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September 1, 1958

Gazette of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, 1958, No. 26 (Overall Issue No. 153)

This issue includes a declaration supporting the Soviet Union's proposal for an emergency UN General Assembly session, a joint declaration with Iraq establishing diplomatic relations, and agreements with the United Arab Republic (Egypt) to enhance postal services. It also features a joint statement with Cambodia highlighting mutual respect and cooperation, as well as updated regulations on the collection and storage of tobacco and cotton, emphasizing efficient methods to bolster agricultural and industrial productivity.

January 9, 1958

Gazette of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, 1958, No. 1 (Overall Issue No. 128)

This issue includes instructions on the treatment of rural farmers, a civil affairs work plan, the establishment of counties and the revocation of autonomous prefectures, a trade agreement between China and Egypt, and technology cooperation between China and Yugoslavia. It also discusses agriculture, measures to strengthen the Ministry of Forestry’s production level, an afforestation campaign, public health initiatives, arrangements for primary and secondary school students’ winter break, construction of school buildings and improvements in education, and an order for flags to be lowered to half-staff to mark the passing of Romania's Grand National Assembly Chairman.

October 12, 1973

From the Journal of A.F. Dobrynin, 'Record of a Conversation with US Secretary of State H. Kissinger, 12 October 1973'

Kissinger and Dobrynin discuss the roles of China and Great Britain in the Middle East conflict. Kissinger says the United States has intelligence suggesting that Soviet armed forces will intervene in the war. Dobrynin accuses Israel of "barbaric" behavior in the conflict.

August 1, 1958

Second Conversation of N.S. Khrushchev with Mao Zedong, August 1, 1958, in Zhongnanhai

On this second day of the talks, international affairs were the main topic of conversation. From the Soviet record, which like those of the first and the next discussion, was made by Fedorenko and the third secretary of the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs Anatolii I. Filyov, it is evident that the atmosphere was fully relaxed, anti-imperialism brought the communist leaders together. Both hated America, Great Britain, France, West Germany, Japan, and their leaders. They discussed the situation in the Near East in detail and were heartened by the victory of leftist forces in Iraq. They joked a lot. And only at the end did Mao lightly touch upon his claims to Khrushchev, who at once reminded the Chinese leader of the Soviet advisors. It was obvious that this question continued to bother him, and Khrushchev exacerbated his grievance.

March 1, 1979

Cable from the Foreign Ministry, 'Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping Discusses the Vietnam Issue'

A summary of a conversation where Deng Xiaoping said, "We are now teaching a lesson to the Cuba of the East -- Vietnam."

1969

Ahmad Hamrush, 'An Egyptian in Vietnam, Korea, and China' (Excerpts)

The author of the Arabic-language book from which these excerpts are derived from is Ahmad Hamrush (1921-2011). Involved in the Free Officers’ coup of July 23, 1952, Hamrush left the army in 1955, but stayed a regime insider. He became a historian who wrote a multi-volume history of the coup, among other books; he edited several journals including the army’s al-Tahrir and the famous political magazine Rose al-Yusuf; he was Secretary General of the Egyptian Committee for Afro-Asian Solidarity in the 1960s; and he was a travel writer, as this book shows. It recounts a journey in 1968 to the People’s Republic of China, North Korea, and North Vietnam.

Although in the 1950s and deep into the 1960s, African decolonization struggles had attracted much attention in the Arab world and perhaps especially in Arab North Africa, Asia was a key concern, too—in the 1960s especially Vietnam. This was of course not exceptional. As books like Quinn Slobodian’s Foreign Front: Third World Politics in Sixties West Germany (2012) have shown, Vietnam as a cause—and some Vietnamese as actors—helped midwife the German student movement in the 1960s. (In Germany, the shah’s Iran and Iranian activists mattered greatly, too, however.) To take two more examples, Vietnam as a mode and model of reference mattered to anti-Soviet Lebanese leftists in the 1960s, as Laure Guirguis’ “La référence au Vietnam et l’émergence des gauches radicales au Liban, 1962-1975” (2018) has shown, and Iranians—leftists and others—followed developments in Vietnam closely, as Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet has noted in “The Anti-Aryan Moment: Decolonization, Diplomacy, and Race in Late Pahlavi Iran” (2021).

What distinguishes this text is its timing. Hamrush reflects on a journey he made soon after the Six-Day War of June 1967. That month Israel inflicted a humiliating defeat on Arab armies, including Egypt’s, the most powerful Arab state. This drastically amplified concerns some already had had about President Gamal Abdel Nasser’s (1918-1970) regime and triggered much self-critique in books like Al-naqd al-dhati ba‘da al-hazima (1968; in 2021 translated as Self-Criticism after the Defeat) by the Syrian Marxist political thinker Sadiq Jalal al-‘Azm (1934-2016).

November 15, 1956

Communist Party Central Committee Notice on Implementing Support for Egypt in Its Fight against Aggression

The CCP Central Committee outlines how the PRC can support Egypt during the Suez crisis.

September 16, 1964

Record of a Conversation between Chairman of the Council Of Ministers of the USSR, N. S. Khrushchev, and Prime Minister of the UAR, Ali Sabri

Khrushchev and UAR Prime Minister Ali Sabri met to discuss recent developments in Africa, the Middle East, and global imperialism. They reviewed efforts to strengthen Arab and African unity, the ongoing conflicts in Cyprus, Yemen, and the Congo, and growing US military interventions, particularly in Vietnam. Khrushchev affirmed Soviet support for Arab states in their struggle against imperialism, while the two leaders also explored expanded Soviet assistance for agricultural development in the UAR.

September 18, 1964

Record of a Conversation between Cde. N.S. Khrushchev, Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers, and S. Radhakrishnan, President of India

This document summarizes a 1964 conversation between Nikita Khrushchev and Indian President S. Radhakrishnan, covering topics such as agricultural innovation, economic development, and the ongoing Sino-Indian conflict. Khrushchev criticizes China's hostility toward India and mocks Mao Zedong's leadership, expressing frustration that China resented the Soviet Union's refusal to support them against India. The discussion reflects Soviet-Indian solidarity and Khrushchev's broader disapproval of Chinese foreign policy and internal governance.

December 20, 1963

Transcript of Conversation between Zhou Enlai and Reporters in Cairo

Premier Zhou and Chen Yi answer questions from reporters in Cairo. Zhou and Chen were asked about issues such as their visit to Arab and African countries, China's support for national liberation movements in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, the United Arab Republic (Egypt) and Sri Lanka's perspective of the Sino-Indian border conflict, the purpose of the Chinese delegation's visit to Arab and African countries, issues that will be discussed in potential second Bandung Conference, the Sino-Soviet split, and the Pakistani national movement. Zhou also explains why China opposed the ban on nuclear test treaty.

Pagination