On the afternoon of June 7, 2024, the Independent Lecture on Eurasian Studies of the Institute for International and Area Studies (IIAS) of Tsinghua University，entitled "Fragile Alliance: The Historical Lineage of the Sino-Soviet-North Korean Triangle," was held offline. The speaker of this lecture is Shen Zhihua, Director of the Center for Eurasian Studies of the Institute for International and Area Studies (IIAS) of Tsinghua University，and a tenured professor at East China Normal University. The lecture was attended by doctoral students of the Institute for International and Area Studies of Tsinghua University and teachers and students from Peking University, the University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and Seoul National University.
First of all, Prof. Shen Zhihua introduced the "trajectory of activities" of North Korean Communists from the early 1920s to the late 1940s and sorted out the contact history between Chinese and North Korean Communists during this period. Next, relying on a large number of archival historical facts, Mr. Shen described the establishment of the triangular alliance between China, the Soviet Union, and the North Korea after the founding of New China, vividly presenting the complexity of the considerations of the three parties during the Korean War and at the same time answering the major historical questions such as the reasons for the outbreak of the Korean War, the relationship between the Korean War and the Sino-Soviet alliance, the considerations of China's determination to send troops to North Korea, and the impact on the Sino-North Korea relations. Finally, Mr. Shen discussed in depth the theory of the alliance relationship between the socialist camps by taking the relationship between China and North Korea as an example and re-emphasized the importance of re-writing the basic historical facts of the relationship between China, the Soviet Union, and North Korea based on serious, solid and verified historical materials.
In the discussion session, the lecturer responded to the questions raised by the participants, such as "The significance of the history of Sino-North Korean relations in analyzing the peninsula issue ", "The connection between the ancient Chinese 'tribute system' and the diplomacy of New China", and "The value of archival historical materials for cross-corroboration", and so on.
Shen Zhihua is a renowned historian, Director of the Center for Eurasian Studies of the Institute for International and Area Studies (IIAS) of Tsinghua University，tenured professor at East China Normal University, Director of the Center for International History of the Cold War, Director of the Institute for Neighboring Countries, Senior Research Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in the U.S., and Senior Fellow at the Tahoe Think Tank. His major publications include The Last "Celestial Dynasty" - Mao Zedong, Kim Il-sung, and China-North Korea Relations (1945-1976); A Helpless Choice: The Cold War and the Fate of the Sino-Soviet Alliance; Mao Zedong, Stalin and the Korean War; and The Economic Maelstrom: A New Perspective on the Cold War.
Contributed by: Eurasian Group
Proofreader: Eurasian Group
