Commentary
On 7 March, Chinese state-run media reported new Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang stating that China would follow the principles of “peaceful coexistence” (Russian: Mirnoye sosushchestvovaniye) in relations with the United States. The ghost of Nikita Khrushchev must be whispering in Qin’s ear (and also his master, Xi Jinping’s ear) because that was a Soviet psychological operation intended to anesthetize the United States and the West for decades during the Cold War.
Let us examine the issue.
Background
On Feb. 14, 1956, Soviet leader Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev presented a “Report of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union” to the Twentieth Party Congress. While most of the international and Soviet-controlled media at the time were shocked by his public excoriation of Joseph Stalin for past crimes and abuses, an equally important message was conveyed concerning Soviet foreign policy and international relations….