Draft:Nations that aligned with the People's Republic of China during the Cold War

Many nations around the world, especially Third World ones, aligned or maintained good diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China during the Cold War during and after the Sino-Soviet split. Many of these nations aligned with China were opposed to both the Eastern and Western blocs, and some pro-Indian elements of the Third World, especially the Non-Aligned Movement. Many of these nations aligned with communist China for strategic, diplomatic, defensive or ideological reasons.

Related Concepts

Sinophilia

Main article: Sinophilia

Sinophilia is the demonstration of fondness or strong interest in China, Chinese culture, Chinese history, Chinese politics, and/or Chinese people. However, Sinophilia applies to a particular person or a group of persons, while good diplomatic relations with the PRC only applies to sovereign nations. So, it is very crucial to distinguish between Sinophilia and good diplomatic relations with the PRC. For example, the Khmer Rouge and later Democratic Kampuchea, had very good diplomatic relations with the PRC, and recieved material support, but despite that, they actually persecuted ethnic Chinese present in Cambodia, often sending them to the Killing Fields, and many were killed in the Cambodian genocide.

History

Asia

In Asia, many nations reached out to the PRC immediately after the Sino-Soviet split. One of the first ones was Pakistan. Pakistan had previously recognized the PRC early in 1951. Their alliance was strengthened as they both shared an Indophobic stance. In Southeast Asia, China backed the Democratic Republic of Vietnam led by Ho Chi Minh against the colonial forces in the First Indochina War, and later backed the North Vietnamese forces in the Vietnam War against the South Vietnamese and American forces. China even sent troops to guard the capital city of Hanoi in the early stages of the war, but later withdrew in 1969 after Ho's death, and the relations between China and Ho's successor Lê Duẩn detiorated. The Union of Burma was another nation in Southeast Asia which had good diplomatic relations with the PRC, especially under the leadership of U Nu. However, relations between Burma and China detiorated after the 1962 Burmese coup d'état, when the PRC started backing CPB insurgents, to which Burmese head of state Ne Win replied with expulsion of Chinese technicians following violent Sinophobic riots in 1967. In Maritime Southeast Asia, Indonesia was another nation which aligned with the PRC after the Sino-Soviet split. In the early 1960s, a split occured in the Non-Aligned Movement between Jawaharlal Nehru and Sukarno occured, in which China backed the latter. During Konfrontasi, China gave political and ideological support to Indonesia. China also provided ideological and material support to the Khmer Rouge and later Democratic Kampuchea during the Cambodian Civil War, Cambodian–Vietnamese War and the Cambodian conflict. In 1977, two years after the ascension of Ziaur Rahman into power following the 7 November 1975 Bangladeshi coup d'état, relations between Bangladesh and the PRC were normalised.

Africa

Most African nations aligned with the PRC after the Sino-Soviet split were mainly pan-African seeking to carve out spaces between the two Cold War blocs. In the early stages of the Sino-Soviet rift, Ghana under Kwame Nkrumah reached out to China and forged strong ideological ties. When the 1966 coup overthrew Nkrumah, he was actually on a visit to Beijing. Guinea under Ahmed Sékou Touré was a major broker of Chinese support for the PAIGC's independence struggle against Portuguese colonial rule. Comoros' Ali Soilih was ideologically a Maoist who took Chinese foreign aid. Congo-Brazaville under the socialist MNR regime under Alphonse Massamba-Débat also took Chinese foreign aid, and he even visited Beijing in 1964. However, the new People's Republic of the Congo strained relations with the PRC as its leader Marien Ngouabi aligned the nation firmly with the Eastern Bloc. China also indirectly funneled arms to Biafra via Zambia, Tanzania or Gabon during the Nigerian Civil War, mainly to counter the Soviet-backed Gowon administration. The PRC also backed many anti-apartheid liberation movements, including ZANU in the Rhodesian Bush War, and later Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe aligned firmly with Chinese interests. After the 1978 Ogaden War ended, Somalia under Siad Barre sought new alliances, including the West and China. China also helped Mauritania under Moktar Ould Daddah to build a new port in. Just before the Sino-Soviet split ended in 1989, a coup happened in Sudan in April, and Omar al-Bashir came to power, who aligned with China for strategic reasons. Zaire under Mobutu Sese Seko became the first African nation to recognize the PRC instead of the ROC in 1972. China sent economic aid to Yoweri Museveni's NRM who were ideologically Maoists fighting against the Soviet-backed Third Republic under the UPC regime of Milton Obote. One of the best examples of Afro-Chinese solidarity during the Sino-Soviet split was TAZARA. When Western nations initially refused to provide economic aid to build the railway between Tanzania and Zambia, China stepped in with a massive interest-free loan which became one of the most used railways in the world.

List of states

A 1968 Albanian postage stamp depicting Mao Zedong

Communist states

• Albania (1961-78)
• Kampuchea (1975-79)
• North Vietnam (1945-69)
• Romania (1965-89)
• South Yemen (1967-78)

Other aligned nations

• Bangladesh (1975-89)
• Biafra (1967-70)
• Burma (1961-62)
• Comoros (1976-78)
• Congo (1963-68)
• Djibouti (1977-89)
• Ghana (1957-66)
• Guinea (1958-84)
• Guyana (1969-89)
• Indonesia (1945-65)
• Iran (1979-89)
• Mali (1960-69)
• Mauritania (1960-78)
• Pakistan (1961-89)
• Somalia (1978-89)
• Sudan (1989)
• Tanzania (1964-85)
• Uganda (1986-89)
• Zambia (1965-89)
• Zaire (1972-89)
• Zimbabwe (1980-89)

See also

• Foreign relations of the People's Republic of China
• TAZARA Railway
• Sino-Indian War
• China–Pakistan relations