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 China |  Yugoslavia |
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China–Yugoslavia relations were historical foreign relations betweenChina and the formerSocialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Upon the creation of thePeople's Republic of China (PRC), Yugoslav communists were quite elated and provided diplomatic support for the emergent government led by theChinese Communist Party.[1] During the initial phases of theCold War, China was very critical towards Yugoslavia's perceivedliberalism, lack of antagonism with theWestern Bloc andTito'smarket socialism. Due to these disagreements, the Chinese communists denounced their Yugoslav counterparts asrevisionists.Mao Zedong, the Chairman of the PRC, launched a scathing attack on Tito's policies, claiming that Yugoslavia had joined the capitalist bloc and had abandoned socialism.[2] Mao would denounce Tito as having strayed fromMarxism–Leninism and basing his ideology on imperialism.[2] Yugoslav communists in turn criticized theChinese Communist Party's dogmatic and orthodox version of communism.
However, by the end of the 1960s, the relations significantly improved due to the fallout of theSino-Albanian split. With Albania having denounced both Yugoslavia and China, the two countries formed a good working relationship which continued till the acrimoniousbreakup of Yugoslavia.[3][4] Yugoslavia maintained a robust partnership with China, especially in diplomacy and technology. In the 1980sDeng Xiaoping's foreign policy resembled Yugoslavia's stance of being non-aligned and non-confrontational, accompanied withHu Yaobang’s 1983 appraisal of ‘Josip Tito's principles of independence and equality among all communist parties, and of opposing imperialism, colonialism, and hegemonism’.[5] The CCP would carefully watch Yugoslavia's market socialism and its disastrous collapse, using the Yugoslav model to create its own form of socialism, known asSocialism with Chinese characteristics.[6] China was firmly onSlobodan Milošević's side in theKosovo War, which would eventually culminate in strong modern dayChina–Serbia relations.[7]
All sixformer Yugoslav republics have a broad memoranda of understanding with China onBelt and Road Initiative.[8] China's relationship with Serbia is particularly strong.Confucius Institutes as well as China-oriented study departments have opened up in Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia.
Josip Broz Tito first learned of the Chinese Communist movement while imprisoned at Lepoglava Penitentiary, and, upon his release in 1934, gained firsthand knowledge of the struggle upon meeting the Comintern's representative in China, Ivan Genchev, better known as Karaivanov, in Moscow.[9] Tito would askVladimir Dedijer to research China and compile his findings in a book, which, once finished on the eve of the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in 1941, was distributed amongst the underground Yugoslav Communist movement, which became foundational to the makeup of the early Partisan movement, as it was based upon the Communist Chinese struggle.[9] The most direct result of this indirect communication was the conduct of the Yugoslav partisan's retreat from Montenegro and Herzegovina to Bosnia, which was influenced by the Chinese Communist'sLong March.[10]
The first formal meeting between theChinese Communist Party andLeague of Communists of Yugoslavia took place in 1947, when a Chinese delegation headed byLiu Ningyi traveled to Yugoslavia.[11] However, relations would break down after the Bucharest Resolution of 1948, endorsed by the Chinese, expelled Yugoslavia fromCominform.
 China |  Yugoslavia |
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In the short and immediate period after the 1948Tito–Stalin split and at the end of theChinese Civil War and theChinese Communist Revolution in 1949, Yugoslav Communists looked at China for a revolutionary ally in defendingMarxism-Leninism against what they deemed Sovietrevisionism.[12] In the fall of 1949, the new People's Republic of China rejectedBelgrade's offer to establish diplomatic relations and adopted the Cominform's anti-Yugoslav position.[12] The Chinese position changed in 1955 afterStalin's death whenMao Zedong welcomed the Yugoslavian Communist Union Delegation and self-critically apologized for poor relations in the past, silence and for "times when we let you down".[13]
The period between 1955 and 1958 saw relations between the two states warm considerably after theDeath and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, and in meetings with representatives from Yugoslavia, Mao Zedong stated that there were few differences between the peoples of the two states, other than that “Yugoslavs wore mustaches”.[14]
When the Soviet Union and many other European communist countries withdrew their advisors from China in 1960, advisors from Yugoslavia were among those that remained.[15]: 243
Following theSino-Soviet split, in late 1960s Beijing invitedAlbania to moderate its criticisms of Yugoslavia, and to suggest the creation of a Balkan zone (together withRomania) to challenge Soviet influence in the region.[16]
President of YugoslaviaJosip Broz Tito visited China for the first time in 1977, followed by a return visit ofPrime Minister of ChinaHua Guofeng to Yugoslavia in 1978.[17]
China |  Yugoslavia |
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Following the breakup of Yugoslavia andYugoslav Wars judgesLi Haopei,Wang Tieya andLiu Daqun from China served at theInternational Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.[18][19]
The PRC supported theFederal Republic of Yugoslavia during theKosovo War and opposed theNATO airstrikes against targets in Serbia and Montenegro.[20] The PRC believed thatSlobodan Milošević was acting to prevent the secession of Kosovo by Albanian separatists from the FRY, and thus interpreted his actions as preserving the FRY's territorial integrity.[21] The PRC opposed NATO intervention in Kosovo on the basis that itset a dangerous precedent that PRC officials believed could in the future afflict the PRC, should riots occur inTibet orXinjiang and then result in bombings.[21] PRC opposition to the NATO actions intensified after thebombing of the PR Chinese embassy in Belgrade during the war.[20] TheKosovo Albanians were labelled as NATO-backed terrorists in the Chinese press, while the Serbs of Yugoslavia were proclaimed as heroes fighting for the unity of their nation.[22]
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