Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance

After its founding, New China followed an independent foreign policy of peace. At the founding ceremony Mao Zedong declared that the government was willing to establish diplomatic relations with any foreign government that observed principles of equality, mutual benefit and mutual respect for territorial sovereignty. In light of the international situation of the day, New China set three foreign policy principles: "starting anew," "cleaning the house before inviting guests," and "leaning to one side." On 2 October 1949 the Soviet Union was the first country to announce recognition of the People's Republic and establish relations. In the early period, newly independent Asian countries such as India, Indonesia and Burma, and Nordic countries such as Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland and Finland also established diplomatic relations with China, forming New China's first wave of diplomatic recognition. Mao Zedong visited the Soviet Union from December 1949 to February 1950. On 14 February 1950 Zhou Enlai and Soviet Foreign Minister Andrey Vyshinsky signed the Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance in Moscow. It provided that each side would give military aid if attacked by a third country, that the Soviet Union would grant China a loan of 300 million US dollars, and that it would return the Chinese Changchun Railway and Lushun (Port Arthur) and Dalian to China. The treaty replaced the 1945 Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance signed with the Nationalist government, upheld China's sovereignty and national dignity, aided economic recovery and national defense, and raised New China's international standing. The Soviet Union later helped China build 156 key projects, which played an important part in China's industrialization.