Albania And China

This book is a study of Albania-China relations during the second half of the 20th century. Both countries have had a similar political system based on the same ideology for more than two decades. Indeed, they established an alliance that is unique of its kind; keeping in mind that such friendly relations were created between a small country with a population of 2-3 million (Albania) and a very large country with a population of 700 million (China). The book details unique characteristics of this alliance, highlighting that this interesting relationship is based on specific interests. It shows how this alliance has unfolded, from its initial optimism to the later sworn animosity between the two countries. The outcome of the relationship between Tirana and Beijing had its climax at the end of 1960s, which saw in a major crack in the alliance due to China’s newly established affinity with the USA.

1. The background -- 2. The Soviet-Albanian conflict becomes clear - 1960 -- 3. Prelude to the break: Soviet-Albanian relations - December 1960 to October 1961 -- 4. The Soviet Twenty-second Party Congress and the Soviet-Albanian diplomatic break -- 5. After the Soviet-Albanian break -- 6. Albania today. Documents.

What were the new People's Republic of China's policies to the Universal Postal Union in its early years? How did they help China promote its national interests in the world stage? Why did China train Albanian interns in the Cold War? Was it out of 'communist fraternity' or was it part of China's concerted public diplomacy efforts? And what role has China's medical assistance to developing countries, especially those in Africa, played in its foreign affairs?Penned by well-known international relations scholars from China, the eight essays in this volume attempt to answer those questions and more. Based on rich literature, including some newly declassified files from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this volume introduces some of the most interesting and significant, but lesser-known, episodes in the diplomatic history of the People's Republic of China, and tries to shed light on their implications and impact on China's diplomacy.

Elidor Mëhilli has produced a groundbreaking history of communist Albania that illuminates one of Europe’s longest but least understood dictatorships. From Stalin to Mao, which is informed throughout by Mëhilli’s unprecedented access to previously restricted archives, captures the powerful globalism of post-1945 socialism, as well as the unintended consequences of cross-border exchanges from the Mediterranean to East Asia. After a decade of vigorous borrowing from the Soviet Union—advisers, factories, school textbooks, urban plans—Albania’s party clique switched allegiance to China during the 1960s Sino-Soviet conflict, seeing in Mao’s patronage an opportunity to keep Stalinism alive. Mëhilli shows how socialism created a shared transnational material and mental culture—still evident today around Eurasia—but it failed to generate political unity. Combining an analysis of ideology with a sharp sense of geopolitics, he brings into view Fascist Italy’s involvement in Albania, then explores the country’s Eastern bloc entanglements, the profound fascination with the Soviets, and the contradictions of the dramatic anti-Soviet turn. Richly illustrated with never-before-published photographs, From Stalin to Mao draws on a wealth of Albanian, Russian, German, British, Italian, Czech, and American archival sources, in addition to fiction, interviews, and memoirs. Mëhilli’s fresh perspective on the Soviet-Chinese battle for the soul of revolution in the global Cold War also illuminates the paradoxes of state planning in the twentieth century.