I think the Euroamerican powers related to the PRC first and foremost as “place where we purchase cheap labor”, secondarily communists. And so China was thoroughly integrated into the heart of capitalist world system, after the opening up period.
Whereas I think the soviets were more exogenous; something outside the system that the Euroamerican powers was often competing against and confronting.
If China weren’t so well-integrated, I have zero doubt that they’d be subject to far more embargoes than they are. Just imagine the US giving up good produced in China; it would be unimaginably catastrophic. So the US attempts piecemeal blockades; the parts of the tech sector with the highest value-added, some things produced in Xinjiang, etc
Also, until the nominal decolonization era, straight up divvying up the globe and doing explicit “protectorate” shit seemed much more common. Like, the USSR’s role in the division of Korea, or the creation of Israel. It’s crazy to think about, but that is 100% what imperialist nations were going to do to chunks of land no matter what; so, the USSR either gets involved in that mess, or it lets the imperialist nations continue to literally draw the world in whatever image they see fit. I can’t imagine that was too conducive to maintaining a functional society.
I think the Euroamerican powers related to the PRC first and foremost as “place where we purchase cheap labor”, secondarily communists. And so China was thoroughly integrated into the heart of capitalist world system, after the opening up period.
Whereas I think the soviets were more exogenous; something outside the system that the Euroamerican powers was often competing against and confronting.
If China weren’t so well-integrated, I have zero doubt that they’d be subject to far more embargoes than they are. Just imagine the US giving up good produced in China; it would be unimaginably catastrophic. So the US attempts piecemeal blockades; the parts of the tech sector with the highest value-added, some things produced in Xinjiang, etc
Also, until the nominal decolonization era, straight up divvying up the globe and doing explicit “protectorate” shit seemed much more common. Like, the USSR’s role in the division of Korea, or the creation of Israel. It’s crazy to think about, but that is 100% what imperialist nations were going to do to chunks of land no matter what; so, the USSR either gets involved in that mess, or it lets the imperialist nations continue to literally draw the world in whatever image they see fit. I can’t imagine that was too conducive to maintaining a functional society.
I don’t know that much history though