Why was there tensions in China & the USA from 1949-1971 and between China and USSR after 1956?

[B.]

[Lenny]

China and USSR are two socialist empires each of which aimed at global domination. They were bound to clash fighting for the same turf.

USA had to oppose the ambitions for world domination of both socialist empires and to protect free countries from that threat.

[Exco]

1 - Please provide reference for the quote "China and USSR are two socialist empires each of which aimed at global domination.". I can't comment on the USSR, but the PRC just formed in 1949, was dangerously under-developed and vulnerable against developed nations such as the US, and mainly focused on socialist reforms WITHIN China to stabilise and develop the country - did China in any way attempt to forge an empire as Japan did in WWII?

2 - The US was predominately against Communist/Socialist countries in fear of loosing its own established social infrastructure, which was, and still is, completely built upon capitalism. There is less "protecting the world" and more of "fear of self-survival", because should America turn socialist, the stark contrast between the two systems would surely generate a revolution in order to overturn the existing social structure, which is what America feared the most - civil war, and loosing its status as the dominant capitalist country in the world.

3 - The Chinese Communist Party, which formed the government of PRC in 1949, had problems with America before - the US supported capitalist Chinese Nationalists, lead by Chiang Kai-shek, instead of the Communists, and countless Communist soldiers were killed, with American-supplied weaponry, in the Chinese Civil War, the PRC wouldn't be too happy with a country that helped to try to wipe them out.

4 - The tension escalated with the Korean War, in which General MacArthur's actions (against direct orders from Washington), drew the Chinese into the conflict, which ended with stalemate at the 38th parallel (with years of fighting that could have been avoided if MacArthur never pushed past the 38th parallel in the first place, as US top command intended).

5 - China gradually fell out with the USSR over their different interpretations of Marxism, and came to open confrontation when in the 70s, Deng Xiaoping radically liberalised Chinese society and opened up the Chinese market, paving way to the capitalist China as it stands today. The USSR saw this as a "betrayal" to capitalism.

6 - To balance terms, China and the US took the chance to re-establish diplomatic relations, (under Nixon and Carter administrations) as the US officially withdrew recognition of ROC, and recognised PRC as the legitimate and only representation of the Chinese people.