Myths persist for a long time, such as the belief that the People’s Republic of China is very different from today’s Russia and that the two only cooperate for tactical reasons. This view may be influenced by the historical fact that under Mao, China was first an ally and then a rival of the Soviet Union. In 1969, they even fought an armed border conflict. However, even then, they followed the same ideology, only arguing about who should lead the world revolution – the Soviet Union as the first socialist country or China as the most populous country.