Amílcar Cabral, the PAIGC and the Relations with China at the Time of the Sino-Soviet Split and of Anti-Colonialism. Discourses and Praxis

Abstract

This article explores the relationship between Amilcar Cabral’s PAIGC during the struggle for the liberation of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, which took place from the early 1960s until the mid-1970s. In order to contextualise China’s standpoint, the article begins by addressing the reasons behind the controversy that affected the international communist movement since the end of the 1950s. It then examines the way the relationship between China and the PAIGC prospered since they first established contact in May 1960 and analyses the various methods through which the CPC approached and infiltrated Cabral’s party, including the propaganda mechanisms used in that rapprochement. The aim is to understand the overall evolution of those interactions, which was not always straightforward, within the context of the Sino-Soviet split. Finally, the article discusses the different stages of the relationship: the breakdown in relations from 1965 onwards, the ensuing suspension of aid in 1968 and the gradual return to a Chinese aid policy two years later. Through this discussion, using a discursive perspective and political praxis, the article analyses the ups and downs that stigmatised each moment within the wider framework of the anti-colonialism era.