Promoting an Anti-Soviet Coalition: Mao’s French Diplomacy, 1970–1976

Abstract

After the Sino-Soviet border clashes in 1969, Mao adjusted his foreign policy by abandoning his previous position of opposing both the United States and the Soviet Union at the same time and adopting, instead, a single-minded posture of promoting an international coalition against Moscow. Western Europe occupied an important position in Mao's strategic calculations of anti-Sovietism. During this period, Mao kept warning West European leaders against the danger of a Soviet attack and urging them to stay united and be prepared for war. This article uses the case of Sino-French relations to demonstrate Mao's persistent advocacy of an international united front against the Soviet Union. It draws on recently released Chinese and French documents to chart the course of Sino-French relations in Mao's last years and to use his French diplomacy to illuminate the misperceptions and misunderstanding in his assessment of international developments.