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superiority in economy and production.^40 Jiang reportedly turned down two
requests by Yeltsin for a meeting.^41
Chinese Economic Credits Counter Western Pressure
Trade credits were another form of Chinese assistance to the USSR’s increas-
ingly beleaguered communist rulers. China extended two major credits to
assist the Soviet Union during its final travail. The first was associated with
Li Peng’s April 1990 visit and was worth approximately US$334 million, to be
used for purchase of Chinese consumer goods. The second, in February 1991,
was worth approximately US$700 million and was to be used to purchase
Chinese foodstuffs. There was solid economic logic underlying both loans.
Soviet consumers needed Chinese manufactured goods and foods. Chinese
suppliers profited from meeting those needs. Leaders of both sides had agreed
earlier that they should expand economic cooperation, and the loans did this.
Yet the political context cannot be ignored, especially for the second credit.
Coming when and how it did, the second loan was a clear signal that the
Soviet Union could look to China as an alternate partner, rather than capitu-
late to Western pressure and let the USSR unravel.
Problems began in the Soviet Union’s three Baltic republics, Latvia, Estonia,
and Lithuania. Those countries had been annexed by the Soviet Union in
1940 during the period of partnership with Nazi Germany and in accord with
secret codicils to the 1939 Nazi-Soviet nonaggression pact. The three Baltic
states were “liberated” by the Soviet Red Army in 1944 and communist rule
reimposed on them. Their indigenous nationalisms were ruthlessly sup-
pressed. Gorbachev’s liberalizing reforms, however, led to a re-emergence of
that nationalism. Large demonstrations demanding greater autonomy began
in late 1986. Native languages (i.e., not Russian) were instituted as state lan-
guages. Declarations of sovereignty followed: by Estonia in November 1988,
Lithuania in May 1989, and Latvia in July 1989. The three Baltic republics then
began negotiations with the Russian Republic over such mundane but im-
portant matters as border control and customs. The three republics increas-
ingly demanded full independence. Negotiations deadlocked by late 1990. In
January 1991, Gorbachev finally acceded to demands of CPSU hard-liners
and ordered Soviet military forces to take control over Lithuania and Latvia.
Twenty people were killed and hundreds wounded. Violence was especially
severe in Lithuania’s capital, Vilnius.
Western countries responded to the “Vilnius massacre” by suspending eco-
nomic aid. The G-7 suspended US$1.5 billion in food aid and technical assis-
tance, and canceled a meeting scheduled to discuss further assistance. The
United States turned down a Soviet request for a $1.5 billion agricultural credit