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Searching on the web, I can't find it anymore, but I swear I once saw an article describing how Mao once proposed to Stalin that the USSR annex the PRC, but that Stalin refused the offer (probably becuase it would've been laughably impractical). Does anyone else know about this or where the article is?

Does anyone have any thoughts on how Stalin may have come to a different decision and if the two countries' leaderships actually could've pulled the unification off? What would a colossal USSR that included all of mainland china* in it have been like? Could the vastly different populations, economies, and societies have been harmoniously meshed together somehow or would such a large state have been doomed to an early collapse? If it did manage to succeed as a single entity, what would this mega USSR's capabilities have been and how would it have geopolitically impacted the 50s and 60s? Im guessing the Korean DMZ and more or less all of South East Asia become more intense focal points of the cold war than they already were. India and Pakistan's reactions would be interesting to guess at too.

*I'm guessing Mongolia would've been absorped at this point too. Possibly North Korea as well. Not sure if Mao made this proposal before or after Tibet was annexed by the PRC. Maybe Stalin makes another go for "Southern Azerbaijan" after this as well? After all, what's a sliver or Iran when you've just annexed CHINA?!
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