Sarah Paine

Because both sides are taking incredible losses.

Well, here's how it goes.

Once China intervenes in the Korean War, and once they halt various offensives to start peace talks, the Chinese do incredible tunnel work, and probably the North Koreans as well, and build an incredible tunnel system.

So it means the South Koreans and the UN forces are never gonna get anywhere near the Soviet border ever again.

And from that moment on, Stalin thinks he's got a low-risk, high-reward strategy where he's going to weaken the United States and delay the rise of China.

So what's not to love about fighting to the last Chinese in Korea?

Stalin thinks this is great.

And it's going to retard Chinese development.

It's also because China is so isolated.

By this war, it has no international friends, but Russia.

It's going to tie China to Russia ever more firmly and give Russia a breathing space to rebuild after World War II, while its Western enemies are wasting time in Korea.

So...

If you put it all together, Chinese Civil War, Korean War, of Russia's on-and-off aid, on-and-off-again aid to different sides in the Civil War, his double-dealing with Bundham, and what happened with Ataman Golia and the Manchurian industrial base, Stalin's advice to Mao to halt at the Yangtze, and then he's fighting to the last Chinese in Korea, this is all consistent with the Second Rule of Continental Empire, no great power neighbors.

All right, once Stalin dies, finest day of his life, there's never as strong a leader in Russia again.

And by this time, Mao has figured out that the Russians don't want a strong China.

He has to bide his time for a while, but he understands what is going on.

And Mao has a growing list of grapes.

It's not only he didn't like Stalin's tributary treatment, but also Mao thinks, with his resume, that he should become...

the leader of international communism and Stalin's successor, Nikita Khrushchev.

It's like, no way.