Beginning in late 1958, the differences between China and the Soviet Union on ideological issues gradually deepened, and at the same time, the Soviet Union attempted to establish a long-wave radio station and fleet jointly managed by China and the Soviet Union in China, tying China to its own chariot for global hegemony. As a result, Sino-Soviet relations broke down.
As a result, the debt problem between the two sides has been brought to the fore. At that time, China was in the initial stage of economic construction, so how could it pay off the 8.6 billion foreign debt owed to the Soviet Union?
As it turned out, the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese people were united in not only paying off their debts in 1964, but also a year ahead of schedule. This has established a good reputation image for China in the world. "There is neither domestic nor external debt".It became a slogan of national pride at that time.
So, how does China owe this huge amount of money?What are the parts of the 8.6 billion yuan of debt?How did China, when it was poor and white, pay off this huge amount of money?If we want to find out the truth of the problem, we must start with the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
After the outbreak of the Korean War on June 25, 1950, the Korean People's Army (KPA) squeezed the South Korean army into a ring of defense in Busan, which was only one square kilometer. If the war continues like this, then the North Korean army will soon be able to regain its lost territory.
However, with the landing of the US-led coalition at Incheon, the situation on the battlefield changed dramatically. On September 28, the joint ** occupied Seoul and prepared to advance to the 38th parallel. Kim Il Sung, the number one leader of the Korean People's Army, who had already lost a lot of blood, had to ask for help from the Soviet Union, the "big brother of socialism." However, Stalin, fearing that the Soviet-American war would trigger a new world war, and was even more worried about losing his interests in Europe, rejected Kim Il-sung's request to send troops, but instead sent a telegram to Roshen, a Chinese garrison in the Soviet Union, asking him to send troops to assist North Korea. ”
On October 1, Kim Il Sung, at Stalin's suggestion, sent a letter to China asking for help. China, which is poor and white, lacks an industrial base, and after 18 days of difficult decisions, it made the decision to send troops to Korea to defend the country. Before the volunteers left the country, China asked the Soviet Union for support. And the Soviet Union also wanted to use China's hand to contain the power of the United States. Therefore, Stalin promised to provide the Chinese People's Volunteer Army with ** equipment and corresponding technical guidance personnel.
On the battlefield of resisting US aggression and aiding Korea, US planes bombed the logistics units of the volunteers one after another, and the volunteers who had no air superiority had to make unimaginable sacrifices if they wanted to resist the enemy's bombing. When the Soviet Union found out, it supplied China with MiG series fighters and helped China train pilots. This also laid the foundation for the later establishment of China's air force.
In addition, China's millet plus rifle is weaker than the U.S. military's tanks, armored artillery and other modernizations. To this end, the Soviet Union provided China with Katyusha rocket artillery, T34 tanks, iron-handled submachine guns and other equipment.
In total, the Soviet Union supported the equipment of 60 infantry divisions and 23 air divisions of China. Although most of them are old and old ** eliminated by the Soviet Army after World War II, and even there are bullet holes left by the war on the tanks, it is undeniable that they still improve the combat effectiveness of the volunteer army to a certain extent.
However, the Soviet Union was not China, and unlike China, it has always treated its comrades and brothers with gratuitous assistance. China originally intended to receive aid on a lend-lease basis, but the Soviet Union insisted on selling supplies to China in the form of loans: the supplies provided in 1950 were calculated at full price;Supplies after 1950 were converted at half price. Added up, a total of 3 billion yuan, equivalent to 1.3 billion US dollars.
In 1955, in the face of the new China, the Soviet Union finally agreed to hand over the defense of Arthur Pass to the 3rd Corps of the Volunteer Army. This natural harbor, which was taken away during the period of Tsarist Russia, then went to the hands of the Japanese, and was leased to the Soviet Union by Chiang Kai-shek for a period of 30 years, and finally returned to the arms of the motherland.
When the Soviet troops retreated, there were a large number of ** that could not be taken away, and China was at a critical stage of improving the ** equipment of its troops. The USSR ended with 9800 million yuan of **, sold this batch of ** that could not be taken away to China.
In addition, after the signing of the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance between the two sides in 1950, the Soviet Union delivered some machinery and equipment, vehicles and aircraft to China in accordance with the provisions of the treaty. In a number of Soviet-aided enterprises, the Soviet Union took a stake in the form of the provision of equipment. After the breakdown of Sino-Soviet relations, the equipment, materials and shares of the aid were converted into debts, totaling 20.71 million rubles.
Military support, economic aid, these three parts add up, a total of 8.6 billion yuan.
In 1960, when the Politburo was holding a meeting in Beidaihe to discuss how to deal with the deepening differences between China and the Soviet Union, he suddenly received a note from the Soviet Union, unilaterally notifying the withdrawal of all Soviet experts in China. The Soviet Union's perfidy led to the suspension of 257 scientific and technological contracts already on the way. This move has greatly hurt the feelings of the people of the two countries and caused irreparable wounds to the relations between the two countries. The Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance existed in name only.
Taking people's money means being subject to the unwritten international rules of others, which has deeply pierced China's national pride. Not a person who is willing to bow his head, he is more deeply aware that in order to achieve true national self-determination, it is necessary to achieve true national self-reliance.
At the Beidaihe meeting, someone immediately proposed"Fight for breath and pay off the debt next year." ”In October of the same year, ***, who loves to eat braised pork, gave up this hobby. **Representation:"You have to be patient with borrowing money, and you have to be ruthless when you repay money. ”
Although in February 1961, in order to win over China, the Soviet Union, which was at loggerheads with the United States, took the initiative to show goodwill, saying that it could provide China with samples and design drawings of the MiG-21, and on the 27th of the same month, it sent a letter saying that the Soviet Union could provide 500,000 tons of sugar and one million tons of grain to China free of charge under the difficult situation of China's economy, China politely declined.
As for the long-standing rumors that the Soviet Union forced debts from China, judging from the current evidence, there is no official information to prove that there is no clear fact. The second volume of the Diplomatic History of the People's Republic of China records in detail the struggle between China and the Soviet Union in the economic field, and does not mention the Soviet Union's forced debts.
Another document, "Outline of the History of Sino-Soviet Relations", which records the Sino-Soviet economic game in detail, also does not mention this matter. Although Xinhua News Agency and People's ** published an article "Soviet Debt Force" in the 70s of the last century, the article only described the situation of the Soviet Union forcing debts to other third world countries, and did not involve China.
Judging from the relevant reports and the diplomatic archives disclosed, China is based on the principle of completely realizing independence and self-determination, avoiding the Soviet Union from exerting pressure on China with debts, and consciously takes the initiative to repay debts to the Soviet Union, and there is no such thing as forced debts as rumored in the market.
After considering all aspects of its own situation, China promised the Soviet Union:All payments will be repaid within five years.
In 1960, China began to enter a three-year difficult period. The second volume of the History of the Communist Party of China describes the living conditions of the masses and the changes in the population during the "three-year difficult period": "The extreme shortage of grain, oil, vegetables, and non-staple foods has seriously endangered the health and lives of the people. ”
At a time when the domestic economic situation is so worrisome, China has no choice but to pay off the Soviet Union's foreign debts.
If it was repaid directly in the form of funds, China at that time would definitely not be able to bear it. The best way is to repay the machinery and equipment with high added value at the same price. However, China's heavy industry base is weak, not to mention paying off the Soviet Union's debts, and its own country is still seriously undersupplied. In the end, China's superior agricultural products, such as pigs, grain, chicken, eggs, apples, etc., were selected as substitutes for debt repayment. Due to the geographical constraints of the Soviet Union, there was a big gap in the cultivation of crops and by-products. As a result, the CPSU ** agreed to China's debt repayment proposal.
In order to pay off the debts of the country, in order not to be subject to the Soviet Union, the whole country tightened its belts. In Henan, a major province for pig and grain production, the Zhengzhou Meat Factory kills an average of 5,000 pigs a day in the six months before and after winter. It is worth mentioning that although it is a major food province, Henan is not having an easy time, and she is one of the five most difficult provinces during the "three years of difficulty" period (the other four are Sichuan, Gansu, Anhui and Jiangxi).
With the increasing shortage of domestic food, and even the phenomenon of starvation to death in some places, the state decided to stop the measure of repaying debts with grain and switch to the rare metal ore produced in Keketuohai. Keketuohai is well-known at home and abroad as the "Museum of Geology and Mineral Resources", and is the "Holy Land of Mecca" in the minds of Chinese and foreign geologists. The tantalum and niobium in the Keketuohai No. 3 pit is an indispensable metal material for cutting-edge technologies such as artificial satellites, rockets, and space shuttles. The use of mineral resources to repay debts was in the hands of the Soviet Union.
Located in the northeastern part of the Junggar Basin in Xinjiang, this geological treasure house is known as China's cold pole, with an average annual temperature of only minus 2 degrees Celsius, and the winter temperature is as low as minus 40 degrees. There used to be soldiers of the Construction Corps, in such an extremely cold place, their ears were frozen hard, and after hitting a hard object, they fell off completely.
It was in such extreme weather that Bai Chengming, director of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region Metallurgical Bureau, led the workers to roast the ice and snow, drill holes with wind drills, and blast them little by little. The workers who participated in this general battle, with the spirit of revolutionary optimism of fighting with the heavens and having endless fun, composed a patriotic epic in the cold and snow. According to statistics, the minerals in the vicinity of the Keketuohai Sea paid off 48% of the Soviet Union's debt.
All parts of the country overcame the difficulties and finally paid off all the debts in 1964, a year ahead of schedule. Subsequently, China paid off its domestic public debt. For a time, "there is neither domestic debt nor foreign debt" has become a saying in internal and external propaganda that makes Chinese extremely proud. China's character of tightening its own belts and paying off other people's money has established its credibility in front of the world. At the same time, China, which is debt-free and lightweight, will not be manipulated by the Soviet Union, providing favorable conditions for its peaceful rise.
China under the leadership of the Communist Party is a country with backbone and a nation with self-respect. The humiliation is in the past, and we will not repeat it. The right to speak on China can only be held in the hands of the Chinese themselves!