Détente is a term usually used to describe a particular moment in the relation between the United States, China, and Russia during the Cold War, a period of relaxation, where relations between countries were improved.
“The period of détente can be characterized by a specific set of agreements across the ‘iron curtain’ or, less tangibly, by a new ‘mood of spirit’, a different ‘attitude’, a willingness to foster cooperative as well as conflictual relations.” ( White, 1981, p.166)
After the Cuban missiles crises the world was on the border of another war, this time though it would have implied nuclear arsenal and for that Russia and the United States tried to reach a middle ground. This essay tries to asses which are exactly the reasons why the United States, Russia and China supported détente. Starting from a military standpoint with the agreements made to improve nuclear limitations, but also the strain between the two communist superpower and the people who were at the center of this period.
The arms race was one of the main fields where the United States and Russia reached an agreement. For Russia, the arms race started to feel too expensive. After a period of balance of power between the two nations, Russia could not keep up and afford the race, that is what pushed them towards the first power limitation agreement with the USA know as SALT I ( Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty) which set limits on the production and deployment of ballistic missiles and antiballistic missiles, signed by Richard Nixon and Leonid Brezhnev in 1972 after almost two years and a half of negotiation. “Nixon and Brezhnev recognized that both of their countries would derive substantial economic benefit from the reduction in defense spending that would be facilitated by a mutually acceptable set of limits on a nuclear arms race which, in light of strategic parity and mutually assured destruction, neither superpower could win” ( Keylor, 2009, p.103) Though it accomplished little, the treaty represented a significant first step in improved relations between the world’s superpowers. A second attempt was made at a negotiation several years later, but it never happened because of the invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union.
The relationship between the Soviet Union and China showed a strong strain by the early 1970s. In the 1960s, China and the Soviet Union were the two largest communist states in the world. The doctrinal divergence derived from Chinese and Russian national interests, and from the régimes’ different interpretations of Marxism–Leninism.
“The Sino-Soviet split was one of the key events of the Cold War, equal in importance to the construction of the Berlin Wall, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Second Vietnam War, and Sino- American rapprochement. The split helped to determine the framework of the Second Cold War, in general, and influenced the course of the Second Vietnam War in particular.”( Luthi, 2015, p.1)
When Stalin died, Mao considered himself as the new senior leader but the new Soviet leaders Malenkov and Khrushchev did not recognize this. Mao had ignored many of Stalin’s requests, but he had respected him as a world leader. The Russians refused to honor their earlier commitment to help China develop nuclear weapons and support Mao in his border dispute with India. Mao was offended by these actions he felt Khrushchev was being too accommodating to Western demands. However, the Soviet leadership were well aware that the Americans could match their nuclear power and so sought to engage them in dialogue and negotiations that would avoid the outbreak of war and were determined not to give Mao nuclear weapons.International events caused the final split between the Soviet Union and China. Mao criticized Khrushchev for backing down in the Cuban Missile Crisis and Khrushchev responded by declaring that Mao’s policies would lead to nuclear war.
Henry Kissinger is one of the lead figure of this period, an acclaimed professor and National Security adviser during Nixon’s presidency, title to which he added that of Secretary of State in 1973. He and Nixon worked closely to implement detente with their adversaries, carrying out negotiation with the Soviet Union and China. In 1971, Nixon lowered restrictions on trade with China, and the Chinese responded by inviting an American ping-pong team to tour their country
in 1972. The visit, which officially ended over twenty years of tension between the two countries, lasted for a week and included meetings with Mao and visits to historical landmarks. Highly publicized, the event sent a clear message to everyone watching, including the Soviets, that China and the United States had taken the first steps in forming a new relationship. After Nixon’s visit, the Union Nation’s accepted the People’s Republic as China’s representative. (History.state.gov, 2015) As anticipated, relations with the Soviet Union improved. Nixon visited the Soviet Union in
May 1972 and met with Russian President Leonid Brezhnev. Nixon told Brezhnev that he hoped the two countries could live and work together. Brezhnev, needing to reduce military spending to save his country’s ailing economy, agreed.
Nixon’s handling of the Soviet Union and China ushered in a new chapter in the Cold War.
By playing one communist power against another, Nixon had created a balance of power among the world’s strongest countries.
Detente did not end up concluding the cold war, this period of relative peace collapsed with the invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviets and was enhanced by the election of Ronald Reagan, which were led on an anti-detente campaign. His presidency brought to the beginning of a new arms race between the two superpowers, defining the USSR as the “evil empire” he embarked on a strong anti-Soviet rhetoric. The three countries left this period incredibly changed, post-détente China, Russia, and the United States were not the same as pre-détente China, Russia and the United States, instead of cooperating they decided to go back to fighting each other.
Bibliography
History.state.gov, (2015) Rapprochement with China, 1972 – 1969–1976 – Milestones – Office of the Historian. Available at: https://history.state.gov/milestones/1969-1976/rapprochement-china (Accessed: 15 December 2015).
Kaiser, R. (2009) U.S.-Soviet Relations: Goodbye to Détente, Foreign Affairs. Available at: https:// www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/russian-federation/1981-02-01/us-soviet-relations-goodbye-d-tente (Accessed: 13 December 2015).
Keylor, W. (2003) A world of nations. New York: Oxford University Press.
Luthi, L. (2008) The Sino-Soviet split. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Vadney, T. (1992) The world since 1945. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin.
White, B. (1981) “The Concept of Detente”, Review of International Studies, 7(3), pp. 165-171. Young, J. and Kent, J. (2004) International relations since 1945. Oxford: Oxford University Press.