View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by LSE Theses Online Old Comrades and New Brothers: A Historical Re-Examination of the Sino- Zanzibari and Sino-Tanzanian Bilateral Relationships in the 1960s Thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of International History London School of Economics and Political Science Alicia N. Altorfer-Ong February 2014 Abstract This thesis makes a contribution to the study of Sino-African relations by analysing the bilateral relationship between the People’s Republic of China and the United Republic of Tanzania during its formative period in the 1960s. Tanzania was the largest recipient of Chinese aid during this period, which also marked the height of European decolonisation in Africa. As a work of international history, the thesis combines the analysis of the relevant secondary literature with extensive research using archival sources in Tanzania, China, the United Kingdom (UK) and United States (US), as well as oral history interviews. It links Tanzanian political developments with China’s African policy in the 1960s. The Sino-Tanzanian relationship was complex and multi-faceted; it was affected by external as well as local African factors. Indeed, as the thesis shows, its development owed much to African political actors and especially to President Julius Nyerere’s gradual consolidation of power and Tanzania’s relative political stability. The study begins by tracing the contact between Chinese officials and the Zanzibari and Tanganyikan nationalists in the late 1950s, which set the stage for the strong bilateral relations that emerged after independence. Chinese military assistance to Tanzania and Chairman Mao Zedong’s offer to construct the Tanzania-Zambia rail link buttressed these ties at the highest levels of government. This was further complemented by the nature of the Chinese aid programme, which contrasted starkly with Western aid. The resilience of the bilateral relationship was demonstrated most clearly by its continued resilience in the face of the destabilising effects of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution that were manifested in Tanzania from 1966 to 1968. Publicly, the Tanzanian government remained a stalwart supporter of the Chinese government, as shown by the Tanzanian delegation’s support for the “restoration” the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to the China seat at the United Nations. Alicia Altorfer-Ong: Old Comrades and New Brothers (PhD thesis) 2 Declaration of authorship I certify that the thesis I have presented for examination for the PhD degree of the London School of Economics and Political Science is solely my own work other than where I have clearly indicated that it is the work of others (in which case the extent of any work carried out jointly by me and any other person is clearly identified in it). The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. Quotation from it is permitted, provided that full acknowledgement is made. This thesis may not be reproduced without my prior written consent. I confirm that selected sections of Chapter Three were part of a study commissioned by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in 2009 as part of the Hashim Mbita Project for the documentation of the southern African liberation struggles, a forthcoming publication. Parts of Chapter Four were published by the LSE’s IDEAS Centre in 2009 (working paper), as were sections of Chapter Five in the Journal fuer Entwicklungspolitik in 2010. I undertook these publications and projects during my doctoral programme at the LSE. I confirm that my thesis was copy edited for conventions of language, spelling and grammar by my husband, Dr. Stefan Altorfer-Ong. I warrant that this authorisation does not, to the best of my belief, infringe the rights of any third party. Alicia N. Altorfer-Ong Singapore, February 2014 Word Count: 78,757 words (thesis body, excluding footnotes and bibliography). Alicia Altorfer-Ong: Old Comrades and New Brothers (PhD thesis) 3 Table of contents Abstract 2 Declaration of authorship 3 Table of contents 4 Abbreviations 5 Introduction 7 Chapter One – China and Zanzibar, 1950s to 1964 45 Chapter Two – China and Tanganyika’s rapprochement, 1961 to 1964 96 Chapter Three – Tanzania’s post-colonial vulnerabilities and the Sino- Tanzanian relationship: The construction of a militant friendship, 1963 to 1969 141 Chapter Four – Laying the tracks for the TanZam rail link, 1965 to 1967 189 Chapter Five – Chinese medical teams in Tanzania, 1964 to 1970 230 Chapter Six – The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution as a test of the Sino-Tanzanian relationship, 1966 to 1971 274 Conclusion – The Sino-Tanzanian relationship in the 1960s 321 Appendix I: Poem from the People’s Daily 332 Appendix II: Photograph from Nyerere’s state-visit to Beijing 1965 333 Sources and bibliography 334 Alicia Altorfer-Ong: Old Comrades and New Brothers (PhD thesis) 4 Abbreviations AAPC All Africa People’s Congress AAPSO Afro-Asian People’s Solidarity Organisation AASC Afro-Asian Solidarity Council ADB African Development Bank ALC African Liberation Committee ANC African National Congress (in Tanganyika) ASP Afro-Shirazi Party ASPYL Afro-Shirazi Party Youth League ASPYU Afro-Shirazi Party Youth Union ASU Afro-Shirazi Union CAASC Chinese Afro-Asian Solidarity Committee CAFA China-Africa Friendship Association CCP Chinese Communist Party CCRG Central Cultural Revolution Group CCYL Chinese Communist Youth League CFMA Chinese Foreign Ministry Archive Chicom Communist China CIA Central Intelligence Agency Coremo Revolutionary Committee of Mozambique CRO Commonwealth Relations Office Frelimo Mozambique Liberation Front (Frente de Libertação de Moçambique) GDP Gross Domestic Product GMD Guomindang (Kuomintang) ICFTU International Confederation of Free Trade Unions ICOMM Institute for Commonwealth Studies IMC Inter-Governmental Ministerial Committee LSE London School of Economics and Political Science NAM Non-Aligned Movement NARA National Archive and Records Administration NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organisation NCNA New China News Agency OAU Organisation for African Unity PAC Pan-Africanist Congress PAFMECA Pan African Freedom Movement of East and Central Africa Alicia Altorfer-Ong: Old Comrades and New Brothers (PhD thesis) 5 PRC People’s Republic of China ROC Republic of China (Taiwan) SADET South African Democracy Education Trust SIPRI Stockholm International Peace Research Institute SWANU South West Africa National Union SWAPO South West African People’s Organisation TAA Tanganyika African Association TANU Tanganyika African National Union TANUYL Tanganyika African National Union Youth League TNA Tanzania National Archive TPDF Tanganyika People’s Defence Force UAR United Arab Republic UDI Unilateral Declaration of Independence UK United Kingdom UN United Nations UNGA United Nations General Assembly UNIP United National Independence Party UNSC United Nations Security Council URMF United Republic Military Force URTZ Union Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar US United States of America USAID United States Agency for International Development UTP United Tanganyika Party VOA Voice of America WFTU World Federation of Trade Unions WPC World Peace Council YOU Youth’s Own Union ZANU Zimbabwe African National Union ZAPU Zimbabwe African People’s Union ZFTU Zanzibar Federation of Trade Unions ZNA Zanzibar National Archive ZNP Zanzibar Nationalist Party ZPLA Zanzibar People’s Liberation Army ZPPP Zanzibar and Pemba People’s Party ZRC Zanzibar Revolutionary Committee Alicia Altorfer-Ong: Old Comrades and New Brothers (PhD thesis) 6 Introduction I. The historical importance and context of Sino-Tanzanian relations in the 1960s International relations underwent a seismic shift in the 1960s with the entry of a slew of newly independent states onto the world stage, created by European decolonisation and, in particular, the dismantling of the British empire. The fledgling governments were immediately confronted with urgent political, economic and social demands for change by their people. Tanganyika and Zanzibar, in East Africa, were at the forefront of these dramatic processes, as their respective nationalist movements had gained momentum from the mid-1950s. Tanganyika was the first territory in British East Africa to be ‘granted’ independence on 9 December 1961 under Julius Kambarage Nyerere, leader of the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU). 1 Nyerere worked quickly to establish his government’s credentials domestically and internationally, but those plans were thrown into disarray by a series of tumultuous events in January 1964. A revolution broke out in neighbouring Zanzibar on 12 January 1964. Both the independence government – a coalition between the Zanzibar Nationalist Party (ZNP) and the Zanzibar and Pemba People’s Party (ZPPP) – and the constitutional monarchy of Sultan Seyyid Jamshid bin Abdullah bin Khalifa were ousted by a self-proclaimed revolutionary government, the Zanzibar Revolutionary Council (ZRC). 2 The timing of the Zanzibar Revolution, barely a month after the British authorities granted 1 Iliffe 1979; Nnoli 1978; Smith 1973. 2 Hunter 2010; Burgess 2009. Alicia Altorfer-Ong: Old Comrades and New Brothers (PhD thesis) 7 independence on 10 December 1963, threw it into the international spotlight as a potential flashpoint for regional instability and as an example for failed decolonisation. 3 Just days after the coup, the Tanganyika Rifles mutinied, followed by similar mutinies by