When I look at other communist nations, they were invaded, couped, and/or sabotaged at every opportunity, and (forgive me, my history of China is weak) while I’m sure that China faced obstacles from capitalists outside of the country, it somehow rose up to be the power that it is today while the USSR fell, Vietnam and Korea got bombed to hell and back, Cuba was put under crippling sanctions, and surely countless other uprisings got squashed young.
But china didn’t just survive, they thrived. How?
China avoided getting attacked like the USSR because of the USSR. The US was focused on it and China was viewed as a useful tool to split communists and harm the USSR. The sino-soviet split helped China survive at the expense of the USSR.
After the fall of the USSR it was Deng’s reforms that continued to keep China alive. The capitalists thought they would end China in the longterm and they couldn’t resist the vast wealth they could make from investing into this growth market of 1billion+ people. This incentive continues to be the reason China is not simply isolated on trade, there are thousands of capitalists making too much money from China and they do not support going against China as it would hurt their income.
I’m going to start explaining the sino/soviet split using the first scene in Enemy At The Gates
USSR to China when bloodthirsty barbarians (I don’t read IRL lore)
Hunting wolves with Grandpa?
I put the foreign investments in my mouth so they can’t see my developing my industrial base
韬光养晦