Constructing ‘Peaceful Coexistence’: China's Diplomacy toward the Geneva and Bandung Conferences, 1954–55

Abstract

In the heyday of the Cold War, China remained confrontational toward the United States and other Western powers but at the same time seemed conciliatory toward Asian nations. This was largely reflected in Beijing's diplomacy of ‘peaceful coexistence’ and ‘united front’ at the Geneva and Bandung conferences. Based on recently declassified archives and material in China and probing into the insights of China's foreign policy calculations in the mid-1950s, this article argues that, through actively participating in multilateral diplomacy, the Chinese leaders expected to construct an image of a ‘normal state’ and play a leading role in normalizing international politics in Asia.

Notes

 [1] Mao Zedong Waijiao Wenxuan, 291.

 [2] Chang, Friends and Enemies; Zhang, Deterrence and Strategic Culture; and Chen, Mao's China and the Cold War.

 [3] Wendt, “Anarchy Is What States Make of It”.

 [4] In the spirit of ‘transparency’, the Chinese foreign ministry archives have been declassifying diplomatic papers of the 1950s. The very recent one, covering through the early 1960s, took place in April 2006.

 [5] CCP, Zhou Enlai Waijiao Wenxuan, 58.

 [6] Ibid., 58.

 [7] Zhang, Deterrence and Strategic Culture, 15–16.

 [8] Mao Zedong Waijiao Wenxuan, 159–62.

 [9] CCP, Zhou Enlai Waijiao Wenxuan, 59–61.

[10] Mao Zedong Waijiao Wenxuan, 159–62.

[11] CCP, Zhou Enlai Waijiao Wenxuan, 61.

[12] Ibid., 62.

[13] Ibid., 101.

[14] Ibid., 58–61.

[15] Ibid., 81. For the Western embargo against China and China's counter efforts, see Zhang, Economic Cold War.

[16] Mao Zedong Waijiao Wenxuan, 160.

[17] Ibid., 161.

[18] Ibid., 163.

[19] Ibid., 167.

[20] CCP, Zhou Enlai Waijiao Wenxuan, 63.

[21] Mao Zedong Waijiao Wenxuan , 165.

[22] Waijiaobu Dang'an Guang (Foreign Ministry Archives, Beijing, China), K113-00162, 8 October 1953.

[23] Foreign Ministry Archives, K109-00396-01, 17 February 1954; K109-00396-01, 2 March 1954; also see Han, Dangdai Zhongguo Waijio, 64–5.

[24] Jing, Zhou Enlai Zhuan, 1112–14.

[25] CCP, Zhou Enlai Nianpu, 355.

[26] Foreign Ministry Archives, 206-Y0054, 7 April 1954; also see Shi, Zai Lishi Juren Shengbian , 539–41.

[27] Foreign Ministry Archives, 105-Y062, 19 April 1954.

[28] CCP, Zhou Enlai Nianpu, 361.

[29] Keith, The Diplomacy of Zhou Enlai, 62.

[30] CCP, Zhou Enlai Waijiao Wenxuan, 70.

[31] Foreign Ministry Archives, 206-Y049, 26 April 1954.

[32] CCP, Zhou Enlai Nianpu, 362.

[33] Foreign Ministry Archives, 206-Y049, 30 April 1954; 206-Y0049, 14 May 1954.

[34] Foreign Ministry Archives, 206-Y049, 17 May 1954.

[35] Foreign Ministry Archives, 206-Y050, 6 June 1954, 13 June 1954, and 17 June 1954.

[36] Foreign Ministry Archives, 206-Y049, 12 May, 13 May, and 15 May.

[37] Foreign Ministry Archives, 206-Y0049, 30 May 1954; also see Central Division of Archives, Zhou Enlai Nianpu, 365–6.

[38] Foreign Ministry Archives, 206-Y0050, 1 June, 3 June, 4 June, 5 June, 7 June, 10 June, and 11 June 1954.

[39] CCP, Zhou Enlai Nianpu, 365–78. Also see Foreign Ministry Archives, 206-Y049, 1 May 1954; 206-Y0050, 17 June 1954.

[40] Foreign Ministry Archives, 206-Y050, 14 June 1954.

[41] Foreign Ministry Archives, 206-Y0007, 23 June 1954.

[42] CCP, Zhou Enlai Nianpu, 394–5; Foreign Ministry Archives, 206-Y0055, 4 July 1954.

[43] CCP, Zhou Enlai Nianpu, 395.

[44] Foreign Ministry Archives, 206-Y0054, 10 July 1954.

[45] CCP, Zhou Enlai Nianpu, 397; Foreign Ministry Archives, 206-Y0005, 12 July 1954; 206-Y0054, 14 July 1954.

[46] Xiao, Wushinian Guoshi Jiyao, 125.

[47] CCP, Zhou Enlai Nianpu, 395.

[48] Shi, Zai Lishi Juren Shengbian, 563–4.

[49] CCP, Zhou Enlai Nianpu, 395.

[50] Jing, Zhou Enlai Zhuan, 1147.

[51] Xiao, Wushinian Guoshi Jiyao, 126.

[52] Jing, Zhou Enlai Zhuan, 1149.

[53] CCP, Zhou Enlai Nianpu, 390–93.

[54] Ibid., 393–4.

[55] Ibid., 405.

[56] Zhang, Deterrence and Strategic Culture, 193.

[57] CCP, Zhou Enlai Nianpu, 406; Xiao, Wushinian Guoshi Jiyao, 153.

[58] CCP, Zhou Enlai Nianpu, 412.

[59] Ibid., 412.

[60] Mao Zedong Waijiao Wenxuan, 164–76.

[61] Ibid., 177–96.

[62] Ibid., 164–5.

[63] CCP, Zhou Enlai Nianpu, 421.

[64] Ibid., 430.

[65] U Nu orally extended the invitation while meeting with Zhou Enlai on 2 December 1954, and Indonesian ambassador to Beijing formally submitted the invitation on 22 January 1955 and Zhou accepted it. Ibid., 428 and 442–3.

[66] Ibid., 448.

[67] Jing, Zhou Enlai Zhuan, 1158–9.

[68] Ibid., 1157–8.

[69] CCP, Zhou Enlai Nianpu, pp. 460-461.

[70] CCP, Zhou Enlai Waijiao Wenxuan, 112–63; Jing, Zhou Enlai Zhuan, 1165–76.

[71] CCP, Zhou Enlai Nianpu, 474.

[72] CCP, Zhou Enlai Waijiao Wenxuan, 134.

[73] CCP, Zhou Enlai Nianpu, 474–5.

[74] Ibid., 475.

[75] Ibid., 475–6.

[76] Ibid.

[77] Mao Zedong Waijiao Wenxuan, 263–74.

[78] Han, Dangdai Zhongguo Waijiao, 477.

[79] Wendt, “Anarchy Is What States Make of It”, 424–5.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Shu Guang Zhang

Shu Guang Zhang is distinguished visiting professor at Shanghai International Studies University and professor of international history at the University of Maryland. He is author of Deterrence and Strategic Culture: Chinese–American Confrontations, 1949–58, Mao's Military Romanticism: China and the Korean War, 1950–53, and Economic Cold War: America's Embargo against China and the Sino-Soviet Alliance, 1949–1963. He also co-edited Chinese Communist Foreign Policy and the Cold War in Asia.