SINO-EUROPEAN RELATIONS DURING THE COLD WAR AND THE RISE OF A MULTIPOLAR WORLD Edited by Enrico Fardella, Christian F. Ostermann, and Charles Kraus With a foreword by Her Excellency Federica Mogherini History and Public Policy Program Critical Oral History Conference Series SINO-EUROPEAN RELATIONS DURING THE COLD WAR AND THE RISE OF A MULTIPOLAR WORLD A Critical Oral History Edited by Enrico Fardella, Christian F. Ostermann, and Charles Kraus With a foreword by Her Excellency Federica Mogherini The Wilson Center graciously acknowledges the financial support of the following organizations which made this publication possible: Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars One Woodrow Wilson Plaza 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20004-3027 www.wilsoncenter.org ISBN# 978-1-938027-98-7 Cover image: Sun Suozhang (left) and Roy Denman (right) sign an agreement promoting trade between the European Economic Community and the People’s Republic of China on February 3, 1978. Source: European Commission Audiovisual Services P-004296/02-13. © 2015 Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars The History and Public Policy Program provides a forum for the discussion of new, policy-relevant historical evidence and findings and fosters open, informed and non-partisan research and dialogue on the relationship between history and policy-making. A hub for a global network of scholars, journalists, policy-makers, archivists, and teachers, the Program maintains an award-winning Digital Archive (www.DigitalArchive.org) which contains thousands of historical documents and provides fresh, unprecedented insights into the inner workings and foreign policies of the US and foreign powers. The Wilson Center, chartered by Congress as the official memorial to President Woodrow Wilson, is the nation’s key non-partisan policy forum for tackling global issues through independent research and open dialogue to inform actionable ideas for Congress, the Administration and the broader policy community. Conclusions or opinions expressed in Center publications and programs are those of the authors and speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Center staff, fellows, trustees, advisory groups, or any individuals or organizations that provide financial support to the Center. Jane Harman, Director, President, and CEO BOARD OF TRUSTEES Thomas R. Nides, Chairman of the Board Sander R. Gerber, Vice Chairman Public Members: William Adams, Chairman, National Endowment for the Humanities; James H. Billington, Librarian of Congress; Sylvia Mathews Burwell, Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; G. Wayne Clough, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution; Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education; David Ferriero, Archivist of the United States; John F. Kerry, Secretary of State. Designated appointee of the president from within the federal government: Fred P. Hochberg, Chairman and President, Export-Import Bank of the United States Private Citizen Members: John T. Casteen III, Charles E. Cobb Jr., Thelma Duggin, Barry S. Jackson, Nathalie Rayes, Jane Watson Stetson V Contents Executive Summary ii Acknowledgements iv Foreword vi Editors’ Preface viii Chronology x Conference Participants xviii Opening Remarks 1 Panel I : The Sino-Soviet Split and China’s Relations with Eastern Europe Session I 9 Session II 42 Panel II: The Sino-American Engagement and China’s Relations with Western Europe Session I 77 Session II 101 Session III 145 Panel III: The Sino-Soviet-American Triangle and China’s Relations with Europe Session I 165 Roundtable 199 Document Appendix 239 Bibliography 552 Index 572 i i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Executive Summary From June 29 to July 1, 2012, the Machiavelli Center for Cold War Studies (CIMA), the Wilson Center’s Cold War International History Project (CWIHP), and East China Normal University’s (ECNU) Center for Cold War International History Studies convened a critical oral history conference in Palermo, Italy, on the relationship between China and Europe during the Cold War. For the first and last time, a group of veteran diplomatic officials, all active in Sino-European relations during the Cold War, assembled together with a group of international scholars in an effort to provide context to, and fill gaps in available documentary record, on China’s relationships with countries in Eastern and Western Europe from the 1960s through the 1980s. Though the dialogue at the conference often dealt with individual bilateral relationships between China and various European countries, the conference was anchored by a much broader theme: identifying the transition from bi-polarity to multi-polarity during the Cold War and post-Cold War eras. Sino-European Relations during the Cold War and the Rise of a Multipolar World: A Critical Oral History is the result of that historic conference, and features the transcript of the conference proceedings as well as key primary source documents from international archives and a comprehensive bibliography on Sino-European relations. Sino-European Relations during the Cold War and the Rise of a Multipolar World is a weighty resource for individuals wishing to understand the dynamics of Sino- European relations, past and present, and recent and ongoing global power shifts. To highlight only some of the volume’s most interesting findings, concerning China ii ii and Eastern Europe, the extended and probing discussions and archival documents contained within suggest that: • China was a keen observer of differences within the socialist bloc, and utilized “differential treatment” in managing its relations with Eastern European coun- tries in order to change the balance of power in China’s favor, though not neces- sarily to topple the Soviet Union. • China and Romania coordinated policies and actions closely during the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968, with China promising to sup- port Bucharest in the event of Soviet intervention in Romania. • China’s relations with Eastern European countries gradually improved in the late 1970s and 1980s as a result of concurrent changes in domestic Chinese poli- tics and mixed signaling from Moscow to its allies in the Eastern Bloc. • Erich Honecker may have sought exile in China after October 1989. Bearing on China and Western Europe, the volume indicates that: • China gestured that it was willing to normalize relations with West Germany as early as 1956, following the Soviet Union’s recognition of Bonn, but West Germany did not reciprocate until following the Sino-American opening. • China’s normalization with France in 1964 was a symbolic overture which al- lowed Mao Zedong to implement his “two intermediate zones theory,” dilute superpower bi-polar hegemony, and bridge Asian and European initiatives to- ward multi-polarity. • The Cultural Revolution may not have been the main bottleneck preventing the development of China’s relations with Western Europe in the 1960s. • China did not have a uniform approach toward normalizing relations with Western European countries, instead adjusting its strategies depending on the importance of a given country, its attitude toward Taiwan, and its past treat- ment of the People’s Republic. • Western Europe was part of Mao Zedong’s global strategy and China, unlike the Soviet Union, was a strong supporter of European political and economic integration because it believed it would be useful in forging a multi-polar world. iii iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Acknowledgements Such an ambitious project on China, Europe, and the Cold War could have been conceived and excuted successfully only by a large group of dedicated and generous people. First and foremost, the contribution, both professional and human, of Professors Shen Zhihua and Li Danhui, and the staff at the Center for Cold War International History Studies of the East China Normal University in Shanghai, were essential in organizing the conference whose proceedings are published in this volume, and, together with Peter Vamos, in collecting many of the Chinese documents presented here in translation. Our deep gratitude for their support also goes to the Roma Mediterraneo Foundation; to Professor Emmanuele Emanuele, president of the Foundation and one of the first to believe in this project; Professor Ercole P. Pellicano, the Foundation’s vice president; and Carla Capocasale, a tireless and attentive partner in organizing the event. Thanks are also due to the Società Siciliana per la Storia Patria, particularly its President, Professor Giovanni Puglisi, and Scretary General Professor Salvatore Savoia, for their generous hospitality. The assistance of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and in particular the -ef ficient cooperation provided by Consul Sergio Maffettone, was of vital importance for the success of the conference and the visa procedures. The same is true of the work of all the translators and the organizing secretariat composed of Antonella Giuggioli, Federica Cedro, and Elena Zacchetti and the sup- port provided by Graziella degli Innocenti and colleagues at the Machiavelli Center for Cold War Studies (CIMA) in Florence. The support of the MacArthur Foundation allowed for the translation of many of the documents included in the appendix, as well as for the publication of this volume. Laura Deal, Pieter Biersteker, and Timothy McDonnell at the Cold War iv SINO-EUROPEAN RELATIONS DURING THE COLD WAR AND THE RISE OF A MULTIPOLAR WORLD International History Project assisted with organizing and cataloging many of the documents. Our sincere thanks go to