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Russia / China: Propaganda Poster celebrating Sino-Soviet Friendship, c. 1955

Russia / China: Propaganda Poster celebrating Sino-Soviet Friendship, c. 1955

The Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance (simplified Chinese: 中苏友好同盟互助条约; traditional Chinese: 中蘇友好同盟互助條約; pinyin: Zhōng-Sū Yǒuhǎo Tóngméng Hùzhù Tiáoyuè), or Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance for short, is the treaty of alliance concluded between China and the Soviet Union on February 14, 1950.

It was based to a considerable extent on the prior Treaty of the same name that had been arranged between the Soviet Union and the Nationalist government in 1945 and it was the product of extended negotiations between Liu Shaoqi and Stalin. Mao travelled to the Soviet Union in order to sign the Treaty after its details had been concluded and this was the only time that he travelled outside China for the duration of his life. The Treaty dealt with a range of issues such as Soviet privileges in Xinjiang and Manchuria and one of its most important points was the provision of a $300 million loan from the Soviet Union to the People's Republic, which had suffered economically and logistically from over a decade of intense warfare.

The treaty did not prevent relations between Beijing and Moscow from drastic deterioration in the late 1950s - early 1960s, at the time of the Sino-Soviet split.

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