Abstract
Stalin used to say: "Sincere diplomacy is no more possible than dry water or wooden iron": this quote can perfectly apply to the relations that the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union have fostered during the first years of the creation of the People's Republic of China. Indeed, from October 1st 1949, date of the creation of the PRC to July 1960, when Khrushchev called back the Soviet experts who had been sent to help Chinese development and which can be seen as the moment when the Sino-soviet split became "official", the relations between China and the Soviet Union had been quite particular. Although they first seemed to commit into a close relationship their relationship turned into an open split within ten years, the two countries trying to get the best from the other one. During this time, has China been a satellite-State of the Soviet Union or has she been a rival from the beginning?
