The Good Neighbor: Why China Cooperates (World IN Review) (Editorial‪)‬

For much of Communist China's existence, ideology and revolution were cornerstones of the country's domestic and foreign policies. While aid and support was given to radical groups in Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America, wars were fought against India in 1962 and against the Soviet Union in 1969 because of trivial land disputes. The People's Republic of China (PRC) thus gained the reputation of an unstable and chaotic neighbor. The unpredictability of pre-1976 Chinese foreign policy was epitomized by the Sino-Soviet split in the late 1960s and rapprochement with the "great capitalist devil," the United States, in the early 1970s. However, in 1976, the death of the PRC's first leader, Mao Zedong, led to the ascension of Deng Xiaoping, a visionary who aimed to lead China on a path of pragmatism and economic growth in which foreign policy became less confrontational. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]