Against the backdrop of bi-polar system in which socialist and capitalist blocs rivaled against each other, the development of Sino-Soviet and Franco-US alliances, which are alliances between superpower and regional power, shared a lot in common and had a wide range of differences.Sino-Soviet and Franco-US alliances are unique in such characteristics as asymmetry, parallelism and non-equality. The alliances ensured China and France with national security and economic aids and in somewhat degree restricted their independence and autonomy. And the Soviet Union and the United States, through the alliances, improved their strategical position in competing with each other. The two alliances made great efforts to strike balance between "abandonment" and "entrapment" in alliance security dilemma.Sino-Soviet and Franco-US alliances were different in cohesion and stability as a result of differences in alliance models, decision-making systems, ideology, mutual strategic interest, domestic politics and the ways in which the Soviet Union and the United States tried to control their alliance partners that took every measure to gain their independence and autonomy. Therefore, the bilateral contradictions and confrontations between China and the Soviet Union had a great impact on the evolution of Sino-Soviet alliance which in fact drew to an end as the two countries split, while Franco-US alliance endured despite the fact that crises arose one after another to erode the two countries' relations since De Gaulle took the reign in 1958. |