Section 4. Relations between the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union
Even after China's admission to the United Nations in October 1971, China and the Soviet Union traded severe criticisms over the Indo-Pakistani War and their relations remained tense. There were no signs of improvement in 1972 through the first quarter of 1973, and it seemed that they were taking a stern attitude toward each other as the following examples suggest:
(i) On the occasion of China's National Day in October 1972, three Chinese newspapers said in their joint editorial that "the Soviet revisionist renegade clique was even more deceitful than old line imperialist countries and, therefore, more dangerous." It was the first time that China had used such an expression in an official commentary that could be interpreted as regarding the Soviet Union as its main enemy.
(ii) In this speech at ceremonies marking the 50th anniversary of the formation of the Soviet Union (on December 21), General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev condemned China's diplomatic policy as anti-Soviet, saying "the only criterion that essentially determined the attitude of Chinese leaders toward important international problems was their intention to give as great damage as possible to the Soviet Union and harm the interests of the socialist community."