Boris Yeltsin, left, faced down the attempted coup in 1991, but his first foreign minister says he failed to control the economic chaos that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union. Photo: AP
How collapse of the Soviet Union still weighs on Chinese leaders’ minds 30 years on
- The political turmoil that ended the world’s first communist state spurred Beijing to maintain tight political control while it allowed economic liberalisation
- Xi Jinping has said great powers fall when the central authority loses power and respect, and has sought to tighten ideological control since coming to power
Boris Yeltsin, left, faced down the attempted coup in 1991, but his first foreign minister says he failed to control the economic chaos that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union. Photo: AP
