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This book provides an in-depth and very lively analysis of relations between China and the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from 1949 to 1989. It is the first and only comprehensive and detailed analysis of East German-Chinese ties and interactions in English. Chinese-East German relations, which over the decades have experienced some "highs" but many more "lows". " Low points came to the fore in the early 1960s when the Soviet Union ordered its vassal state in East Berlin to treat its former socialist comrade and brother-in-arms in Beijing as an adversary and even an enemy. In fact, the "Sino-Soviet split" ensured that until the late 1980s East Berlin and Beijing were more likely to talk about each other than to talk to each other.
The second revised and extended edition of the book draws on a wealth of East German archival material. These include documents and reports from the archives of the GDR's ruling Socialist Unity Party (SED), the notorious East German Ministry of State Security (Stasi), and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Together with extensive secondary literature and almost everything that was ever written about China in East German newspapers from the 1950s to 1990, this book examines selected issues and areas of East German and Chinese domestic and foreign policy, placing policies and interactions in their historical context. It offers very detailed and well-documented insights into the following aspects: 1. the bilateral "honeymoon period" from 1949 to the late 1950s, during which both sides supported and applauded each other's oppressive domestic economic policies, including Mao's Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution; 2. the 1960s, when the "Sino-Soviet split" determined the quality and level of bilateral interactions and tensions; 3. the 1970s, when Beijing replaced socialist comradeship with East Berlin with trade and aid from the US and Germany; and 4. the resumption of bilateral relations in the 1980s. The 1970s, when Beijing replaced socialist comradeship with East Berlin with trade and aid from the US and West Germany; and 4. The resumption of Sino-German relations in the 1980s and the subsequent period up to the Tiananmen Square protests and the collapse of the GDR in 1989. The book will appeal to historians, political scientists and international relations scholars, as well as policymakers and diplomats interested in this under-researched area.
List of contents
Relations from 1949 to the late 1950s and the beginning of Mao's Great Leap Forward.- Late 1950 (end of China's Great Leap Forward) until 1963 and the 'Sino-Soviet Split'.- Mid-1960 until the very early 1980s and the resumption of Sino-East German relations.- The 1980s until Tiananmen and the Collapse of the GDR in 1989.
About the author
Axel Berkofsky is Associate Professor at the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the University of Pavia, Italy. He is the University of Pavia’s Delegate for Asia and the Asia-Pacific Region. Furthermore, Dr. Berkofsky is Co-Head of the Asia Centre at the Milan-based Istituto per gli Studi di Politica Internazionale (ISPI) and Research Affiliate at the European Institute of Japanese Studies at the Stockholm School of Economics. Furthermore, he is co-founder and Executive Committee Board Member at the Stockholm-based European Japan Advanced Research Network (EJARN) and Member of the Executive Committee of the Canon Foundation. Previously, Dr. Berkofsky has worked as Senior Policy Analyst and Senior Associate Policy Analyst at the Brussels-based European Policy Centre (EPC) and Senior Research Fellow at the Brussels-based European Institute for Asian Studies (EIAS). He has published books, numerous journal articles, essays, research papers and newspaper articles and is former freelance correspondent for the Asia Times. Axel has taught and lectured at numerous think tanks, research institutes and universities in Europe and Asia. His research interests are Chinese history, Cold War Politics and History in Asia, Japanese Chinese foreign and security policies and EU-China/EU-Japan relations.
