Eagle, I don't want to form an alliance anymore.

"As expected," Director Nian commented.

"Given the Politburo's track record, it certainly wouldn't pass the first time, but at least now everyone in the Politburo understands that tangible benefits are more important."

...

Soon, a turning point arrived in May.

In early May, North Korean leader Kim Il-sung visited Moscow. During an official event hosting Kim Il-sung, Chernenko made a public speech, which included the following sentence:

"The normalization of Sino-Soviet relations is crucial to the development of the situation on the Asian continent."

Chernenko's motivation for saying this may be quite simple—Kim Il-sung had relations with both China and the Soviet Union, and expressing his emphasis on Sino-Soviet relations in front of him was both a diplomatic courtesy and a way to maintain geopolitical balance.

But whatever the motivation, once this statement is made, it becomes a political fact that can be cited.

At almost the same time, China and the Soviet Union signed an agreement on economic and scientific and technological cooperation and established an Economic, Trade and Scientific and Technological Cooperation Committee.

The agreement includes expanding bilateral trade, cooperating on projects in the energy and infrastructure sectors, and exchanging scientific and technological personnel—each of which represents a genuine alignment of interests.

Upon seeing these two messages, Slava immediately realized that a window of opportunity had opened for him.

“I need to go to Lao Zhong’s place,” he told Director Nian.

Director Nian raised his eyebrows: "What are you going there for?"

"Go get something."

Yu Hongliang told me last month to wait for news, but I don't want to wait anymore. I want to go to Beiping in person to talk to their people.

I need something from the Chinese side that can be put on the Politburo's table—an expansion of trade orders, an intention for technological cooperation in a certain field, or even just a positive assessment of the new leadership by Director Deng—anything that can help the reformists win more Politburo votes on the Vietnam issue.

Will Chernenko approve it?

"I don't need his approval. The Economic, Trade and Scientific Cooperation Committee has just been established. My trip to China to inspect agricultural cooperation projects as the deputy director of the agricultural department of the Secretariat of the Central Committee is a perfectly legitimate official visit. I don't need the approval of the Politburo. All I need is for Gorbachev to sign a travel itinerary."

Director Nian leaned back in his chair and thought for a while.

"You know that your trip to Beiping is a signal in itself, right? No matter if you're ostensibly there to discuss agriculture or something else, everyone will know that a cadre of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union has gone to Beiping—and a reformist at that! This is no small matter after more than 20 years of frozen relations between China and the Soviet Union."

“I know that’s one of my goals.”

Gorbachev signed the travel itinerary the very next day. As he signed, he glanced at Slava and said:

"Go ahead, but keep your rhetoric to yourself. Don't make it sound like you're going to betray the country. Do you know how many officials have demanded your immediate retirement because you supported introducing a price adjustment mechanism into agricultural production and research consortia?"

"It's alright. I haven't read many books, but I've learned to be pragmatic. I'm not afraid of anything about capitalism, the market, or privatization. They're just short-term economic boosts and long-term revolutions. If we don't change things now, it's hard to say whether we can even maintain our rule in the long term."

“Slava, you’re too pessimistic. How could the Union collapse in just a few years?” Gorbachev shook his head.

Slava looked at Gorbachev with a tense expression, hesitant to speak, then shook his head and left.

On June 27, 1984, Slava and Nian arrived in Beiping.

Chapter 41 Let some people get into a frenzy first (8K)

The passenger plane flying from Moscow to Beiping landed at the Capital Airport at a little after 2 p.m. The North China Plain outside the window was a patchwork of deep green and light yellow under the June sun.

Slava was all too familiar with this patch of color. His experience in agricultural production in the fields of the Amur region told him that the green was the new seedlings of the second crop that had just emerged after the winter wheat harvest, while the yellow was the stubble land waiting to be plowed.

The plane descended and passed through a thin layer of smog.

Slava noticed the low-lying farmhouses and small vegetable plots next to the airport runway—farmland just outside the walls of the capital airport, a sight not seen at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport, which tells you in a very direct way that much of the country is still rural.

The Chinese side's reception was of a high standard, but not ostentatious, considering that Slava was just a committee member, not a member of the Politburo or a ministerial secretary.

A Shanghai-brand sedan and two Beijing Jeeps were waiting on the tarmac. A deputy director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, along with several staff members, greeted them at the gangway, while some armed guards in green military uniforms stood nearby.

It was clear that Lao Zhong had done his homework for this visit, and he handled the reception of the Soviet guests with great care and attention.

Too much formality would make the Soviet conservatives think that China was trying to win over the reformists, thus causing trouble for Slava; too little formality would seem like a lack of respect.

The first thing Director Nian did after getting off the plane was to take a deep breath of Beijing's June air.

The pungent smell of aviation kerosene made her sneeze several times.

“This taste—” she said to Slava in Russian.

“The air at the airport is always like this, you’ll get used to it,” Slava replied, naturally switching to Chinese to shake hands with the deputy director who was there to greet him. “Thank you for the arrangements, you must have had a long journey.”

A hint of surprise flashed in the deputy director's eyes. Although he had been told by his superiors before departure that this Soviet cadre could speak Chinese, hearing a man with a Central Asian face, wearing a Soviet-style suit, speak Mandarin with a slight northern accent was still quite a shock.

The entourage was accompanied by only one translator. He was a young man in his early thirties, wearing glasses and a faded blue Zhongshan suit, and carrying a notebook, ready to take notes at any time.

Since Slava's Chinese was so fluent that he hardly needed a translator, the young man spent most of the following time in an awkward situation where he was always on standby but rarely needed.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

The first two days in Beiping were for serious business.

The location was a conference room at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse: dark solid wood furniture, a traditional Chinese ink painting of landscapes hanging on the wall, and blue and white porcelain tea sets on the coffee table, a stark contrast to the opulent splendor of the White House.

After all, thousands of years of cultural heritage have never needed to be proven with gold and crystal.

The highest-ranking Chinese official to attend the talks was Vice Premier Wan Li—a veteran cadre in his sixties and a key figure in the CPC reform faction.

Wan Li is a veteran Party member who has been tested by time. He joined the Party before the War of Resistance Against Japan and also suffered setbacks during the Cultural Revolution. Later, he was reinstated and fully supported Deng Xixian's decisions.

The first half of the meeting consisted of friendly greetings and an exchange of experiences. Wan Li calmly and unhurriedly introduced the progress made in the six years since the reform and opening up—

In 1984, Lao Zhong was in the harvest period of rural reform and the initial stage of urban reform. Grain output increased year after year, farmers' average income doubled compared to 1978, township enterprises sprang up like mushrooms after rain, and the four special economic zones along the coast had begun to attract foreign investment.

“Of course, we have also encountered many problems in our development,” Wanli said, his tone becoming more candid.

He took a sip of tea: "Price reform is the most troublesome thing. The dual-track system did stimulate production enthusiasm in the short term, but it also brought about serious rent-seeking problems."

Some state-owned enterprise cadres and officials colluded to resell goods using their approval slips, buying low and selling high, which drew strong criticism from the public.

Our inflationary pressures are also increasing—reforms don't come cheap; there's always a price to pay.

"I understand, I understand. We're all feeling our way across the river; how can we not get our shoes wet?"

Old Zhong used a dual-track system to gradually introduce market price signals, and the alliance is currently still at the stage of "the national price does not exceed 15 percent".

The two major powers started from different points and moved at different speeds on the path of reform, but the fundamental contradictions they encountered were strikingly similar:

How can we ensure that prices reflect the true supply and demand relationship without causing social unrest?

"Comrade Vice Premier, we are also making some attempts."

Slava humbly began to present some of the results he had brought.

Before he arrived, he had already decided on the attitude he should take when communicating with the Chinese side. He could neither be condescending like an elder brother nor subservient like a student.

History has proven that attacking this country with swords, guns, and cannons will only result in the same counterattack.

The Japanese Empire couldn't do it, the US imperialist coalition couldn't do it, and Khrushchev couldn't do it!

"In agriculture, we have established several pilot production and research consortia to integrate the entire chain from seeds to processing into a single management framework."

As for the results... we're still observing, and frankly, we've encountered quite a few obstacles—your reform experience has been very enlightening for us.

The Soviet Union was once China's elder brother, but now, in the realm of market economy, China has become our elder brother.

Upon hearing this, the Chinese officials present all smiled. For over two decades, the Soviet Union had considered itself the dominant power in Sino-Soviet relations, consistently treating the smaller Eastern European countries with an authoritarian and superior attitude. Now, for a member of the Soviet Central Committee to utter such words in a formal setting, regardless of whether his intention was diplomatic flattery or genuine admiration, was a statement that Beiping (Beijing) should remember.

After exchanging pleasantries, we got down to business.

Wanli's secretary left, leaving only three or four core personnel from each side in the room—Slava, Director Nian, a counselor from the Soviet Embassy in China, Wanli, Yu Hongliang, and a young cadre taking minutes.

The translator also stayed in the room, but had basically nothing to do. Slava handed him a Russian document and told him to look at the translation first.

That was a summary report on the operation of the agricultural research and production consortium in Amur Region. Slava didn't mind sharing this experience with the Chinese side, since the document had already been reviewed by the KGB and contained no sensitive political or military content.

“Director Yu conveyed your message earlier,” Wanli cut straight to the point, nodding slightly to Slava with his eyes narrowed.

The Chinese side knows what the Soviet side wants; now it's Slava's turn to make his offer.

"Regarding the Cambodian and Vietnamese issues, Director Yu should have already told you China's position. Today we can talk about some specifics."

The next half hour or so was dedicated to diplomatic maneuvering between the two sides.

Slava laid out his cards first: the reformists within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union were pushing for adjustments to the policy toward Vietnam in the Politburo, aiming to force Vietnam to withdraw its troops from Cambodia and reduce the scale of military aid to Vietnam. However, the conservatives were facing strong resistance, and the reformists needed China to provide something that could be put on the Politburo's table to demonstrate the actual returns of the improved Sino-Soviet relations.

"What do you need?" Wanli asked directly.

"For people of our kind... the bigger the trade orders, the better—grain, soybeans, consumer goods, anything that can prove that Sino-Soviet economic and trade cooperation has real benefits."

We spend a lot of money importing grain from the West every year. If we could get cheaper grain from you, we might save a lot of money. Since we are good brothers in the socialist camp, I think we can talk about the price. We can make small profits and sell more!

By the way, if possible, military cooperation intentions would also be very convincing—are you interested in purchasing Soviet-made equipment?

Wanli and Yu Hongliang exchanged a glance, and Yu Hongliang nodded slightly.

“Grain and soybeans are negotiable,” Wan Li said. “This year, our grain output has reached a record high, and we have some export capacity. Soybean production in Northeast China is also good. The specific quantity and price can be coordinated by the economic and trade departments.”

He paused for a moment.

"Military matters—what can you discuss?"

Both sides were fully aware of the situation.

China's weapons and equipment system was decoupled from the Soviet Union after the Sino-Soviet split in the 1960s. For the past two decades, China has been developing its defense industry on its own, and the results are obvious to all.

However, in certain high-end fields such as aero engines, ship propulsion systems, and long-range air defense, the gap with the Soviet Union is still quite significant.

If Sino-Soviet relations were fully normalized, China would have had the incentive to purchase some advanced Soviet equipment to fill these gaps, while the Soviet Union would have gained much-needed foreign exchange and a huge market for arms exports.

The problem is, Lao Zhong himself is so poor that he has to stretch every penny to make ends meet. How can he afford to buy so much equipment?

The CPC Central Committee now believes that with the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, the pressure on China's borders has been greatly reduced. Based on this, Deng Xixian judged that "peace and development are the themes of the times" in the global situation, and believed that a large-scale war was unlikely to break out in the short term. He argued that Lao Zhong should seize this strategic window of opportunity to concentrate efforts on economic development.

In the original historical record of 1985, Lao Zhong carried out a massive reduction of one million troops. That year, Lao Zhong's military expenditure was only 191 billion yuan, accounting for only 2% of the US military expenditure in the same year, and less than a fraction of the Soviet military expenditure. However, the PLA's personnel size was twice that of the US military and on par with the Soviet military.

After drastically cutting military spending, from 1985 to 1997, the proportion of defense spending to GDP dropped from 4.26% to 1.03%. If we take into account the high inflation rate at the time, the reduction in military spending was even more alarming.

Moreover, this was only the theoretical budget allocation; many allocations were not approved. In the 16 years from 1979 to 1994, the PLA actually only received 71% of the budget, and with the military budget being drastically cut, nearly a third of the money was not in its hands.

P.S.: We're not talking about drinking soldiers' blood; we're talking about reducing manpower, saving money, upgrading equipment, and improving quality.

Why buy any equipment with this?

"We can make initial contact regarding technical cooperation on ships and some aviation equipment," Slava said, giving an offer he and Gorbachev had agreed upon before their departure. "Specific projects will require further consultation between the military technical departments of both sides."

“Okay,” Wanli didn’t dwell on the topic for too long. The details of military cooperation couldn’t be settled in a single meeting; what was important was that both sides confirmed the existence of this direction.

"So what do you need us to do over there?"

"Stop military aid to Vietnam—or at least drastically reduce it, push Vietnam to withdraw its main forces from Cambodia, and restore the Soviet troops along the Sino-Mongolian border to the level of the 1960s."

It's the same old story.

“However, we believe that the first two points can be discussed now, but the third point is unrealistic—at least not at present,” Wanli added. “The issue concerning Mongolia involves not only the Sino-Soviet bilateral relationship but also the sovereignty of the Mongolian People’s Republic. You cannot bypass Ulaanbaatar and talk to us about this directly.”

However, if the first two points can be substantially improved, the third point can be put on hold for later.

It's a mess. Where is the sovereignty? It's just a speed bump between two major powers. Rather than a sovereign state, its so-called sovereignty is not even comparable to those satellite states in Eastern Europe. It's practically the sixteenth republic of the Soviet Union!

Slava made an assessment in his mind.

The demand to abandon border troop deployments in exchange for progress on the issues of Cambodia and Vietnam is within the alliance's bottom line. The issue of border troop deployments involves the core interests of the Ministry of Defense; even Gorbachev couldn't sway it, let alone him.

However, the issues between Cambodia and Vietnam can be addressed through diplomatic and economic means.

“That’s acceptable,” he said. “So, as China’s response, in addition to trade orders for grain and soybeans, could you send some positive signals to the new Soviet leadership in some public setting? It doesn’t need to be a big move, just a word would be enough—for example, Director Deng mentioning in some setting that Sino-Soviet relations are developing in a good direction.”

Wanli remained silent for a while when he heard this request.

On the one hand, having Deng Xixian publicly speak well of the Soviet Union would have a significant impact both domestically and internationally, essentially making Beiping (Beijing) endorse the reformists in Moscow. On the other hand, if the Soviet Union did make substantial concessions on the Vietnam issue, a positive evaluation from Beiping would be a reasonable and appropriate reciprocal response.

The Soviet Union finally withdrew from Old Zhong's backyard.

“If you have verifiable actions on the Cambodia issue,” he finally replied, “you don’t need to worry about Director Deng’s attitude.”

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Slava did not leave Beiping immediately after the negotiations ended.

China clearly attaches great importance to this key figure of the Soviet reformists, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs arranged a ten-day inspection tour covering Beijing, Hebei, Shandong and Heilongjiang—Slava himself selected these places on the map.

His Chinese escorts had suggested that he first visit the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, since it was a showcase of China's reform and opening up, with its skyscrapers, foreign-invested factories, and dazzling array of consumer goods, which seemed to best demonstrate the achievements of China's reforms.

The director asked him in a low voice in Russian, "Are you going or not?"

Slava also leaned close to Director Nian's ear and whispered, "I think we can go to America again to see these things; they're done much better there."

Then he immediately switched to Chinese, speaking in a tactful but firm tone:

"I'll visit the special economic zone one last time. I'd rather see some ordinary places first—ordinary villages, ordinary cities, and the lives of ordinary people. The special economic zone is like a bonsai, and I want to see the whole garden."