Of course they’ve met, and they famously hated each other lol.
It is also one of the reasons Mao is so revered in China today - he fought with everything he could (as a newly independent country that was so much weaker and poorer than the USSR) to resist China from being absorbed into the Soviet Union, which was very much Stalin’s strategic ambition for the USSR.
Truly a Clash of the Titans, Mao went to Moscow to negotiate with Stalin in December 1949, not even two months after the People’s Republic of China was formed. As China was excluded from the Yalta Conference in 1945, Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt pretty much decided on the three-way split of the world following the defeat of Nazi Germany and Japan. Stalin had laid claim on Port Arthur (Lüshun Port), Russia’s warm water port in the Far East, as well as insisted on the independence of outer Mongolia to gain the geopolitical control of the USSR into the Far East through Central Asia.
The Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance signed with the KMT in 1945 had ceded away outer Mongolia to be an “independent” country, set up Port Arthur as the Sino-Soviet shared naval base, Dalian as a free trade port, as well as the joint control of the Chinese Eastern Railway by both the USSR and China. Such unequal treaty had allowed the USSR to gain control of the Far East and infringing into Chinese sovereignty.
When Anastas Mikoyan visited Beijing in January 1949, Mao revealed to Mikoyan that that the Soviet Union as a socialist republic should honor its principles of returning them to under Chinese sovereign control, but numerous attempts to get Stalin to revise the treaty had failed to bear fruits.
Which brings us to the historic meeting between Stalin and Mao in December 1949-January 1950. The goals of Mao’s visit was two fold: first, to announce to the world the foreign policy of the newly formed PRC; and second, to re-negotiate the unequal treaty signed with the KMT and reclaim Chinese sovereignty from being infringed by the Soviet Union.
Mao arrived on Moscow on December 16th, 1949 and met Stalin for the first time in Kremlin that afternoon. At first, everyone was courteous. It was their first meeting after all.
Then, Mao brought up the unequal treaty of “Friendship and Alliance” signed with Chiang Kai-shek a few years back. Stalin promptly turned cold, and brushed aside the topic with “it was decided during the Yalta Conference, nothing we can do about it”.
Mao and his delegates were sent to stay at a dacha, and for the next few days, nothing happened. Stalin kept ghosting Mao and refused to see him.
They met the second time on December 21st, 1949 on Stalin’s 70th birthday celebration, which resulted in this famous Mao-Stalin photo taken on the same day, with Mao’s visibly frowning face while attending the parade:
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The next evening (22nd), Mao attended Stalin’s birthday party from 8pm to 1am but couldn’t find an opportunity to meet with Stalin.
Pissed off by Stalin’s continued refusal to meet, Mao told Ivan Kovalev to please send a message to Stalin saying that he hoped to meet again on either the 23rd or the 24th.
Finally, the two met again on the 24th (their third meeting, and the second formal discussion). Many important topics were discussed, but Stalin still refused to talk about the re-negotiation of the unequal treaty.
Pissed off again by Stalin, Mao shut himself inside the dacha. Kovalev came to see him and asked if he wanted to go outside and sightseeing for a bit. This prompted Mao’s famous response as he slammed the table and yelled: ”I have three missions here: eat, sleep and shit!”
Then, miracles started to happen… On December 30th, the British-based Reuters reported that Mao has been placed under house arrest by Stalin, insinuating that the evil CCCP regime imprisons foreign delegates!
Then, just after New Year of 1950, a number of countries including Burma (Myanmar), India, Denmark, Sweden and the Great Britain stated that they would recognize the newly independent People’s Republic of China.
These two were already bad presses for Stalin. Then, the killing blow happened on January 5th, when Truman’s State Department released a memo stating a change in the US Asia-Pacific strategy: give up KMT-controlled Taiwan and establish a diplomatic relation with PRC.
This was the killing blow… Stalin could not afford to have Mao’s China ally with the United States. Immediately, Stalin opened up about the unequal treaty again, and the new Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friend, Alliance and Mutual Assistance would soon be signed in February.
Although outer Mongolia still retained their independence, the Chinese Eastern Railway (Chinese Changchun Railway), Dalian and Lushun Port (Port Arthur) would be returned to Chinese control. Material and technological assistance would flow into China to help them build their nascent socialist state.
Mao had emerged victorious, as an underdog taking on the behemoth Soviet Union. A true Clash of the Titans for the history.
Both Mao and Stalin would continue to dislike each other for the rest of their lives. However, Stalin would begin to see Mao as an equal when the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army entered the Korean War in 1950. Mao had finally gained Stalin’s respect as an equal partner.
When Stalin died in 1953, Mao would write a fair assessment about Stalin as the leader of the socialist world. Despite their differences, Mao admitted that while Stalin made many mistakes, openly attacking Stalin and a quarrel between socialist leaders would only weaken the socialist world in the eyes of the rest of the working class of the world. He conceded that Stalin had also made many important contributions to the rest of the world despite their clash in personalities.
Of course they’ve met, and they famously hated each other lol.
It is also one of the reasons Mao is so revered in China today - he fought with everything he could (as a newly independent country that was so much weaker and poorer than the USSR) to resist China from being absorbed into the Soviet Union, which was very much Stalin’s strategic ambition for the USSR.
Truly a Clash of the Titans, Mao went to Moscow to negotiate with Stalin in December 1949, not even two months after the People’s Republic of China was formed. As China was excluded from the Yalta Conference in 1945, Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt pretty much decided on the three-way split of the world following the defeat of Nazi Germany and Japan. Stalin had laid claim on Port Arthur (Lüshun Port), Russia’s warm water port in the Far East, as well as insisted on the independence of outer Mongolia to gain the geopolitical control of the USSR into the Far East through Central Asia.
The Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance signed with the KMT in 1945 had ceded away outer Mongolia to be an “independent” country, set up Port Arthur as the Sino-Soviet shared naval base, Dalian as a free trade port, as well as the joint control of the Chinese Eastern Railway by both the USSR and China. Such unequal treaty had allowed the USSR to gain control of the Far East and infringing into Chinese sovereignty.
When Anastas Mikoyan visited Beijing in January 1949, Mao revealed to Mikoyan that that the Soviet Union as a socialist republic should honor its principles of returning them to under Chinese sovereign control, but numerous attempts to get Stalin to revise the treaty had failed to bear fruits.
Which brings us to the historic meeting between Stalin and Mao in December 1949-January 1950. The goals of Mao’s visit was two fold: first, to announce to the world the foreign policy of the newly formed PRC; and second, to re-negotiate the unequal treaty signed with the KMT and reclaim Chinese sovereignty from being infringed by the Soviet Union.
Mao arrived on Moscow on December 16th, 1949 and met Stalin for the first time in Kremlin that afternoon. At first, everyone was courteous. It was their first meeting after all.
Then, Mao brought up the unequal treaty of “Friendship and Alliance” signed with Chiang Kai-shek a few years back. Stalin promptly turned cold, and brushed aside the topic with “it was decided during the Yalta Conference, nothing we can do about it”.
Mao and his delegates were sent to stay at a dacha, and for the next few days, nothing happened. Stalin kept ghosting Mao and refused to see him.
They met the second time on December 21st, 1949 on Stalin’s 70th birthday celebration, which resulted in this famous Mao-Stalin photo taken on the same day, with Mao’s visibly frowning face while attending the parade:
The next evening (22nd), Mao attended Stalin’s birthday party from 8pm to 1am but couldn’t find an opportunity to meet with Stalin.
Pissed off by Stalin’s continued refusal to meet, Mao told Ivan Kovalev to please send a message to Stalin saying that he hoped to meet again on either the 23rd or the 24th.
Finally, the two met again on the 24th (their third meeting, and the second formal discussion). Many important topics were discussed, but Stalin still refused to talk about the re-negotiation of the unequal treaty.
Pissed off again by Stalin, Mao shut himself inside the dacha. Kovalev came to see him and asked if he wanted to go outside and sightseeing for a bit. This prompted Mao’s famous response as he slammed the table and yelled: ”I have three missions here: eat, sleep and shit!”
Then, miracles started to happen… On December 30th, the British-based Reuters reported that Mao has been placed under house arrest by Stalin, insinuating that the evil CCCP regime imprisons foreign delegates!
Then, just after New Year of 1950, a number of countries including Burma (Myanmar), India, Denmark, Sweden and the Great Britain stated that they would recognize the newly independent People’s Republic of China.
These two were already bad presses for Stalin. Then, the killing blow happened on January 5th, when Truman’s State Department released a memo stating a change in the US Asia-Pacific strategy: give up KMT-controlled Taiwan and establish a diplomatic relation with PRC.
This was the killing blow… Stalin could not afford to have Mao’s China ally with the United States. Immediately, Stalin opened up about the unequal treaty again, and the new Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friend, Alliance and Mutual Assistance would soon be signed in February.
Although outer Mongolia still retained their independence, the Chinese Eastern Railway (Chinese Changchun Railway), Dalian and Lushun Port (Port Arthur) would be returned to Chinese control. Material and technological assistance would flow into China to help them build their nascent socialist state.
Mao had emerged victorious, as an underdog taking on the behemoth Soviet Union. A true Clash of the Titans for the history.
Both Mao and Stalin would continue to dislike each other for the rest of their lives. However, Stalin would begin to see Mao as an equal when the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army entered the Korean War in 1950. Mao had finally gained Stalin’s respect as an equal partner.
When Stalin died in 1953, Mao would write a fair assessment about Stalin as the leader of the socialist world. Despite their differences, Mao admitted that while Stalin made many mistakes, openly attacking Stalin and a quarrel between socialist leaders would only weaken the socialist world in the eyes of the rest of the working class of the world. He conceded that Stalin had also made many important contributions to the rest of the world despite their clash in personalities.
This is really well-written, enjoyable read. Thank you!
This partly explains the Sino-Soviet split. Despite their differences, Mao respected Stalin, but he did not respect Khrushchev at all.
Great post, thanks for the write up