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Through a comprehensive analysis of relations between Europe and China during the Cold War, this volume reveals how those interactions quietly reconfigured the global balance of power, helping to forge the contemporary international order. Rooted in a rich array of multi-archival sources, the book brings together an international group of historians to explore China's relationships with both Western European powers and European socialist countries, tracing how China systematically courted Europe to reshape the Cold War order and maneuver between the superpowers.
Beginning with China's diplomatic opening to Western Europe from the 1950s to the 1970s, contributors highlight key turning points in rapprochement with France, Britain, West Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, marked by a shifting mix of ideology, strategic calculation, and détente-era geopolitics. The volume then moves eastward, unpacking China's fraught but ambitious diplomacy with communist Europe, including Hungary, Poland, and Albania, as Beijing sought to contest Moscow's dominance and present itself as an alternative pole of leadership in the socialist world. Breaking new ground by integrating Chinese and European sources and perspectives, this book shows how China and Europe, often considered secondary actors, played crucial roles in reshaping the Cold War system and turning a rigid superpower standoff into a more multipolar world.
"This major volume brings together a distinguished group of international scholars to unveil new perspectives on the history of Europe-China relations during the Cold War. It will provoke debate, spur further scholarship, and set the standard in the field for years to come."—Julian Gewirtz, Columbia University
List of Contributors
Acknowledgments
Introduction by Enrico Fardella, Charles Kraus, and Christian F. Ostermann
1. "The Second Intermediate Zone": China's Western Europe Policy, 1955–65 by Niu Jun
2. A Missed Opportunity? Sino-French Relations in the de Gaulle Era by Garret Martin
3. Two Sides of the Same Coin? Britain's Decline and China's Rise in the 1960s and 1970s by Martin Albers
4. In the Shadow of Detente: West Germany's Cautious China Strategy During the 1960s and 1970s by Bernd Schaefer
5. China and the Italian Communist Party: Intersecting Roads to Socialism and the Demise of the Bipolar Order by Enrico Fardella and Leonardo Bruni
6. The China Dilemma: Switzerland as a Chinese Hub in the Early Cold War by Ariane Knüsel
7. Economic Utility Without Cultural Contamination: Sino-Central European Relations in Moscow's Socialist Bloc, 1956-64 by Austin Jersild
8. Born in the Same Month: East German–Chinese Relations in the 1960s and 1970s by Zhong Zhong Chen
9. Dealing with China in the 1960s and the 1970s: Different Approaches Under Poland's Wladyslaw Gomulka and Edward Gierek By Margaret K. Gnoinska
10. "There Is No Anti-Soviet Communism and Never Will Be": Sino-Hungarian Relations During Mao Zedong's Last Years by Péter Vámos
11. Destined for Each Other: Two Conflicts and Three Normalizations of Sino-Yugoslav Relations During the Cold War by Jovan Cavoški
12. Distant Water, Nearby Fire: Albania and China from Mao to Deng by Elidor Mëhilli
Conclusion: Same Dreams, Different Beds: Concluding Conceptual Perspectives on the Past and Future of Sino-European Relations by Enrico Fardella
Notes
Bibliography
Index