T heChines...· communist leader. MaoZcdong,
attackedd ercure.Hc· accusedSovietleadersof
"revisionism "-cthnr is,ofalterin gsomeof
communism's m ostimportantIdeas.H e declared
rh ar[he only w aytod c-alwithAmeri can cap italism
wastober...-advtolightit tothed eath.Buta lot of
rh...· argu ingaboutwhether Russian so rChinesewere
theocst co m m u nists was justa sm o ke-sc reenhid in g
thereal quarrelbctw...'en them.w hich was about
land. T hc · C hines..., claimedth at almos t one millio n
squan'm ilesoftilt'SovietUnionw er erigbrfu llv
th eirs:Big arm ieswatchedandso metim esfoug hton
th e long frontierbetweenth e twocounrrie-s.
Thc,...-nm irybetweenChinaand thc, SO\'II..'tUmonhad
import ant effects0 11both coum ri...'S ·relati on swith
th e UnitedStatesintheearly197(k .Dcrcnr c betw een
th e So vietU nio nand the Uni tc-dStatesw c-nton.
Andd etent ebetweentheUnit....d StatesandChina
bega n.
In May 1971 ,Presiden tNixonficw toMoscowto
sign the Stra teg icArms Limit atio nTrc'aty(SALT)
withrhc,Russians,T heid c'aofSA LTwastoslo w
d o w nthc, armsrace.Itwasint end edtosavebot h
cou n tric-sm on e y as well asto m akewar between
th emlesslik ely.Eachagreedhowm anymissiles of
variou stvpc·sth eothe rsho uld have.ho wmany
submarinestotir e th emfrom. andsoOIl.
T h e firstsignth at Ch ina,tOO, wasint erestedin
detentew iththeUnitc·JStatescarne in 1970. For
yt'ars th eChinesegovern menthadmadeit very
diffi cult for anyone fromwesterncount riestovisit
China.BurIIIIC; 70 it invitedanAmericantable-
tcnmsteamtoplaythe re, T heAmerican
g o vern men t,co rrectly.tookthis:ISa hintth atthe
Chinese wante dtoscnlcsomeofth eirdifferences
withtheU n itedStates.
T hemanbeh ind theC h ines c'1U0Vc' wasZhouEulai,
C h ina's Prim c·Minis ter .Zhonbelieved thatC hina
neededfri ends o ntill'in t crnn rion al scene, especial!y
whiletheSoviet U n i o n wassounfriendly.lie
persuadedMJO Zcdong to tr ytoendthetw ent y-
year-oldfeudw it h the UnitedStates.
Presiden tN ixon 'sadviser .Henr yKis singer.flewto
C hi na for secr etm ccriogsw ith Zho u.LateIII 1971
th e Unit edStat es agreedto communistChina j oini ng
th eUnitedNations.so methingit had vetoe dfo r
3::! ANEI'\;1110COLDWAR?years.In Feb ru ar y1972,Nixonflewto C hinato
meet Mao .Mao was stillsus picio usofthe
Ameri cans.Burinth ey...-ars th at follo w....dChina and
th e UnitedStatesmadeimportantagreements0 11
tradeandotherm att ers, espec iallya fterMao' s d ea th
III 1 97(1.
As Chinanndthe U nit ed States becamemore
frien dly. tensiong rc-wagain bet w een Russiansan d
A mericans.Russ ian s still fearedthatth eUnite d
Stateswan tedtowipc' outcomm unis m.American s
stillfear edth atthe Sov ietUnionw ant edtocon q uer
theworld .Americanfearsg rewstro ng erwhen
Russian soldiers marched into theSovietUnion's
neigh bo r.Afg hanistan, i n December 1979.Because
o f the Sov ietaction.Congressrefused torenewthe
SALTag reem ent ,
Bot hthe SovietU n io n and rh...• UnitedStateshad
con ti nuedto develop newandmoredeadl y nuclear
m issilesduringtheyearsofdetente.Att empts were
made to slo wdow nthisarmsrace. Bu r neither side
wouldstopwhile it felt thattheotherwasahe ad.In
th e eatly 19 H(ls, deten telookeddead.133