaohua, Zhong-Mian bianjie wenti yanjiu: yi jindai Zhong-Ying bianjie tanpan wei zhongxin (Research into the Sino–Burmese border question, focusing on Sino-British border negotiations from the late Qing period), (Harbin: Heilongjiang jiaoyu chubanshe, 2007); Zhu Zhaohua, ‘Xin Zhongguo chuli bianjie zhengduan de dianfan – jiyu Zhong-Mian bianjie de huading’ (New China's model for handling border disputes, and its origins in the designation of the Sino–Burmese border), Tansuo yu zhengming 4 (2009): 73-76; Fan Hongwei, ‘Zhong-Mian bianjie wenti de jiejue: guocheng yu yingxiang’ (The resolution of the Sino–Burmese border question and its implications), Nanyang wenti yanjiu 3 (2010): 36-45.

⁵ See Shen Zhihua and Dong Jie, ‘Zhong-Chao bianji zhengyi de jiejue’, 34-51; Han Xiaoqing, ‘Zhongguo yu Bajisitan jiejue shuangbian ludi bianjie wenti waijiao tanpan de lishi kaocha’ (A historical investigation into the diplomatic negotiations leading up to the resolution of the Sino-Pakistan border issue), Dangdai Zhongguo shi yanjiu 6 (2011): 90-98; Zhou Shougao and Qi Pengfei, ‘Guanyu 1963 nian Zhong-A bianjie tiaoyue tanpan jincheng zhong de ‘leng’ yu ‘re’ xianxiang yu tanxi – yi Zhongguo waijiaobu xinjin jiemi dangan wei zhu’ (The ‘cold’ and ‘hot’ phases in the 1963 Sino-Afghanistan border treaty negotiations: an enquiry based on newly declassified documents in China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Nanya yanjiu 4 (2011): 16-27; Mu Ani, ‘Chuyi Zhong-Ni bianjie tanpan zhong de jiaodian: Zhufeng wenti de chuli’ (Preliminary observations on the focus of Sino–Nepalese negotiations: the Everest problem), Dangshi yanjiu yu jiaoxue 1 (2013): 55-63.

⁶ For reasons of space and focus, China's border issues with Vietnam, Laos, and Bhutan have been omitted from the scope of this article.

⁷ In China, the most influential works on the Sino–Indian border dispute are Neville Maxwell, India's China War (Harmondsworth: Pelican, 1972) and Gupta Karunakar, The Hidden History of the Sino–Indian Frontier (Calcutta: Minerva Associates, 1974). Other important publications include: Allen S. Whiting, The Chinese Calculus of Deterrence: India and Indochina (Michigan: University of Michigan Press, 1975); Steven A. Hoffman, India and the China Crisis (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990); S. Mahmud Ali, Cold War in the High Himalayas: The USA, China and South Asia in the 1950s (Richmond: Curzon, 1999); John W. Garver, Protracted Contest: Sino–Indian Rivalry in the Twentieth Century (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2001); Gautam Das, China-Tibet-India: The 1962 War and the Strategic Military Future (New Delhi: Har-Anand Publications PVT LTD, 2009). For Russian scholarship on the history of Sino–Soviet border disputes, see: B. I. Tkachenko, Rossiia – Kitai: vostochnaia granitsa v dokumentakh i faktakh (Russia – China: The eastern border in documents and facts) (Vladivostok: Ussuri, 1999); Iu. M. Galenovich, Rossiia and Kitai v XX veke: Granitsa (Russia and China in the 20th century: the border) (Moskva: Izograf, 2001); V. S. Miasnikov and E. D. Stepanov, Granitsy Kitaia,Istoriia formitorvaniia (The borders of China: a history of formation) (Moskva: Pamiatniki istoricheskoi mysli, 2001).

⁸ Probably the best work in recent years by an Anglophone scholar is M. Taylor Fravel, Strong Borders, Secure Nation: Cooperation and Conflict in China's Territorial Disputes (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008).

⁹ See Suisheng Zhao, A Nation-state by Construction: Dynamics of Modern Chinese Nationalism (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2004) on the emergence of modern Chinese nationalism.

¹⁰ For further discussion on the above, see: Zhong Hongnian, ‘Qingdai fanshu guanning de bianhua yu Zhongguo jiangtu de bianqian’ (The concept of vassaldom during the Qing dynasty and the transformation of China's frontiers), Qingshi yanjiu 4 (2006): 17-27; Bi Aonan, ‘Lishi yujing zhong de wangchao Zhongguo jiangyu gainian bianxi – yi tianxia, sihai, Zhongguo jiangyu, bantu wei li’ (An analysis of imperial China's concept of the frontier in historical context: ‘All Under Heaven’; ‘The Four Oceans’; ‘The Middle Kingdom’; ‘Frontier Zones’; ‘Territory’ as keywords), Zhongguo bianjiang shide yanjiu 16.1 (2006): 1-13; Zheng Wen, ‘Lun gudai Zhongguo de guojiaguan yu tianxia guan: bianjing yu bianjie xingcheng de lishi zuobiao’ (Ancient China's concept of state and empire: the historical coordinates of China's borders), Zhongguo bianjiang shidi yanjiu 17.3 (2007): 16-23; Liu Xiaoyuan, ‘Zhongguo de minzu, bianjiang wenti ji qi lingtu shuxing de jindai zhuanxing’ (China's national and border issues, and the modern transformation of its territoriality), in Li Xiaobing and Tian Xiansheng eds., Xifang shixue qianyan yanjiu pingxi (Research into the frontiers of Western historiography) (Shanghai: Shanghai cishu chubanshe, 2008), 1-23; Liu Xiaoyuan, ‘Chongsu Zhongguo xingzhuang: er zhan qijian Meiguo zhanlue siwei yu Zhongguo shaoshu minzu bianjiang’ (Reconstructing China's outlines: American strategy between the World Wars and China's frontier national minorities), Lishi jiaoxue wenti 5 (2010): 15-20; Feng Jianyong, ‘Goumian minzu guojia: xinhai geming qianhou de Zhongguo bianjiang’ (Constructing a nation-state: China's frontiers before and after the 1911 Revolution), Zhongguo bianjiang shidi yanjiu 21.3 (2011): 63-72; Li Dalong, ‘Shilun Zhongguo jiangyu xingcheng he fazhan de fenqi he tedian’ (Phases and features of the development of China's frontiers), Zhongguo bianjiang shidi yanjiu 21.3 (2011): 22-32; Liu Xiaoyuan, ‘Bianjiang Zhongguo’; Zhu Zhaohua, ‘20 shiji wu liushi niandai xin Zhongguo chuli bianjie zhengduan de yuanze yu shijian,’ 1-8.

¹¹Jianguo yilai zhongyao wenxian xuanbian (Selection of important documents since 1949) Volume 1 (Beijing: Zhongyang wenxian chubanshe, 1992), 13.

¹² The existence of numerous and diverse errors in maps of China published during this period is a good indication of the vagueness surrounding China's borders. Examples of the mistakes highlighted by surveys carried out by the Ministries of Culture and of Foreign Affairs include: the placing of Kashmir within Indian territory; a lack of clarity over the borders between India, Bhutan, and Sikkim; the placing of Nepal and Bhutan within Chinese territory; the designation of Indochina as Vietnam; and the outright omission of Laos and Cambodia. See Xuanchuan tongxun 172 (7 November 1955): 32–34.

¹³ See ‘Zhonggong zhongyang guanyu Zhong-Mian bianjie wenti de zhishi’ (Central Party directive on the Sino–Burmese border issue), 31 October 1956, cited in Liao, ‘Ershi shiji wushi niandai Zhongguo chuli ludi bianjie wenti de yuanze ye banfa’.

¹⁴ On the eve, and in the immediate aftermath, of the establishment of CCP authority over China, Mao Zedong made a serious attempt to release (Outer) Mongolia, Xinjiang and northeast China from Soviet control, to the point that he actually forced Stalin to make substantial concessions in the Sino–Soviet Treaty of Alliance. However, at that moment Mao's key concern was recovering territory lost by the Nationalists, so that his compatriots would not interpret his ‘leaning to one side’ policy as supine submission to the USSR. It is hard to say, however, whether this strategy sprang from a proper understanding of the concept of territorial sovereignty as applied in modern nation-states. For further discussion, see Shen Zhihua, Wunai de xuanze: lengzhan yu Zhong-Su tongmeng de mingyun, 1945-49 (No choice: the Cold War and the fate of the Sino–Soviet Alliance (1945-59)) (Beijing: Shehui kexue wenxianchu, 2013), 102-105, 134-160.

¹⁵ In 1920, the Soviet Union determined its border with Finland; in 1921, it signed a border treaty with Turkey. See Lingtu bianjie shiwu guoji tiaoyue he falü huibian (Compilation of international treaties and laws regarding territorial and border affairs) (Beijing: Shiji zhishi chubanshe, 2006), 88-96, 12-16.

¹⁶Zhou Enlai waijiao wenxuan (Zhou Enlai's selected diplomatic works) (Beijing: Zhongyang wenxian chubanshe, 1990), 123-124.

¹⁷ Ibid., 130.

¹⁸ See Liu Jinjie, ‘Zhong-Mian bianji zhong de ‘Maikemahongxian’ wenti ji qi jiejue’ (The problem of the McMahon Line within the Sino–Burmese border, and its resolution’, Dangdai Zhongguo shi yanjiu 1 (2006): 91; Feng Yue and Qi Pengfei, ‘Zhong-Mian bianjie tanpan shulüe’ (Summary of Sino–Burmese border negotiations), Hunan keji daxue xuebao 9.6 (2006): 55-60.

¹⁹ ‘Yili Foreign Affairs Office Report on a Survey of the Sino–Soviet Border in the Yili Region,’ 24 September 1960, Yili Prefectural Archives, 11/1/134: 3-14.

²⁰ Yao Zhongming et al., ‘Zhou Enlai zongli jiejue Zhong-Mian bianjie wenti de huihuang yeji (Zhou Enlai's glorious record in resolving the China-Burma border question) in Pei Xianzhang ed., Yanjiu Zhou Enlai – waijiao sixiang yu shijian (Research on Zhou Enlai: foreign policy philosophy and practice) (Beijing: Shijie zhishi chubanshe, 1989), 95.

²¹ On Zhou Enlai's efforts to research and resolve the Sino–Burmese border problem, see Jin Chongji ed., Zhou Enlai zhuan (Biography of Zhou Enlai) Volume 2 (Beijing: Zhongyang wenxian chubanshe, 1998), 1292-1324.

²² The ‘Directive on the Sino–Burmese Border Issue’ has never been published; see Liao Xinwen, op. cit., for a description of its contents; see also Gao Fei, ‘Jianping Zhongguo chuli lingtu zhengduan de yuanze ji linian’, 25-31. Zhou Enlai's March report has also never been publicly released; for an outline of its contents see Zhou Enlai nianpu 1949–76 (A chronology of Zhou Enlai 1949-76) Volume 2 (Beijing: Zhongyan wenxian chubanshe, 1997), 26. Zhou Enlai's July report was covered in Renmin Ribao, 10 July 1957, p. 1, and is also mentioned in Zhou Enlai waijiao wenxuan, 230-238. But this is not a verbatim record of the original speech; Liao Xinwen, ‘Ershi shiji wushi niandai Zhonguo’ contains more of the original. Our own summary of the report is drawn from all these materials.

²³ Guangxi Zhuang Nationality Autonomous Region Archive, X50/2/290, 5-10; Yao Zhongming et al., ‘Zhou Enlai zongli’: 94, 110; Zhou Enlai's speech given at the Historical Geography Conference, 7 August 1957, accessed through private collection.

²⁴ ‘Ministry of Foreign Affairs communiqué on border issues’, 25 April 1958, Jilin Provincial Archive, 77/4/1, 15–16.

²⁵ ‘Ministry of Foreign Affairs Report on the Borders Committee's Work’, 16 July 1958, Guangxi Autonomous Region Archives, X50/2/290, 5-10.

²⁶ ‘State Council Circular on the Organisation of Border Work’, 8 August 1958, Guangxi Autonomous Region Archive, X50/2/290, 4.

²⁷ ‘Central Party Committee Directive on Intensifying Border Work’, 13 December 1958, Guangxi Autonomous Region Archive, X50/2/258, 37-38; Zhou Enlai nianpu Volume 2, 194.

²⁸ See Yang Gongsu, ‘Zhong-Yin bianjie wenti de lishi zhenxiang’ (The historical reality behind the Sino–Indian border issue), Zhongguo bianjiang shi di yanjiu baogao 4 (May 1989): 1–13; Dai Chaowu, Zhongguo yu Yindu de guanxi (1950–1965): jiyu duoguo jiemi dangan de yanjiu (Sino–Indian relations (1950–1965): research drawn from international declassified archives) (Beijing: Shehui kexue wenxian chubanshe, forthcoming).

²⁹ Luo Guibo's speech given at the Second Foreign Affairs Meeting, 4 March 1959, Guangxi Autonomous Region Archives, X50/3/6, 99–120.

³⁰ Wu Lengxi, Shinian lun zhan (1956-1966) (Ten years of talking about war (1956-1966)) (Beijing: Zhongyang wenxian chubanshe, 1999), 248. Due to restrictions on space, this article will not discuss the details of Beijing's complex reasons for its handling of border issues with these states. For further elaboration, please refer to works of secondary literature listed in footnotes.

³¹ ‘Summary and Plan of Work for the State Council's Border Committee (1959-60)’, 14 March 1960, Guangxi Autonomous Region Archives, X50/3/37, 85-89.

³² See Niu Jun, ‘1962: Zhongguo duiwai zhengce ‘zuo’ zhuan de qianye’ (1962: the eve of China's ‘left turn’ in foreign policy), Lishi yanjiu 3 (2003): 23-40; Lin Yunhui, Wutuobang yundong: cong dayuejin dao dajihuang (1958-61) (A utopian movement: from the Great Leap Forward to the Great Famine (1958-61)) (Hong Kong: Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2008); Chen Jian, ‘Geming yu weiji de niandai: dayuejin he Zhongguo duiwai zhengce de gemingxing zhuanbian’ (In an age of revolution and crisis: the Great Leap Forward and the revolutionary turn in China's foreign policy) Lengzhan guoji shi yanjiu 7 (Winter 2008): 45-96; Shen Zhihua ed., Zhong-Su guanxi shigang: 1917–1991 nian Zhong-Su guanxi ruogan wenti zai tantao (An outline of Sino–Soviet relations: an investigation into various problems in Sino–Soviet relations 1917-1991) (Beijing: Shehuikexue wenxian chubanshe, 2011), 206-374. On the subject of the CCP's early efforts to instigate Asian revolution and its abandonment of its policy of exporting revolution in 1954-1955, see Shen Zhihua, ‘Mao Zedong yu dongfang qingbaoju – Yazhou geming zhudaoquan de zhuanyi’ (Mao Zedong and the Eastern Intelligence Bureau: the transfer of leadership in the Asian revolution), Huadong shifan daxue xuebao 6 (2011): 27-37.

³³ See Zhonghua renmin gongheguo bianjie shiwu tiaoyueji, Zhong-Mian juan (Collected border treaties of the PRC: China and Burma), 1-13; United Front Department ed., Lingxun 13 (1960), 1-5; 14 (1960), 5-7; Waishi dongtai 57 (1960), 10-11; Wang Shilu, ‘Zhong-Mian bianji tiaoyue moshi dui jiejue Zhong-Yin bianjie wenti de yingxiang’ (The form of the Sino–Burmese border treaty and its influence on the Sino–Indian border issue), Zhongguo bianjiang shi di yanjiu baogao 3-4 (1993): 37-48; Zhu Zhaohua, Zhong-Mian bianjie wenti yanjiu, 275-286 and ‘Xin Zhongguo chuli bianjie zhengduan de dianfan’: 73-76; Chen Saixi, ‘Lun zhongguo jiejue bianjie zhengduan de moshi’ (On China's model for resolving border disputes), Guangdong waiyu waimao daxue xuebao 20.3 (May 2009): 46-50; Fan Hongwei, ‘Zhong-Mian bianjie wenti de jiejue,’ 36-45; Fravel, Strong Borders, 90, 329-330.

³⁴Waishi dongtai 63 (1959), 9; 1 (1960), 2; 3 (1960), 4.

³⁵ Wang Taiping ed., Zhonghua renmin gongheguo waijiaoshi (1957-69) (Diplomatic History of the PRC, 1957-69) Volume 2 (Beijing: Shiji zhishi chubanshe, 1998), 54-56.

³⁶ See Zhonghua renmin gongheguo bianjie shiwu tiaoyueji, Zhong-Ni juan (Collected border treaties of the PRC: China and Nepal), 1; Waishi dongtai 14 (1960), 1-5; 62 (1960), 2-3; 68 (1960) 1; Mao Zedong waijiao wenxuan (Selections of Mao Zedong's diplomatic writings) (Beijing: Zhongyang wenxian chubanshe and Shijie zhishi chubanshe, 1994), 395-397; Zhou Enlai nianpu Volume 2, 293-294; Qi Pengfei, ‘Zhong-Ni bianjie tanpan de lishi jincheng he jiben jingyan’ (The history and lessons of China's border negotiations with Nepal) Dangdai zhongguoshi yanjiu 2 (2011): 90-98; Fravel, Strong Borders, 328-329.

³⁷ Fravel, Strong Borders, 91-92.

³⁸ See Zhonghua renmin gongheguo bianjie shiwu tiaoyueji, Zhong-A, Zhong-Ba juan (Collected border treaties of the PRC: China, and Afghanistan and Pakistan), 21-38; Waishi dongtai 9 (1960), 6-7; 33 (1960), 9-10; Wang, Zhonghua renmin gongheguo waijiaoshi Volume 2, 102-104; Wang, ‘Zhong-Mian bianjie tiaoyue’; Han Xiaoqing, ‘Zhongguo yu Bajisitan’, 91-99; Fravel, Strong Borders, 116-117, 325-326.

³⁹ Fravel, Strong Borders, 117-118.

⁴⁰ See Zhonghua renmin gongheguo bianjie shiwu tiaoyueji, Zhong-A, Zhong-Ba juan (Collected border treaties of the PRC: China, and Afghanistan and Pakistan), 1-20; Wang, Zhonghua renmin gongheguo waijiaoshi Volume 2, 104-105; Fravel, Strong Borders, 324-325.

⁴¹ Fravel, Strong Borders, 119.

⁴² According to a map-based estimate, China ceded some 500 square kilometres of territory. See Dae-sook Suh, Kim Il Song: The North Korean Leader (New York: Columbia University Press, 1988), 200.

⁴³ See Liaoning Province Revolutionary Committee Office of Foreign Affairs ed., ‘Zhong-Chao tiaoyue, xieding, yidingshu huibian 1954-1969)’ (Collection of Sino–Korean treaties, agreements and protocols, 1954-69)), January 1971, 4-27; Jilin Provincial Revolutionary Committee Foreign Affairs Office ed., ‘Zhong-Chao, Zhong-Su, Zhong-Meng youguan tiaoyue, xieding, yidingshu huibian’ (Collection of Sino–Korean, Sino–Soviet and Sino-Mongolian treaties, agreements and protocols), June 1974. See also Han Wen trans., ‘Hanguo dongbeiya lishi caituan disan yanjiushi bian’ (Collection of materials edited by Korea's third research bureau into materials on the northeast Asia financial group) Neibu ziliao 3 (December 2007): 11-13, 17-54; Luo Guibo's speech at the Second Foreign Affairs Work Conference, 4 March 1959, Guangxi Archives, X50/3/6, 99-120; Shen Zhihua and Dong Jie, ‘Zhong-Chao bianjie zhengyi de jiejue’, 34-51; Fravel, Strong Borders, 321-322.

⁴⁴ Fravel, Strong Borders, 112.

⁴⁵ See Zhonghua renmin gongheguo bianjie shiwu tiaoyueji, Zhong-Meng juan (Collected Border Treaties of the PRC: China and Mongolia), 1-2, 152-198; ‘Ministry of Foreign Affairs Report on Border Negotiations with the Mongolian government,’ 31 December 1957, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Archives, 252/1/51, 6-11; Luo Guibo's speech at the Second Foreign Affairs Work Conference, 4 March 1959, Guangxi Archives, X50/3/6, 99-120; ‘Views of the Aletai Prefectural Commissioner's Office on the Checking of the Sino-Mongolian Border and the Surveying of the Sino–Soviet Border,’ 7 June 1959, Xinjiang Yili Hasake Autonomous Prefectural Archives, 11/1/74, 27-28; Jiangsu Provincial Archives, 3124-0139, 5-22; Waishi dongtai 76 (1959): 3-4; 87 (1959): 3-4; Xinjiang Weiwuer Autonomous Region Gazetteer Editorial Committee, Xinjiang tongzhi: waishizhi (Xinjiang Gazetteer: foreign affairs section) (Urumqi: Xinjiang renmin chubanshe, 1995), 233-236, 266-268; Wang, Zhonghua renmin gongheguo waijiaoshi Volume 2, 100-102; Aletai diquzhi (Altay Prefecture Gazetteer) (Urumqi: Xinjiang renmin chubanshe, 2004), 945-947; Nei Menggu zizhiquzhi: waishizhi (Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Gazetteer: foreign affairs section) (Hohhot: Yuanfang chubanshe, 2009), 109-110; Fravel, Strong Borders, 110-112.

⁴⁶ Bernd Schaefer, ‘North Korean ‘Adventurism’ and China's Long Shadow,1966-1972’,CWIHP Working Paper 44 (October 2004): 2-3; Chang Xiaohe, ‘‘Zhuyi’ yu ‘anquan’ zhi zheng: liushiniandai Chaoxian yu Zhong-Su guanxi de yanbian’ (The struggle between ‘isms’ and ‘security’: the evolution of Korean and Sino–Soviet relations through the 1960s), Waijiao pinglun 2 (2009): 21-35; Shimotomai Nobuo, ‘Kim Il Sung's Balancing Act between Moscow and Beijing,1956-1972,’ in Tsuyoshi Hasegawa ed., The Cold War in East Asia, 1945-1991 (Washington and Stanford: Woodrow Wilson Center Press and Stanford University Press, 2011), 122-151.

⁴⁷ Minutes of the meeting between Qierwonianke and Cebogemide, 1 January 1963, Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation, collection 0100, inventory 56, folder 495, file 7, 1-19.

⁴⁸ See Zhonghua renmin gongheguo bianjie shiwu tiaoyueji, Zhong-Yin, Zhong-Bu juan (Collected Border Treaties of the PRC: China, and India and Bhutan), 3-4, 51-64; ‘Propaganda Outline on the Sino–Indian Border Clash and the Problem of Sino–Indian Relations,’ October 1962, Guangxi Zhuang Nationality Autonomous Region Archives, X1/32/12, 11-29; Waishi dongtai 87 (1959), 2-3, and 26 (1960) 3-4; Zhou Enlai nianpu Volume 2, 312; Xu Yan, ‘Jiefanghou woguo chuli bianjie chongtu,’ 16-21.

⁴⁹ See Li, ‘Zhengzhi doushi yu dishou’.

⁵⁰ For more details on Mao's desire to challenge the Soviet Communist Party for the leadership of global communism, see Shen, Wunai de xuanze, 637-657.

⁵¹ Zhang Xiangshan, ‘Zhong-Ri fujiao tanpan huigu’ (A review of the resumption of Sino-Japanese diplomatic relations), Riben xuekan 1 (1998): 47; Deng Xiaoping nianpu (1975–1997) (Chronology of Deng Xiaoping (1975-1997)) (Beijing: Zhongyang wenxian chubanshe, 2004), 355; Deng Xiaoping, Deng Xiaoping wenxuan (Selected works of Deng Xiaoping) Volume 3 (Beijing: Renmin chubanshe, 1993), 49.

⁵² See Zhonghua renmin gongheguo bianjie shiwu tiaoyueji, Zhong-Yin, Zhong-Bu juan, 51-54, 74-82, 124-126.

⁵³ Mao Tsetung, Poems (Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1976), 20-21.

⁵⁴ Minutes of Mao Zedong's meeting with the North Korean delegation, 25 November 1958, accessed through private archival collection; interview with Zhu Liang by Li Danhui and Shen Zhihua, January 2010 (Zhu Liang was the Minister of the CCP International Liaison department between 1985 and 1993).

⁵⁵ Minutes of Mao's conversation with the Indian Communist Party delegation, 13 December 1967, accessed through private archival collection.

⁵⁶ Wang Zhichun, Qingchao rouyuanji (A chronicle of the Qing dynasty's policy of cherishing distant lands) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1989), 68-69.

⁵⁷ Vladimir Lenin, The State and Revolution, at https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/staterev/ch01.htm (accessed 23 January 2014).