Word: deng
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...other. It was Mikhail Gorbachev who stepped up overtures to his populous and powerful neighbor three years ago. In a 1986 speech in Vladivostok, the Soviet leader offered to create "an atmosphere of good-neighborliness," and to do so "any time and at any level." Soon after, Chinese Leader Deng Xiaoping said he would meet with Gorbachev, provided that the Kremlin resolve three specific issues: border tensions, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the Vietnamese occupation of Kampuchea. Moscow began moving on all three, and last December Qian showed up in the Soviet capital. Shevardnadze's return visit made...
...object of all these travels was to arrange a climactic summit between Deng and Gorbachev in Beijing this spring, perhaps in May. The easing of tensions is certain to produce diplomatic fallout of global importance. It could lead to a new era of stability in Asia, where the 4,500-mile Chinese- Soviet border sometimes threatened to become the fuse for war, perhaps even nuclear conflict. The U.S. might be losing its "China card," but the world will gain a new style of superpower diplomacy: no more will China be the stick for the U.S. to beat the Soviets...
...Saturday Shevardnadze paid a quick visit to Deng at his winter retreat in Shanghai following two days of talks in Beijing. The Soviets were far more eager to put a gloss on the new relationship than are the Chinese. Before his departure, Shevardnadze recounted how Deng had spoken of a "chapter on the future." But Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Tian Zengpei chose to emphasize "differences" between the two sides over the Kampuchea issue and even said the mid-May summit date was still under "study...
...Soviets announced a phased withdrawal from Afghanistan, scheduled to end next week. The third obstacle, Kampuchea, has proved somewhat less tractable, with the future role of pro-Vietnamese and pro-Chinese political factions inside the country still clouded in uncertainty. But progress has been sufficient to inspire a Deng-Gorbachev dialogue...
...Deng-Gorbachev summit will have a daunting list of issues to resolve before any grand hopes for an era of good feeling in the Far East are realized. Working out details of a new government order in Kampuchea will be difficult enough. Larger dreams of transforming Indochina from "a battlefield to a marketplace" or reconciling North and South Korea lie well in the future. But the 1.4 billion people of the Soviet Union and China have good cause for some quiet celebration. At the very least, they can mark the beginning of the end of a dark...