Sino-Soviet Northeast Economic Cooperation Negotiations Re-explored:October 1945-April 1946

Negotiations on economic cooperation between China and the Soviet Union in the northeast had been a major issue in Sino-Soviet relations after World War II,and from the end of October 1945 to April 1946,the Kuomintang(KMT)and the Soviet government began lengthy negotiations for six months on the issue of economic cooperation between China and the Soviet Union in the northeast.In the postwar period,the northeast of China presented a complicated political landscape.The Soviet Union wanted to establish its own sphere of influence in the Northeast and enjoy the economic benefits of the region;the KMT Government wanted to take over the Northeast as soon as possible to maintain national sovereignty and prevent the expansion of Chinese Communist forces in the Northeast;the United States wanted to minimize the influence of the Soviet Union in Northeast Asia;and the Chinese Communist Party tried to take advantage of the contradictions and mutual distrust between the Soviet Union and the KMT to develop its own power in the Northeast.Such a complex relationship between the three quartets deeply influenced the outcome of the Sino-Soviet economic negotiations.Most of the past related researches have taken an internal Chinese perspective,neglecting the existence of multiple factors that influenced the negotiation process.In addition,in terms of the selection of historical materials,past studies have mainly been based on the personal archives,diaries,and chronicles of Zhang Jiaao,a Kuomintang official and the main director from the Chinese side.Those researches have not fully explored the publicly available archives of the U.S.,the archives of the Chungking KMT Government,and the Soviet archives.Based on the declassified archives of China(especially from Taiwan),the Soviet Union,and the United States,this paper analyzes the entire economic negotiation process in stages and describes the multiple factors that influenced the negotiation process.According to the time and the main contents of the negotiations,this paper divides the Sino-Soviet economic negotiations into four main stages.Among the four stages of economic negotiations,the issue of defining "spoils of war" is the core issue of Sino-Soviet economic negotiations from beginning to end.Since the definition of "spoils of war" legally determined the ownership of Japanese industries and minerals in the Northeast,both the KMT Government and the Soviet Union were reluctant to make concessions on this issue,and both hoped to use other methods to force the other country to back down,which was counterproductive and deepened the conflict between the two sides.Besides,there were other factors that influenced each stage of the negotiations.At the beginning of the negotiations,the issue of administrative takeover of the Northeast was an important factor affecting the negotiation process.The Nationalist government demanded to suspend the economic cooperation negotiation on the grounds of difficulties in the administrative takeover of the Northeast,and stated that economic cooperation with the Soviet Union could only be started after the administrative takeover.Later in the negotiations,the delayed withdrawal of Soviet troops and U.S.intervention became prominent factors affecting the negotiation process.Faced with the delay in economic cooperation negotiations,the Soviets delayed the withdrawal of their troops for a time,hoping to withdraw from the Northeast after the negotiations were concluded.After finding that the Soviet Union was unwilling to back down on issues such as "spoils of war," the KMT government hoped to use international forces,such as US,to pressure the Soviet Union to back down.However,the U.S.intervention caused the Soviet Union to be wary and sparked dissatisfaction on the part of the Soviets with the KMT.This essay combed through the entire process of Sino-Soviet economic negotiations and found that the KMT government and the Soviet government did not share the same vision of economic cooperation between China and the Soviet Union in the northeast,and both sides had conflicting interests in the northeast,which made it difficult to advance the Sino-Soviet negotiations.In the negotiation process,both the KMT Government and the Soviet Government were unwilling to take the lead in making concessions to the other side and repeatedly missed the opportunity to reach a possible success in the economic negotiations.Eventually,with the change in Soviet policy toward China,and the broke-out of the Chinese civil war,the Northeast economic cooperation negotiations ended in failure.