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The 1969 Chinese and Soviet War

The Russian's strategy involved provocative threats, which included intimidating Mao with nuclear force. They deliberately insinuated that they were discussing plans for a nuclear attack on the Chinese (focusing upon their nuclear arsenal) during numerous negotiations involving both nations' heads of state.
             China dismissed Moscow's aggressive posture and Mao was reluctant to respond to peace negotiations. According to Thomas Robinson, author of The Sino-Soviet Border Dispute: Background, Development, and the March 1969 Clashes, CIA Director Richard Helms told the Associated Press in late summer of 1969 that "Moscow had been approaching foreign governments to inquire about their reactions to a potential Soviet preemptive strike (p. 1187). Mao Zedong deemed this information as being credible and believed that an attack was imminent, so he agreed to peace negotiations with Moscow. Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and his Chinese counterpart Mao Zedong both seemingly utilized Sun Tzu's tactics throughout the two state's tense relations. They both appeared to be cordial in public, yet they held deep ideological differences. The Soviets utilized the threat of nuclear war and their sheer power to force Mao to back down, but it's quite possible that Mao and Brezhnev used Sun Tzu's tactics to deal with their mutual adversary: the United States. .
             In Sun Tzu's Art of War first chapter, entitled Laying Plans, the eighteenth rule is as follows: all warfare is based on deception (Cantrell, 2003). The Soviets perceived stand against Mao and the Chinese was based upon instilling fear of a nuclear attack. The stress and deep suspicions that the USSR would use the border altercations as a "smokescreen" for a nuclear "sneak attack" (Gussack, 2011) was well known in the international community, but some officials believed this was a ruse to strengthen Sino-Soviet relations and weaken the United States' global influence.


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