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February 14, 1962

Cable from the Chinese Embassy in Romania, 'Summary Report on Romania’s Attitude towards Us [China]'

Ministry of Foreign Affairs Incoming Telegram

[…]

Summary Report on Romania’s Attitude towards Us [China]

To the Foreign Ministry:

According to our observations of recent diplomatic activities, newspaper articles, and information reported by our students in Romania, Romania is still watching the development of the Sino-Soviet Split. The Romanian attitude toward us is sometimes good and sometimes bad, but the general attitude is still bad.

A cold attitude has been the main attitude from Romanians. On the 22nd [of February] our military attaché held a movie banquet and invited military personnel in Romania as well as military attaché from the fraternal countries’ embassies. The foreign office in the Romanian Ministry of Defense blocked our invitation and only dispatched six officials to our banquet. Our students had a vacation outside Bucharest during the winter holiday, and the local government blocked our students from attending entertainment activities that they had planned for all other students during the vacation. 

However, Romania also recently made some friendly gestures toward us. The central newspapers in Romania have all reported on the activities celebrating the 12th anniversary of the signing of the Sino-Soviet Friendship, Alliance, and Mutual Assistance Treaty, with considerable coverage. The Scînteia has also covered some news on our economic construction. The negotiation of the 1962 implementation plan of the Sino-Romanian cultural cooperation agreement went smoothly. At the signing, the Romanian side was represented by one deputy minister from both the foreign affairs and cultural and educational departments, and one vice-chairman from the cultural association, among others. This indicates the seriousness of the agreement. Recently, our branch has invited the directors of the industry and agriculture departments of the Scînteia to introduce the industrial situation in Romania.

Romania's attitude towards us is mainly due to concerns about a further split with us. Meanwhile, the fact that Romania does not fully understand the Soviet Union's attitude in Sino-Soviet relations and the disagreements within the Romanian party on the attitude towards us are also very important reasons for this attitude. According to Hu Nairen, a student of ours in Romania, one of his old classmates (now working in the New Technology Committee under the Romanian Council of Ministers) said that a member of the Romanian Workers' Party Politburo attacked Albania in a report at a meeting of the Council of Ministers for not wanting peaceful coexistence and wanting to take advantage in trade with fraternal countries. However, he did not involve China. Later, when someone asked about China, he said that Sino-Soviet relations could get better or worse and Romania still needs to wait and see. Therefore it has not been widely conveyed to the public. According to Hu's old classmate, he said that according to a friend of his in Cluj, there are also disagreements among the Central Committee of the Romanian Party, and even among the members of the Politburo, on the attitude towards us. It seems that there is some basis for this rumor.

On February 16th, at a reception held by the Bulgarian Embassy for the arrival of its military attaché, the Romanian generals were very cold to our military attaché. However, General Alexandru Paraschivu, Chairman of the Defense Volunteer Association, was very enthusiastic. Despite everyone else's attention, he loudly stated: "I understand the Chinese comrades very well, the dark clouds will pass." Obviously, he dared to make such a public statement because something was backing up his position.

 

[Chinese] Embassy in Romania

February 24, 1962

The Chinese Embassy reports that Romania's attitudes towards China continue to shift between hot and cold.


Document Information

Source

PRC FMA, 109-03832-01, 2-3.

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Original Uploaded Date

2024-06-25

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Cable

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Record ID

300833