"Leaning to One Side"
On June 30, 1949, Mao Zedong put forward a foreign policy of new China in his article on people's democratic dictatorship.
Mao Zedong pointed out that "The forty years' experience of Sun Yat-sen and the twenty-eight years' experience of the Communist Party have taught us to lean to one side, and we are firmly convinced that in order to win victory and consolidate it, we must lean to one side. In the light of the experiences accumulated in these forty years and these twenty-eight years, all Chinese without exception must lean either to the side of imperialism or to the side of socialism. Sitting on the fence will not do, nor is there a third road. We oppose the Chiang Kai-shek reactionaries who lean to the side of imperialism, and we also oppose the illusions about a third road.”
Under the situation of confrontation between the two camps of imperialism and socialism, the new people's regime was in danger of direct armed intervention by imperialism at any time. It was unrealistic to try to be a bridge between the United States and the Soviet Union. Choosing the socialist camp was the result of China's adaptation to the objective situation.
On July 19, 1949, Deng Xiaoping sent a letter to all comrades of the East China Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, conveying Mao Zedong's verbal instructions to Deng Xiaoping: “The sooner we lean our foreign policy to one side, the better it will be for me to show it in action (Chairman Mao said that this was a proactive inversion, so as not to be passive in the future).” “In doing so, that is, to occupy the whole country, to lean to one side and to rely on ourselves, we can not only build on a solid foundation, but also force imperialism to follow our example.”
On July 7 of the same year, democratic parties and people's organizations issued a joint statement, supporting the “leaning to one side” foreign policy. From June to August of the same year, Liu Shaoqi led a Chinese delegation to visit the Soviet Union and expressed his willingness to stand together with the Soviet Union and the new democratic countries and oppose imperialist war in order to realize the complete independence of the Chinese nation. In December of the same year, Mao Zedong visited Moscow, and in February 1950, China and the Soviet Union signed the “Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance”.
The Treaty expressed Sino-Soviet relations in the form of law and enabled New China to have a strong and reliable ally, which was conducive to consolidating the people's democratic dictatorship, uniting international and civilian democratic forces, striving for world peace, and creating a better international environment for the recovery and development of social economy.
The implementation of the "leaning to one side" policy meant joining the socialist camp in the international strategic situation, but it did not mean that the internal and foreign affairs of New China were dependent on the Soviet Union and follow the Soviet Union's baton; on the contrary, and this policy was based on the premise of safeguarding national sovereignty and national independence. As Zhou Enlai said, we should unite strategically with the brotherly countries, but not without criticism on tactics.
In December 1956, Mao Zedong commented on the “leaning to one side” view, said: “China and Soviet Union will stand together, and this policy line is correct. There are still people who have doubts about this policy and they think that China should take a middle course and be a bridge between the Soviet Union and the United States. It is inappropriate to imagine benefiting from being a bridge between the Soviet Union and the United States. On the one hand, we are on the side of the Soviet Union, and on the other hand, this is a relationship of equality. We are on the side of Marxism-Leninism and combine the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism with China's actual situation, and we are not trying to copy the experience of the Soviet Union. In an earlier time, Mao Zedong had also said: “If the Soviet Union had not existed, the United States would have to come. United States would not be only in Taiwan, but also in the Chinese mainland.”
"Building a new stove", "Cleaning up the house before entertaining the guests” and "Leaning to one side" constituted the three major diplomatic policies in the early days of the founding of New China. These policies answered the questions of how to establish the diplomatic relations of New China, how to treat the United States and other capitalist countries, how to treat the Soviet Union and other socialist countries and pointed out the direction for creating a new type of independent and peaceful diplomacy.