Yu. GALENOVICH, Doctor of Historical Sciences

By agreement between the heads of the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China, 2006 was declared the Year of Russia in China, and 2007 - the Year of China in Russia.

One might wonder: why did our two countries need to get to know each other again? Obviously, because the twentieth century was not easy in their relationship.

For forty years, from the 1920s to the 1950s, history has developed in such a way that, based on mutual national interests, we have helped each other as an ally to an ally. We then had a common military enemy - Japan. We sympathized with and helped unite China into a single state. We were together during the reconstruction of the farm after the end of the Second World War. We have been "comrades in the revolution", allies and friends for many years.

But those harsh years are gone. They were replaced by other difficult forty years-the 1960s and 1990s. There had been thirty years of confrontation, even hostility. We drifted away, became strangers. In any case, alienation in practice began and continued exactly then. In the late 1980s, we normalized relations, including between the ruling parties. But in the 1990s, we went our separate ways again. On this path, societies in Russia and China have become different than in the days of our friendship.

YOU CAN'T CHANGE YOUR PLACE OF RESIDENCE

In a word, we have come to the beginning of the twenty-first century, in fact, as strangers, as strangers, each of whom has his own path. But we need to live close by. We are eternal neighbors, and the place of residence cannot be changed. Therefore, at the beginning of this century, our authorities came to the conclusion that we need to get acquainted anew and establish bilateral relations.

Moscow and Beijing have again signed an agreement on good-neighborly relations, friendship and cooperation. Finally, after forty years of negotiations, the parties have finalized agreements on the entire border line between us. Russia and China decided to introduce themselves to each other in their new qualities of the beginning of the XXI century. These are all useful things. Although mostly we are talking about the acquaintance of Moscow and Beijing. It hasn't reached the outback yet.

We met. They introduced themselves. What's next?

Our position in relations with China is a constant expression of readiness to support almost any initiative proposals of our partner, with the exception of those that clearly infringe on our economic interests. At the same time, unfortunately, we are in a passive position. We lack activity in promoting and defending our national interests.

However, in any case, officially, we are wholeheartedly disposed towards China. However, there is one quirk here. It is difficult for the Russian leadership to do business with China because it is forced to simultaneously solve two problems, which is far from completely compatible. Of course, we need to maintain and maintain a favorable atmosphere in our relations at the level of heads of state and below in official contacts. At the same time, the leaders of Russia have to take care to prove to their population that they are protecting the economic, political, social, spiritual and cultural interests of our country in their relations with China. And here there is something to protect, and there is something to protect from.

The position of our partners in Beijing looks ambivalent when analyzing it. And this was clearly manifested precisely in the years of modern Russia's acquaintance with modern China, that is, in 2006 and 2007.

Judging by their public appearances, both the main leaders of modern China, Hu Jintao, President of the People's Republic of China and General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, and Wen Jiabao, the head of the Chinese Government, are inclined to support and develop cooperation with China.

we have normal good neighborly relations.

At the same time, Hu Jintao, speaking in Moscow in 2007, called Russia a great country, and the Russians - a great people. It's worth a lot. In today's proud China, calling any other country great is not an easy task. This is a sign of equal treatment and respect for our country.

For the first time in recent years, Wen Jiabao singled out the relations of strategic partnership with our country from the general series of such relations between China and other states. He called them the most extensive and at a different level. And this is extremely valuable. We can also find common ground with China in this area.

In 2007, the head of the Chinese government also noted that we are connected by a long border of more than 4 thousand km. Therefore, this fact is also given great importance in China. It cannot be ruled out that this opens up an opportunity, following the definition of the entire border line, to start developing and signing a new general border agreement to replace the existing ones. The fact is that they are considered "unequal"in the PRC by their nature.

The Chinese premier also gave a new description of the "current moment" in our bilateral relations. If we have already got used to the fact that both sides in this century pronounce the same formula - "our bilateral relations today are going through the best period in their history", now Wen Jiabao added to this the idea that now is the most important period, that is, the period that has a decisive impact., the key value.

What are the pitfalls in our relationship?

THERE IS MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING AT , DISCORD AT THE BOTTOM

Wen Jiabao pointed at them. This is the need to deepen mutual trust and friendship.

Obviously, the leaders of both our countries are increasingly concerned about the state of relations between us. And if in the middle of the XX century. at least in our country, the idea was widespread that there were disagreements between the first leaders of our two ruling parties and states, but now we are talking about deep disagreements between very significant segments of society in both countries, if you will, about disagreements and distrust between our two peoples. So the circumstances developed. This is a fact. And this problem needs to be solved. We will have to look for ways to solve it together.

The Chinese side has its own idea of how our country treats modern China and its policy towards us. It is often argued that our understanding of China is determined by " fear of the yellow race." Despite the far-fetched nature of this formula, it has to be reckoned with. This requires a broad and in-depth explanation of our position. At the same time, it should be noted that for our part, we see a dual attitude towards our country in modern China.

On the one hand, as already mentioned, at the very top, there is obviously an understanding of the need to preserve and develop relations between good neighbors.

On the other hand, we can't help but worry that it was during the years of our new mutual acquaintance that there was a certain discrepancy between what China showed us in our country and what was written about us and the history of our relations in China itself for its population.

THE USSR THROUGH THE EYES OF CHINESE EXPERTS

It was during these years that an eight-part film with a negative assessment of the history and collapse of the CPSU and the USSR was made in China for wide screening within the party and for the population. The text of the film was prepared by experts on Russia, led by Li Shenming, Vice-President of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. According to him, in the first part of the title of the film, "You need to exercise prudence and take precautions in advance. Historical lessons from the death of the CPSU" was the idea of the head of the CCP Hu Jintao. The head of the party and state emphasized the need for China and the Chinese, " living in peace, to think about

dangers " (Ju an si wei).

Central party, military and scientific institutions took part in the creation of the film. The film, which introduces CCP functionaries, PLA soldiers, and students from all over China, highlights the following: for our country, the times of Stalin's leadership were "a period of flourishing and rapid development in the history of the CPSU and the Soviet state."

"On August 19 (1991), a group of top leaders of the party, government, and army in the USSR, in order to preserve the socialist Soviet Union and at the same time to prevent the so-called "democrats" from entering the scene, announced the introduction of a "state of emergency" in some regions of the country for six months; this was the last attempt of some leaders within the CPSU, they sought to save the socialist Soviet Union, to avoid the entry of the state on the path leading to the abyss of deep disasters... And, of course, now, having experienced the bitter consequences of the tragic collapse of the USSR for more than 10 years, many such people (in Russia) are beginning to rethink all this," the authors of the film say.

"In 2005, Russian President Putin in his annual address complained with pain: "The collapse of the USSR is the greatest geopolitical disaster of the twentieth century; it is the real tragedy of the people of Russia"... " The collapse of the USSR, the collapse of the USSR led to the fact that Russia in the development of the economy and society was thrown back for decades," the tape emphasizes. It also gives very colorful descriptions of the first president of the USSR, the first president of Russia, and some of the politicians who initiated the process of radical transformation in our country.

"Economist from MSU Popov... together with Yeltsin, Sakharov and others, he formed a group of those sheep leaders who are ahead of the herd of "democrats".

"Gorbachev... he finally betrayed the masses of the people, hiding behind the banner of humanism and democracy."

The epilogue of the series is called: "Russia is rethinking" or "Russia has come to its senses".

At the same time, the following is emphasized:: "In 2001, when Putin assumed the post of president, he repeatedly pointed out that it was necessary to put an end to the "chaos" in history textbooks, it was necessary to educate the younger generation in the spirit of pride in the Fatherland and the history of the Fatherland. ...In recent years in Russia... a number of works have been published that fully positively assess Stalin's enormous achievements." "And even Solzhenitsyn, who wrote The Gulag Archipelago and indiscriminately denied Stalin, rethought the situation and said:: "I have caused damage to Russia, my Fatherland "... " Of course, before its revival, Russia may still have to go quite a long way. However, we deeply believe that the birthplace of Leninism and the October Revolution will never remain silent for long."

The main author of the explanatory text to this film, Li Shengming, in addition to the above-mentioned one, refers to a statement in 2005 by a "famous Russian scientist"who was not named by him: "I constantly take part in the work of the synclite of advisers, a brain trust under President Putin. I also know people from the Communist Party very well. I believe that there are differences between Putin's government and Zyuganov's Communist Party, but there are also commonalities."

In 2007, the publishing house AON of China published the work " The Yellow Book on World Socialism. 2006: World socialism. Consolidated report". In the same year, the publishing house "Renmin chubanyn" published the work "Wind of History. Chinese scientists on the collapse of the USSR and their assessment of the history of the USSR". The editor-in-chief of both works is the same Li Shenming. The authors of the books were dozens of leading Chinese experts on Russia. In the PRC, there is no other assessment of the events that took place in our country other than the one contained in these works.

These works highlight the activities of Russian President Vladimir Putin. It is said that " the views of Putin and Yeltsin on the collapse of the USSR do not coincide at all." V. Putin is quoted as saying that he "did not leave" the CPSU: "The CPSU ceased to exist, and I put my party card in the desk drawer."

Experts on Russia in China also emphasize that in July 2004, the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation republished and published the History of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks). A short course", sending this book to the libraries of all universities as a textbook for the course of studying ISTO-

rii. Referring to the fact that J. V. Stalin was the author of the above-mentioned "Short Course", Chinese researchers quote the words uttered by him in 1943: "I know that after my death there will be those who will throw a pile of garbage on my grave, but the wind of history will certainly mercilessly carry away all this garbage." In the PRC, they believe that this time is coming, if it has not come.

Chinese authors describe the policy under Vladimir Putin as a political cliche used in the PRC: "rooting out the troubles and returning to the right" or "correcting everything that is wrong and restoring everything that is right".

At present, Chinese scholars note with satisfaction that Russian bookstores are dominated by books that positively assess the history of the USSR.

THE "CHINESE DANGER"THEORY

Xing Guangcheng, Director of the Institute of Eastern Europe, Russia and Central Asia in Beijing, and other experts on our country in the above-mentioned "Yellow Book" on the situation in Russia in 2006 highlighted a section under the title: "Theory of Chinese danger". They write that this theory " rears its head again in Russia and is one of the factors that lead to the appearance of friction in relations between China and Russia."

The Yellow Book goes on to say that although the "theory of Chinese danger" is not the main trend in Sino-Russian relations, however, every time important decisions are made in Russia in the field of policy towards China, this "theory" becomes in Russia in the hands of anti-Chinese forces and some politicians who are not interested in China. they hate China, a means of countering the emerging agreements.

The case of the sale of Slavneft shares at auction and the scandal that resulted in "changing the route of the Sino-Russian oil pipeline" - all this shows that the "theory of the Chinese danger" is a huge threat to the relations of the strategic partnership between China and Russia. And the emergence of tensions in relations between China and Russia, in turn, adds fuel to the fire of the "theory of Chinese danger," the Yellow Book says.

Thus, leading Chinese experts on Russia claim that there are "anti-Chinese" forces in our country, which every time, they say, play a negative role in making state decisions concerning China.

Li Fenglin, Director of the Institute of Europe and Asia under the State Council of the People's Republic of China and former Ambassador of the People's Republic of China to the Russian Federation, published an article in 2006 in which he actually accused us of being a people and a country until the beginning of the XXI century. They were allegedly "arrogant" about China. At the same time, he called "unequal" even the Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance, which was signed in the presence of Stalin and Mao Zedong in Moscow in 1950, immediately after the formation of the PRC.

Finally, in 2007, propaganda literature, books and pamphlets were openly distributed to the general public in China, with the words "Sino-Soviet war" highlighted on the covers. These publications, published both locally and in the center by a member of the CPC Central Committee staff, denounced our country for allegedly waging a kind of "war against China" in various forms since the late 1950s.

Moscow allegedly organized a mass border crossing of 67 thousand people from China to the USSR in 1962. The Soviet side is allegedly guilty of the events on Damansky Island and of creating a threat of a nuclear missile attack on China.

At the same time, Chinese propagandists seek to unite the national policies of the "old" and " new "tsars into a single" anti-Chinese "whole, meaning by" new tsars " the leaders of the USSR. In particular, the question of the existence of an independent Mongolia was raised in this regard.

In short, we must take into account that Mao Zedong's policy of hostility to our country since the 1960s has borne fruit. Mao Zedong's statement in 1964 that China had not yet submitted an invoice for the 1.5 million square meters of land that we had allegedly seized from China was also not in vain in the minds of the Chinese. In general, Mao Zedong's negative assessments of Russia's policy towards China persist and are repeated.

As for the views of Russian citizens on China, it is necessary to mention the activities of Chinese merchants, especially in the border areas of our country. The export of Russian forests and other natural resources to China, often in violation of customs regulations, naturally causes a negative reaction from our citizens.

So there are many factors that generate mutual distrust in our relationship.

It is quite obvious that today both sides feel the need to solve the accumulated and new problems.

There are a lot of questions here. It is very important to constantly work to deepen the spiritual understanding between us. Obviously, the continuation of our acquaintance might have played a role. Emphasis on the value of traditional friendship, including between our military. Focus on the need for good neighborliness, friendship and cooperation, as well as mutual trust, through the implementation of three new years: the Year of Good Neighborliness of Russia and China, the Year of Friendship of Russia and China, and the Year of Cooperation of Russia and China.

All this is absolutely necessary and meets the national interests of both countries. After all, they face very serious problems in the socio-economic sphere and in the international arena. This should encourage Moscow and Beijing to engage in the deepest and broadest possible dialogue and eliminate mutual suspicions that hinder the strengthening of our bilateral relations.

Permanent link to this publication: