China-Eastern Europe Relations

Sino-European Relations during the Cold War and the Rise of a Multipolar World combines critical oral history with newly translated documentary sources to provide insights into the dynamics of Sino-European relations, past and present, and recent and ongoing global power shifts.

East German and other socialist bloc officials carefully watched any emerging Chinese rapprochement with West European countries and the United States.

Despite controversies over the contents of political reform, a commitment to reform served as a binding force for both Eastern Europe and China right until the spring of 1989. 

Péter Vámos addresses the controversy over the Chinese role in the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956. Using documents from the Chinese Foreign Ministry Archive in Beijing, Vámos argues that the official Chinese position was a distortion of actual events.

Niu Jun introduces translations of thirty-five documents from the now closed Chinese Foreign Ministry Archive. The documents demonstrate the decisive role played by Sino-Soviet relation in shaping China-Eastern European relations and reflect the re-radicalization of Chinese foreign policy in the early 1960s.

Zhong Zhong Chen introduces documents from the archives of the former East Germany and argues that, although Sino-Soviet tensions dictated socialist bloc attitudes towards Beijing especially during times of turmoil, East German leaders were often able to carve out substantial diplomatic freedoms. 

On 2 June 1969, the East German ambassador to Beijing, Gustav Hertzfeld, met with the head of the Main Department in the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Yu Zhan. 

Austin Jersild discusses tensions between Chinese and Central European officials over the misbehavior and incompetence of Soviet advisers in China.