The split was a huge mistake, and I think that Khrushchev very much deserves the blame for it. It wasn’t just the fact that USSR was liberalizing, but the denunciation of Stalin that really drove China away from USSR. It’s also worth noting that China ended up liberalizing in the end as well during Deng reforms, so part of it was just bad timing on the part of USSR. If a better leader was in charge, then USSR could’ve likely made a lot of the same reforms without alienating China in the process.
The split was a huge mistake, and I think that Khrushchev very much deserves the blame for it. It wasn’t just the fact that USSR was liberalizing, but the denunciation of Stalin that really drove China away from USSR. It’s also worth noting that China ended up liberalizing in the end as well during Deng reforms, so part of it was just bad timing on the part of USSR. If a better leader was in charge, then USSR could’ve likely made a lot of the same reforms without alienating China in the process.