
China-Western Europe Relations
This collection follows China's relations with countries in Western Europe from the early 1950s through the 1980s. It includes documents from China, Italy, France, West Germany, and other countries. See also the Digital Archive collection: Sino-French Normalization, 1964.For materials on China's relations with Eastern Europe, see China-Eastern Europe Relations. (Image: The Chairman of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, Mao Zedong (r), welcomes CSU Chairman Franz Josef Strauß (l). The politicians met on January 16, 1975 in Beijing, China.)
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September 10, 1964
Conversation from [Mao Zedong's] Audience with the Supervisor of an Exhibition on French Technology and the French Ambassador to China (Excerpt)
Lucien Paye and the supervisor of an exhibit on French technology praise Chinese university students for their enthusiasm and socialized thinking. Mao reacts with skepticism.
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August 12, 1965
Chinese Foreign Ministry Circular, "Malraux’s visit to China"
The Chinese Foreign Ministry reports on a visit by the French Minister of State Andre Malraux to China. Malraux came in part to act as a peace broker for the United States and proposed a plan to Zhou Enlai to divide Vietnam. Zhou rejected the proposal.
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November 30, 1965
Transcript of Conversation between Zhou Enlai and Jean Chauvel
Premier Zhou and a representative from the French foreign ministry, Jean Chauvel, talk about the Vietnam War. Zhou voices China's support for Vietnamese people's requests for U.S. troops to withdraw from Vietnam and not interfere in Vietnamese internal issues. Zhou says that the U.S. has not comply to Vietnam's request and has on the contrary expanded the war. Chauvel agrees with Zhou that the final decision about the Vietnamese War should be made by Vietnamese people. Chauvel says that the priority should be to stop the current war and calls for a ceasefire to solve the issue. Zhou cites the U.S. expansion of troops and continued involvement in Vietnam as the cause of heightened tension in Vietnam War.
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January 30, 1969
Note Gérard de la Villesbrunne to the Foreign Minister, 'New Interest of Western Diplomacy towards China: Hopes and Illusions'
The French Consul General in Hong Kong notes a spike in China's diplomatic activities with Western Europe, Japan, and the U.S., but concludes that China, "still concerned by internal questions, does not seem to be willing to respond to the openings of non-communist countries with as much enthusiasm as hoped for in the West."
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June 12, 1969
Note Number 760 from Geoffroy Chodron de Courcel to Michel Debré, 'Chinese Foreign Policy'
The French Ambassador in Great Britain reports new details on border clashes between China and the Soviet Union in Xinjiang-Kazakhstan, Chinese diplomacy in the Third World and with the West, and the state of Sino-British relations.