Defying Moscow: East German-Chinese relations during the Andropov-Chernenko interregnum, 1982–1985

Abstract

Using newly available East German and Chinese sources, this article sheds light on how East Germany actively defied Moscow's objections to expand relations with China in the early 1980s. Amidst increasing East German-Soviet tensions, East German leader Erich Honecker actively sought relations with China not only for reasons of prestige but also to gain a potential market for East German goods. This interest was initially reciprocated on the Chinese side, as Beijing looked towards East Germany as a leading industrial state for potential economic lessons during Deng Xiaoping's Reform and Opening Process.

Notes

¹ Stefan Wolle, DDR, (Berlin: Fischer, 2004), 93–94, Abrasimov was ambassador from 1962–1971 and 1975–1983.

² See Hope Harrison, Driving the Soviets up the Wall (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2003); Peter Grieder, The East German Leadership, 1946–1973: Conflict and Crisis (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1999).

³ National Archives and Records Administration (henceforth NARA) – CIA Crest Database, CIA-RDP85T01058R000201930001-1, ‘China-Eastern Europe: Beijing courts Moscow's Allies’, Directorate of Intelligence Report, 23.10.1985.

⁴ For an insider's account of East Berlin's motivations, see the former deputy ambassador Joachim Krüger's, ‘Zu Gast in Peking. Die DDR und die VR China in den 80er Jahren’, Paper presented by Krüger at the Freie Universität Berlin's East Asian Seminar, July 1994; East German ambassador in Beijing Helmut Liebermann had been arguing for a rapprochement with China since 1977. Author's interview with Joachim Krüger, GDR deputy ambassador to China, 1982–1984, Berlin, 10 November 2011.

⁵ Michael B. Yahuda, ‘The Significance of Tripolarity in China's Policy Toward the United States Since 1972’ in China, the United States and the Soviet Union: Tripolarity and Policy Making in the Cold War, ed. Robert S. Ross (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1993), 25–26; The Financial Times described Brezhnev's speech as ‘the most emphatic conciliatory gesture since the dispute over the border between the two nations took them to the brink of war in 1969’, Alan J. Day, China and the Soviet Union, 1949–84 (Harlow: Longman, 1985), 175.

⁶ The Chinese Foreign Ministry organised its first ever press conference on 25 March 1982 (a day after the Tashkent speech) to issue a subtle welcoming reply. See Huang Hua, Memoirs (Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 2008), 497–499.

⁷ Seweryn Bialer, The Soviet Paradox: External Expansion, Internal Decline, (New York: Random House, 1986), 83.

⁸ Day, China and the Soviet Union, 177.

⁹ NARA, CIA-RDP85T00176R001400070001-4, ‘Prospects for Sino-Soviet Rapprochement (U)’, May 1982.

¹⁰ Author's interview with Joachim Krüger, GDR deputy ambassador to China, 1982–1984, 10 November 2011.

¹¹ For example. Brezhnev urged Honecker to ‘not relent in our opposition against China's policy which runs counter to the cause of peace and international security’ in July 1979, Transcript of Honecker-Brezhnev meeting, Crimea, USSR, 27 July 1979 (excerpt), CWIHP Bulletin no. 8/9 (Winter 1996/1997): 124.

¹² The record of this meeting is composed in such a way to make no mistake about the proactive role that the SED delegation took in order to hammer home its points on the ‘backwardness’ of the Soviet Union's policies towards China. Stiftung ‘Archiv der Parteien und Massenorganisationen der DDR’ in the Bundesarchiv, Zentrales Parteiarchiv (henceforth BA-SAPMO) DY 30/ J IV 2/2A 2484 – Bericht über die Teilnahme einer Delegation des ZK der SED an der XII. Internen Chinaberatung in Sofia vom 11. bis 12. Mai 1982.

¹³ Politische Archiv des Auswärtigen Amts (henceforth PAAA) – MFAA ZR 22/87 – Interkit.

¹⁴ BA-SAPMO, DY 30/ J IV 2/2A 2484, Rede des Leiters der Delegation der SED, Genossen Bruno Mahlow, auf der XII. Internen Chinaberatung am 12. 5. 1982 in Sofia, 4.

¹⁵ BA-SAPMO, DY 30/ J IV 2/2A 2484, 3.

¹⁶ BA-SAPMO, DY 30/ J IV 2/2A 2484, 2–6.

¹⁷ The report stated Es entstand der Eindruck, dass die Bedeutung dieser Initiative des Genossen L.I. Breshnew faktisch heruntergespielt werden sollte [The impression was that the importance of Comrade L.I. Brezhnev's initiative was supposed to be actively played down] - BA-SAPMO, DY 30/ J IV 2/2A 2484, 6. In fact, months before the Interkit in Sofia took place, the ‘Tashkent line’ was widely adopted as a justification for further engagement with Beijing by Honecker and the MfAA. During an April 1982 meeting, ambassador Liebermann stated to the head of the Soviet Union/Eastern Europe section of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Yu Hongliang that ‘all socialist states supported the Tashkent line’ in fostering bilateral relations. PAAA- MFAA ZR 2563/90 – Akkreditierung v. Missionschefs DDR in VR China (Liebermann) – Vermerk über den Abschiedsbesuch des Genossen Botschafter Liebermann bei dem Leiter der Hauptabteilung Sowjetunion/Osteuropa im Aussenministerium der VR China, Yu Hongliang, am 7. April 1982.

¹⁸ The meeting was attended by representatives of the Czechoslovakian, Bulgarian, Cuban, Laotian, Mongolian, Polish, Vietnamese, and Hungarian parties. BA-SAPMO, DY 30/ J IV 2/2A 2484, 2.

¹⁹ BA-SAPMO, DY 30/ J IV 2/2A 2484, 9.

²⁰ PAAA – MFAA ZR 698/89 – Beziehungen VR China – UdSSR, 1982–86 – Haltung und Beziehungen der VR China zur Sowjetunion (Fortschreibungsinformation).

²¹ BA-SAPMO, DY 30/ J IV 2/2A 2484, 12.

²² PAAA, MFAA ZR 450/86 – Beziehungen UdSSR-VR China – Dienstbrief von Botschafter Liebermann an Leiter der Abteilung Ferner Osten, Genossen Rolf Berthold, 7 April, 1982.

²³ Entries from the diary of CPSU International Department official and top foreign policy advisor Anatoly Chernyaev regarding Soviet policy toward China, summer and fall 1982 from Anatoly Chernyaev, Sovmestnyi Iskhod. Dnevnik dvukh epokh. 1972–1991 gody. (Moscow: Rosspen, 2010) pp. 488–489, 494–499, 503, 507. Translated for CWIHP by Sergey Radchenko in James Hershberg, et al., The Interkit Story: A Window into the Final Decades of the Sino-Soviet Relationship (CWIHP Working Paper 63, February 2011), 27.

²⁴ Sergey Radchenko, Unwanted Visionaries, unfinished manuscript, 13.

²⁵ With an air of suspicion, ambassador Liebermann noted in an April 1982 telegram back to Berlin that the Soviet ambassador's briefing on China in the ‘Club of Ambassadors of Fraternal States’ in China did not take into account the Tashkent speech. PAAA, MFAA ZR 450/86 – Beziehungen UdSSR-VR China, 1980–83 – 7.4.1982, Liebermann an Berthold.

²⁶ For example, Andrei Gromyko warned Honecker and Fischer about getting too close to China in October 1984, citing opposing positions on the three obstacles. DY 30/J IV 2/2A 2695 - Niederschrift des Gespräch des Genossen Erich Honecker mit Genossen Andrej Andrejewistsch Gromyko am 8. Oktober 1984 im Hause des Zentralkomitees der SED.

²⁷ Author's interview with Joachim Krüger, GDR deputy ambassador to China, 1982–1984, Berlin, 10 November 2011.

²⁸ By September 1982, Brezhnev mumbled his Politburo statements and was in no way able to manage the Eastern European states' policy towards China. See notes of Politburo meeting, 9 September 1982, reel 16, containers 23–24, Volkogonov papers, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

²⁹ For a revealing account by the foreign minister Huang Hua on the new hope created by Andropov's rise to power for Sino-Soviet relations, as well as the subsequent failure by both sides to reach any sort of meaningful agreement on bilateral issues towards normalisation see Huang Hua, Huanghua Huiyilu (Beijing: Shijiezhishi chubanshe, 2007).

³⁰ Radchenko, Unwanted Visionaries, unfinished manuscript, 16.

³¹ Anatoly Chernyaev, Sovmestnyi Iskhod. Dnevnik dvukh epokh. 1972–1991 gody (Moscow: Rosspen, 2010) 488–9, 494–9, 503, 507. Translated for CWIHP by Sergey Radchenko in James Hershberg, et al., The Interkit Story, 23.

³² PAAA, MFAA ZR 46/87 – Abberatung Botschafter Chen Tung – Vermerk über ein Gespräch des Generalsekretärs des Zentralkinutees der SED und Vorsitzenden des Staatsrates der DDR, Genossen Erich Honecker mit dem Botschafter der Volksrepublik China in der DDR, Genossen Chen Tung, am 30.04.1982 bei seinem Abschiedsbesuch.

³³ PAAA, MFAA ZR 47/87 – Akkreditierung/Antrittsbesuche Li Qianfen – Vermerk über ein Gespräch des Ministers für Auswärtige Angelegenheiten der DDR, Genosse Oskar Fischer, mit dem Botschafter der VR China in der DDR, Li Qianfen, am 18.9.1982 bei seinem Antrittsbesuch.

³⁴ Author's interview with Liu Qibao, political secretary in PRC embassy in Berlin 1979–1989. Beijing, 13 March 2012.

³⁵ Benno-Eide Siebs, Die Aussenpolitik Der DDR 1976–1989: Strategien Und Grenzen, (Paderborn: Schöningh, 1999), 238–289.

³⁶ A. James McAdams, Germany Divided: From the Wall to Reunification (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1993), 147.

³⁷ Siebs, Die Aussenpolitik Der DDR, 239.

³⁸ Hans-Hermann Hertle, Konrad H. Jarausch, eds., Risse im Bruderbund – Die Gespräche Honecker-Breshnew 1974 bis 1982 (Berlin: Christoph Links Verlag, 2006), 46–52.

³⁹ Siebs, Die Aussenpolitik Der DDR, 38.

⁴⁰ Honecker started pursuing a Koalition der Vernunft or ‘Coalition of Reason’ with West Germany in order to keep inter-German relations from deteriorating amidst renewed superpower tensions. Hannes Adomeit, Imperial Overstretch: Germany in Soviet Policy from Stalin to Gorbachev (Baden-Baden: Nomos, 1998), 153–60.

⁴¹ Bialer, The Soviet Paradox, 57–88.

⁴² Author's interview with Joachim Krüger, GDR deputy ambassador to China, 1982–1984. Berlin, 10 November 2011.

⁴³ PAAA MFAA ZR 2283/83 – Leiterbriefe an Peking – 1980–81.

⁴⁴ PAAA MFAA ZR 656/89 – Konzeption Gestaltung Beziehungen DDR-VR China 1981–85 –Orientierung für die Gestaltung der Beziehungen der DDR mit der VR China im Jahre 1982, 06.11.1981, 1.

⁴⁵ PAAA MFAA ZR 464/86 – Studienaufenthalt Mitarbeiter Abt. IV/ ZK d. SED In VR China – Bericht über den Studienaufenthalt der Genossen Horst Siebeck und Helmut Ettinger von 4. bis 26. 3. 1982 in der VR China.

⁴⁶ PAAA, MFAA ZR 2432/90 – Leiterbriefe von AV u GK, 1981-1988 - Berthold and Krolikowski, 25 August, 1982.

⁴⁷ PAAA MFAA ZR 658/89 – Jahresbeziehungsberichte DDR-VR China – Jahresbeziehungsbericht 1983, 1.

⁴⁸ Qian Qichen made a point to stress to the GDR embassy after the meeting that the Chinese government was interested in expanding bilateral relations in 1984. PAAA MfAA ZR 2588/90 – Für Sonderinformation 13.12.1983.

⁴⁹ PAAA MFAA ZR 658/89 – Jahresbeziehungsberichte DDR-VR China – Jahresbeziehungsbericht 1983, 4.

⁵⁰ In February of 1985, the third secretary of the GDR embassy Dietmar Schulze complained directly to Wang Yingxu of the Renmin Ribao about an article where West Berlin had been referred to as part of ‘Germany’. Renmin Ribao subsequently published a correction. PAAA MFAA ZR 2556/90 – Journalistische Beziehungen DDR-VR Ch – Vermerk über ein Gespräch in der Redaktion der ‘Renmin Ribao’ am 14.2.1985. Similar efforts were taken by other members of the embassy - PAAA MFAA ZR 2556/90 – Journalistische Beziehungen DDR-VR Ch – Aktennotiz über unkorrekte Veröffentlichungen in den chinesischen Massenmedien zur DDR, BRD und Westberlin und dazu erfolgte Massnahmen der Botschaft; The deputy ambassador Joachim Krüger reiterated the GDR's wish to be referred to in a correct manner at his arrival in Beijing, whispering into Huang Hua's ear that he was a ‘Representative of the German Democratic Republic’ after he was introduced as being from Dongde by Huang Hua's translator. Author's interview with Joachim Krüger, GDR Deputy Ambassador to China, 1980-83, Berlin, 5 August 2011.

⁵¹ Original text: ‘为照顾民主德国的意见，今后我翻译德意志民主共和国人民的’人民’一词时，德文应译为’Volk’（本义是’人民’），而不以为’Bevölkerung’（居民的意思), 其他语种翻译中也请注意到这个问题.’ Shandong Provincial Archives, A029-06-0721-028 － Waijiaobu [Foreign Ministry] － Guanyu dui Minzhudeguorenmin de ‘renmin’ yicidewenyifade tongzhi [Notice on how to refer to the ‘people’ of the GDR], 10.10.1984.

⁵² Gromyko was recounting a meeting with the Chinese foreign minister Wu Xueqian, where both disagreed on essentially every issue they discussed. For example, Wu expressed support for Japan's territorial claims over the Kurile islands which was met by Gromyko's response that ‘if there were divergences only on this topic, normalisation would be difficult.’ On the questions of Soviet troop withdrawal from Mongolia and the withdrawal of Soviet support for Vietnam, Gromyko concluded that ‘no common language could be found’ (keine gemeinsame Sprache war möglich). BA-SAPMO, DY 30/ J IV 2/2A 2678 – Niederschrift des Gespräch des Genossen Erich Honecker mit Genossen Andrej Andrejewitstsch Gromyko am 8. Oktober 1984 im Hause des Zentralkomittees der SED.

⁵³ BA-SAPMO, DY 30/ J IV 2/2A 2678 – Niederschrift des Gespräch des Genossen Erich Honecker mit Genossen Andrej Andrejewitstsch Gromyko am 8. Oktober 1984 im Hause des Zentralkomittees der SED.

⁵⁴ BA-SAPMO, DY 30/J IV 2/2A 2679 – Vermerke über Gespräche des Generalsekretärs des ZK der SED und Vorsitzenden des Staatsrates der DDR, Genossen Erich Honecker, mit ausländischen Delegationsleiter anlässlich des 40. Jahrestages der antifaschistischen und antiimperialistischen Revolution der nationalen und sozialien Befreiung des rumänischen Volkes.

⁵⁵ The official Politburo report states that the visit could not take place due to the FRG's stance on the GDR's sovereignty. The same file contains a draft of the presumptive positive results which would have been circulated if the visit had taken place. The report's predictive issuances of common guarantees for peace in Europe between Honecker and Kohl leave little doubt as to how far ahead the planning for this trip went and how much the East German leader sought this engagement with Bonn. BA-SAPMO, DY 30/ J IV 2/2A 2673 – ‘Gemeinsame Erklärung über den Besuch des Generalsekretärs des Zentralkomitees der Sozialistischen Einheitspartei Deutschlands und Vorsitzenden des Staatsrates der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik, Erich Honecker, in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland vom …bis…’

⁵⁶ In the studies covering this topic, there is scant or no mention of economic considerations as a driving force in the improvement of bilateral relations. See, Werner Meissner, ed., Die DDR und China 1949 bis 1990: Politik, Wirtschaft, Kultur: Eine Quellensammlung (Berlin: Akademie, 1995); Joachim Krüger, ‘Lu Gast in Peking, Die DDR und VR China in den 80er Jahren’ Welttrends, 2(1994b): 133–144. The findings in this article were also reproduced in a condensed form in Joachim Krüger, Die Volksrepublik China in der aussenpolitischen Strategie der DDR, 1949–1989 in Deutschland und China – Beiträge des Zweiten Internationalen Symposiums zur Geschichte der deutsch-chinesischen Beziehungen Berlin 1991, ed., Kuo Heng-yü and Mechthild Leutner (Munich: Minerva, 1991); Claudie Gardet, Les Relations de la Republique populaire de Chine et de la republique democratique allemande, 1949–1989 (Bern: Peter Lang, 2000).

⁵⁷ Evidence shows that East Berlin was very good at concealing its economic woes to the outside world. Thus, even Gorbachev admired East German economic and technological achievements and was ready to accept at face value Honecker's progress reports about the GDR's achievements in microelectronics, computer technology etc. See Adomeit, Imperial Overstretch, 12; In China, extremely positive reporting on East German ‘efficiency’ certainly added to the image that the GDR was a model worth emulating. See for example the report in Gongren Ribao, ‘Baozheng pingheng jingji fazhan – Minzhudeguo Yinxiang’, 22.05.1985. In the article, the MfAA-invited reporter enthusiastically recounted that ‘adherence to punctuality’ in the GDR had led to a 90% increase in labour productivity in 1984.

⁵⁸ ‘China/Eastern Europe: Improving Relations’, Oxford Analytica Daily Brief Service, 1 September 1986.

⁵⁹ Author's interview with Wu Derong, commercial secretary in the PRC embassy to the GDR, 1982–1989, Beijing, 2 April 2012; Interview with Liu Qibao, political secretary in the PRC embassy to the GDR, 1979–1988, Beijing, 11 May 2012.

⁶⁰ Author's interview with Wu Derong, commercial secretary in the PRC embassy to the GDR, 1982–1989. Beijing, 2 April 2012.

⁶¹ PAAA MFAA, ZR 556/88 – Wirtschaft und WTZ DDR-China. To illustrate the exchange of inferior goods as well as the relative lethargy of trade amongst Eastern European countries, Hungarian economists had characterised inter-COMECON trade in the 1980s as ‘trading dead cats for dead dogs’. Adomeit, Imperial Overstretch, 145.

⁶² Honecker's negative assessment of Beijing's reforms was almost certainly informed by his men on the ground. As early as 1981, ambassador Liebermann had described the aspirations of the ‘Reform and Opening’ programme as unrealistic. Attacking the central tenet of Deng's reforms, Liebermann noted that Beijing's present orientation to keep a relatively high development tempo in an atmosphere of economic regulation had proven ‘unrealistic’. PAAA, MFAA ZR 2284/83 – Leiterbriefe aus Peking – 1980–81, Liebermann an Krolikowski, 10 Mar. 1981 During an extended study tour of China in the spring of 1982, Horst Siebeck and Helmut Ettinger, both members of the International Department of the SED CC, reiterated similar observations. Both observed the lack of forthcoming solutions for the many development, population, housing, and unemployment problems that China faced. Both also stressed that the ideological and political dangers of continued adoption of market reforms and cooperation with the imperialist camp were being underestimated. PAAA MFAA ZR 464/86 – Studienaufenthalt Mitarbeiter Abt. IV/ ZK d. SED In VR China – Bericht über den Studienaufenthalt der Genossen Horst Siebeck und Helmut Ettinger von 4. bis 26. 3. 1982 in der VR China, 4.

⁶³ PAAA, MFAA ZR 466/86 – WTZ DDR-VR China, 1982- Direktive über die Beratung zur Vereinbarung der Theme für die wissentschaftlich-technischen Beziehungen der DDR und der VR China in den Jahren 1982–83, Peking, 17.-21. Mai 1982.

⁶⁴ Niu Jun, Zhonghuarenmingongheguo duiwaiguanxigailun, 1949–90 (Beijing: Beijingdaxuechubanshe, 2010), 278–9. In April 1984, ambassador Rolf Berthold sent back a sobering assessment that only around 7% of China's total trade was being conducted with socialist states. PAAA, MFAA ZR 2440/90 – Analysen der internationalen Lage und des inter. KV, 1983–88 – Rolle und Platz der VR China in der internationalen Auseinandersetzung.

⁶⁵ Markus Taube, ‘Economic Relations between the PRC and the States of Europe’, The China Quarterly, 169 (March, 2002): 78–107.

⁶⁶ PAAA, MFAA ZR 558/88 – Aussenhandelstruktur Ex-und Import DDR-VR China, 1981–85 – Abschlussbericht über die Verhandlungen zum Jahresabkommen zwischen der Regierung der DDR und der Regierung der VR China über den Warenaustausch und Zahlungsverkehr im Jahre 1982, 31 May 1982.

⁶⁷ PAAA, MFAA ZR 558/88 – Aussenhandelstruktur Ex-und Import DDR-VR China, 1981–85 – Information über die Ergebnisse der Verhandlungen mit der Volksrepublik China zum Handels- und Zahlungsabkommen 1983.

⁶⁸ To make matters worse, GDR diplomats and officials in the MfAA knew that Sino-GDR trade volumes were relatively low, even compared to other Eastern European countries. In April 1983, ambassador Berthold already remarked that the GDR was, after Rumania, the USSR, North Korea, Cuba, and Poland, in sixth place in terms of trade volume amongst China's socialist trading partners. PAAA, MfAA ZR 2432/90 – Leiterbriefe von AV u GK, 1981-1988 - Berthold an Krolikowski, 25 August 1982 – Berthold an Krolikowski, 11 April 1983.

⁶⁹ PAAA, MFAA ZR 2557/90 – AI-Arbeit in China (Analyse, Prognose, Plannung), Xinhua an Abt. Journalsitische Beziehungen, 22.10.1984.

⁷⁰ Author's interview with Wu Derong, 2 April 2012 in Beijing.

⁷¹ ‘Deyizhiminzhugongheguogaikuang’, 06.1985 (Internal Report by the PRC embassy in the GDR, obtained by author from Wu Derong), 3.

⁷² Adomeit, Imperial Overstretch, 159.

⁷³ This happened in 1983 for example, as the Chinese Ministry for Foreign Commerce and Trade submitted a detailed list containing almost exclusively light industrial supplies, PAAA MFAA ZR 658/89 – Jahresbeziehungsberichte DDR-VR China – Jahresbeziehungsbericht 1983, 6.

⁷⁴ Deng made trailblazing trips to Japan in 1978 and the US in 1979 to send home a loud and clear message that China should embrace foreign technologies and learn from foreign experiences. While touring carmaker Nissan's Zama plant in Japan, Deng marvelled at assembly lines where robots replaced human hands. He immediately sent study missions to Japan to try to learn not only production techniques but also management philosophy. See Ezra Vogel, Deng Xiaooping and the Transformation of China (Cambridge: Belknap Press of HUP, 2011), 307–308.

⁷⁵ Polish ambassador Burski recounted numerous learning missions visiting Poland in the early 1980s. Statements during the conference ‘The Rise of the Multipolar World: China and Europe During the Last Decades of the Cold War, 1960–1980’, Palermo, 30 June 2012.

⁷⁶ Statements from ambassador Bai Shoumian, ‘Proceedings of ETH Conference, 24–26 March 2004’ in Xiaoyuan Liu and Vojtech Mastny, eds., China and Eastern Europe, 1960s–1980s (Zurich: Zűrcher Beiträge, Nr. 72, 2004), 157.

⁷⁷ Author's interview with Wu Derong, 2 April 2012 in Beijing; Author's interview with Shen Guoliang, deputy military attaché in the PRC embassy in East Berlin from 1979–1982, and military attaché from 1983–1988, 9 April 2012 in Beijing.

⁷⁸ PAAA, MFAA ZR 467/86 – WTZ DDR-VR China, 1983 – Betreuerbericht über den Besuch einer Delegation aus der VR China, 19.04-29.04.83.

⁷⁹ PAAA, MFAA ZR 467/86 – WTZ DDR-VR China, 1983 – Betreuerbericht über den Besuch einer Delegation aus der VR China, 19.04-29.04.83.

⁸⁰ This attitude is displayed by provincial study missions visiting the GDR as well. Shandong Provincial Archives, A056-10-1983-0404-045 － Zhonggongshandongshengweizuzhibu – tongyi (mutu) xiuminfu minzhudeguo zhixin kaocha, 02.11.1983; Shandong Provincial Archives, A196-01-0160-001 – Guojiayiyaogualijv – Guanyu jiedai minzhudeguokaochazu detongzhi, 04.04.1984.

⁸¹ PAAA, MFAA ZR 467/86 – WTZ DDR-VR China, Information über ein Gespräch mit dem Botschafter der Volksrepublik China in der DDR, Li Qianfen, 6.7.1983.

⁸² PAAA, MFAA ZR 556/88 – Wirtschaft und wissenschaftliche, technische Zusammenarbeit DDR-VR China, 1984 – Notiz über ein Informationsgespräch mit Vertretern der Staatlichen wirtschaftskomission am 24.01.1984, 1.

⁸³ Author's interview with Wu Derong, 2 April 2012 in Beijing.

⁸⁴ PAAA, MFAA ZR 556/88 – Wirtschaft und wissenschaftliche, technische Zusammenarbeit DDR-VR China, 1984 – Notiz über ein Informationsgespräch mit Vertretern der Staatlichen wirtschaftskomission am 24.01.1984, 2.

⁸⁵ PAAA, MFAA ZR 556/88 – Wirtschaft und wissenschaftliche, technische Zusammenarbeit DDR-VR China, 1984 – Fragen, für die sich die Delegation der VR China besonders interessierte, 1.

⁸⁶ PAAA, MFAA ZR 556/88 – Wirtschaft und wissenschaftliche, technische Zusammenarbeit DDR-VR China, 1984, Bericht über den Aufenthalt der Studiendelegation der Staatichen Plankommission der VR China in der DDR, 3 September, 1984, 4.

⁸⁷ Xu visted the VEB Werkzeugmaschinenkombinat ‘Fritz Heckert’ Karl-Marx Stadt, VEB Kombinat ‘Fortschritt’ Landmaschinen Neustadt, VEB Kombinat EAW ‘Friedrich Ebert’ Berlin, VEB Kombinat Baukema Leipzig, VEB Kobinat Rundfunk und Fernsehen Staufurt, VEB Kobinat Getreidewirtschaft Halle, VEB Wohunungsbaukombinat Berlin, VEB Kombinat Maschinenbauhandel Berlin, PAAA, MFAA ZR 556/88 – Wirtschaft und wissenschaftliche, technische Zusammenarbeit DDR-VR China, 1984, Bericht über den Aufenthalt der Studiendelegation der Staatichen Plankommission der VR China in der DDR, 3 September, 1984, Anlage 1.

⁸⁸ Jussi Hanhimäki and Odd Arne Westad, eds., The Cold War: A History in Documents and Eyewitness Accounts, (Oxford: OUP, 2003), Document 17.3 ‘The Chinese Capitalist Revolution’ – Deng Xiaoping's remarks to his Central Committee colleagues in February 1984.

⁸⁹ Although Zhao touched on strategic themes, his primary emphasis was on trade and technology issues during his visits to the United Kingdom, West Germany, and the Netherlands. See NARA-CIARDP85T01058R000201690001-8 – ‘China: Premier Zhao's Visit to Western Europe’ – 23 July 1985.

⁹⁰ PAAA, MFAA ZR 556/88 – Wirtschaft und wissenschaftliche, technische Zusammenarbeit DDR-VR China, 1984 – Information über die Beratung mit einer Wirtschaftsdelegation der VR China, 18.4.1984.

⁹¹ PAAA MFAA ZR 663/89 – Reise Staatssekretär und 1. Stellvertreter des Ministers, Gen Krolikowski nach China – Direktive für die Gespräche des Staatssekretärs und 1. Stellvertreter des Ministers für Auswärtige Angelegenheiten der DDR, Genossen Dr. Herbert Krolikowski, im April 1984 in der Volksrepublik China, 3-7. A report by the GDR embassy in Beijing also noted that in exchanges with Chinese government officials, they were mostly asked about the GDR experience of industrial combines and other related industrial experience, PAAA, MFAA, ZR 2557/90 – AJ-Arbeit in VR China (Analyse, Prognose, Planung), 1984-89 – Bericht über die auslandsinformatorische Arbeit im Jahre 1986.

⁹² ‘Deyizhiminzhugongheguogaikuang’, 06.1985 (Internal Report by the PRC Embassy in the GDR, obtained by author from Wu Derong), 7.

⁹³ BA-SAPMO, DY 30/ J IV 2/2A 2660 – Niederschrift über das Treffen zwischen Genossen K.U. Tschernenko und Genossen E. Honecker am 14. Juni 1984 in Moskau.

⁹⁴ BA-SAPMO, DY 30/ J IV 2/2A 2660.

⁹⁵ Hope Harrison, Driving the Soviets up the Wall (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2003).

⁹⁶ Gerard Segal, ‘Sino-Soviet Détente: The long and winding road’, Journal of Communist Studies, 1:1 (1985): 21–33.

⁹⁷ East German ‘crown-prince’ Egon Krenz called the Tiananmen protestors ‘counterrevolutionary’ in a September 1989 visit while Yao Yilin vowed to ‘stand fast at the side of the GDR’ in October 1989. BA-SAPMO, DY 30 J IV 2/2A3247 – Vermerk über das Gespräch des Generalsekretärs des ZK der KP Chinas, Genossen Jiang Zemin, mit Genossen Egon Krenz am 26. September 1989 in Peking; PAAA, MFAA – 2495/90 – Besuch Mitgl. St. A. PB ZK KP Chinas, Stellv. Ministerpräs. VR Ch, Yao Yilin, in DDR – 1989 – Bericht über den offiziellen Freundschaftsbesuch und die Teilnahme an den Feierlichkeiten anlässlich des 40. Jahrestages der Gründung der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik einer Partei- und Regierungsdelegation der Volksrepublik China unter Leitung des Mitglieds des Ständigen Auschusses des Politbüros des Zentralkomitees der Kommunistischen Partei Chinas und stellvertretenden Ministerpräsidenten des Staatsrates der Volksrepublik China, Genossen Yao Yilin, in der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik vom 2. Bis 9. Oktober 1989.