Sino-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact

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'Sino-Soviet Nonaggression Pact (中蘇互不侵犯條約) was signed on August 21, 1937, between the Republic of China and the Soviet Union during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

I-16 with Chinese insignia. I-16 was the main fighter plane used by the Chinese Airforce and Soviet volunteers.

At first the treaty led to improving relations between the Kuomintang, Chiang Kai-shek's government and the USSR. Following the signing of the pact, the Soviet Union began sending aircraft to the Chinese national government in Operation Zet, as well as economic aid to help stave off Japanese occupation. Chiang believed this was a precursor to Soviet intervention into the war, however as time passed he soon realized that the USSR was constricted in what aid it could actually provide, due to not wanting to upset the tacit alliance with Britain, France, and later the United States, who favored China in the war but, would back Japan against the USSR in order to weaken both.

The treaty also allowed the USSR to focus its attention more on the Eastern border where Nazi Germany was building up for what appeared to be war with the USSR especially after the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact was signed. The pact contributed to the worsening relationship between China and Nazi Germany, which culminated in the end of German military assistance in China.

The treaty was one of the first diplomatic treaties after the fall of Imperial China and was one of the pioneering documents on how the USSR and the People's Republic of China would see each other, the USSR, as a protector, especially economically, and China as a satellite, albeit a very important one, in the Soviet bloc. The relationship culminated with the signing of the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship in 1950.

[edit] See also

• Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship

[edit] Resources

Low,Alfred D.The Sino-Soviet Dispute: An Analysis of the Polemics.Madison, Jersey: FDU Press,1976.

Lee, Chong-Sik.Revolutionary Struggle in Manchuria: Chinese Communism and Soviet Interest, 1922-1945.Berkley:U of CA Press,1983.

Lawrance, Alan.China Since 1919: Revolution and Reform, A Sourcebook.New York: Routledge,2004.

Garver, John W. "Chiang Kai-shek's Quest for Soviet Entry into the Sino-Japanese War." Political Science Quarterly 102, no. 102 (1987): 295-316.Italic text