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1. AFTER CHINA BECAME COMMUNIST, THEY QUICKLY ESTABLISHED DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS WITH COMMUNIST RUSSIA AND MAO ZEDONG PERSONALLY ADMIRED JOSEPH STALIN. BUT BY THE LATE 1950'S AND GOING INTO THE 1960'S, THE SOVIET UNION AND COMMUNIST CHINA SLOWLY DRIFTED APART, AND BY THE EARLY 1970'S, THE UNITED STATES HAD A BETTER DIPLOMATIC RELATIONSHIP WITH CHINA THAN RUSSIA. THIS IS OFTEN KNOWN AS THE SINO-SOVIET SPLIT.

2. THE SPLIT BEGAN SHORTLY AFTER STALIN DIED AND MANY SOVIET LEADERS BEGAN TO OPENLY CRITICIZE AND CONDEMN STALIN'S RUTHLESS METHODS. MAO ADMIRED STALIN AND DID NOT LIKE THIS. RUSSIA ALSO WOULD NOT SHARE SECRETS WITH CHINA ON THEIR MILITARY TECHNOLOGY AND PARTICULARLY ON THE BUILDING OF AN ATOMIC BOMB. BOTH THE SOVIET UNION AND CHINA HAD SERIOUS DIFFERENCES ON THEIR INTERPRETATION OF KARL MARX, AND BOTH CLAIMED TO BE THE TRUE LEADERS OF THE COMMUNIST WORLD. RUSSIA ACCEPTED THE CONCEPT OF "PEACEFUL CO-EXISTENCE", WHICH WAS A POLICY OF THE SOVIET UNION TO COOPERATE MORE WITH THE WEST. CHINA DID NOT LIKE THIS. IN THE 1960'S CHINA HAD BORDER DISPUTES WITH INDIA AND AT THE UNITED NATIONS, THE SOVIET UNION TOOK INDIA'S SIDE. ALSO BOTH RUSSIA AND CHINA SHARE 1,600 MILES OF BORDERS AND THERE WERE CONSTANT DISPUTES OVER THESE BORDERS. FINALLY, IN 1979, RUSSIA INVADED AFGHANISTAN AND CHINA CONDEMN THIS ACTION.

3. BY THE EARLY 1970'S, MAO SAW RUSSIA AS MORE OF A PROBLEM THAN THE UNITED STATES AND IN 1972, PRESIDENT RICHARD NIXON FLEW TO CHINA AND FORMERLY RECOGNIZED THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT. PRES. NIXON OPENED UP CHINA TO DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS WITH UNITED STATES AND BEGAN TO TRADE MORE WITH THE CHINESE. THIS ONLY MADE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CHINA AND RUSSIA WORSE. BY THE LATE 1980'S, SOVIET LEADER MIKHAIL GORBACHEV BEGAN TO HEAL THE RIFT BETWEEN CHINA AND RUSSIA.