The Breakdown of Relations

This chapter examines the breakdown in relations between Albania and China. From a theoretical perspective, it is concluded that the Albanian-Chinese partnership was a classic case of an asymmetrical relationship between a small state and a great power. According to realist logic, this alliance continued only as long as the strategic interests of the two countries coincided. The differences between Albania and China first emerged in their relationship with the USSR after the fall of Nikita Khrushchev: Albania continued to maintain its opposition to the USSR, while China sought (without success) to pursue strategic de-escalation with the new Soviet leadership under Leonid Brezhnev. The 1969 meeting between Zhou Enlai and Alexei Kosygin in Beijing was condemned by Tirana as an ideological compromise with “Soviet revisionism.” The chapter states that relations between Albania and China deteriorated after US President Richard Nixon’s visit to Beijing in 1972. Albania openly expressed dissatisfaction with the new Chinese policy toward the United States. The conflict also took an ideological form, as Albania qualified China’s “Theory of the Three Worlds” as revisionist. As a result, China initially reduced economic aid and loans to Albania. In 1978, the Chinese government terminated all economic, technical, and military agreements with Albania and removed its specialists from Albania. Albania reacted with official denunciations.