Romanian-Chinese Bilateral Relation: Tudor Nemeș

University of Southern Denmark-Campus Sønderborg
Faculty of Humanities-BA in Business, Language and

Culture (Chinese)
Romanian-Chinese
bilateral relation
How did the Romanian revolution in 1989
affect the bilateral relation between the
two countries?
Tudor Nemeș
5/14/2015
E-mail: tudornemes@yahoo.com
Supervisor: Professor Qi Wang
Department of Design and Communication
University of Southern Denmark

CPR: 230592-2865 Tudor Nemeș
Contents
Sworn statement................................................................................................................. 4
Abstract ............................................................................................................................... 4
Bachelor Thesis Summary in Chinese ................................................................................. 5
1. Introduction .................................................................................................................... 7
1.1. Problem statement and research question ............................................................. 7
1.2. Methodology............................................................................................................ 8
1.3. Theoretical background ........................................................................................... 8
1.4. Limitations ............................................................................................................. 10
2. Historical Background ................................................................................................... 10
2.1. First contacts .......................................................................................................... 10
2.2. Nicolae Milescu Spătarul (1636-1708), the first Romanian who visited China ..... 11
2.3. The Romanians and the Chinese start to discover each other after 1949 ............ 12
3. 1949 - the beginning of the Romanian-Chinese diplomatic relations .......................... 13
3.1. The official signing of diplomatic relations agreement ......................................... 13
4. Diplomacy and politics .................................................................................................. 15
4.1. The Sino-Soviet divergence .................................................................................... 15
4.1.1. The Romanian position within the Sino-Soviet conflict .................................. 15
4.2. The Prague Spring .................................................................................................. 17
5. The Sino-Romanian relations during Nicolae Ceaușescu’s regime ............................... 18
5.1. Romania and the Sino-American conflict .............................................................. 18
5.2. Romania, the first country in the hierarchy of China’s best friends ...................... 19
6. Economic Cooperation .................................................................................................. 20
6.1. The development of the Chinese economy and Deng Xiaoping’s reforms ........... 20
6.2. The Romanian economy between 1949 and 1989 ................................................ 22
6.3. The Sino-Romanian economic cooperation ........................................................... 23
6.4. The beginning of the decline (the end of the 1970’s and the 1980’s) ................... 24
7. Romanian-Chinese relations after the anti-communist Romanian revolution in 1989 25
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7.1. Diplomacy and politics ........................................................................................... 25

7.1.1. The impact of the Romanian revolution ......................................................... 25
7.1.2. The Sino-Romanian relations enter a new era ............................................... 26
7.1.3. Bessarabia, Taiwan and Hong Kong ................................................................ 26
7.1.4. Romania’s position regarding the human rights in China............................... 28
7.2. Economic cooperation ........................................................................................... 29
7.2.1. Romania, one of the EU and CEE10 (Central Eastern European) countries ... 30
7.2.2. Wine, the most exported Romanian product in China ................................... 31
8. 1949-2014, 65 years of bilateral diplomatic relations .................................................. 32
9. The perspective of the Romanian-Chinese relations .................................................... 33
10. Results ......................................................................................................................... 34
11. Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 36
Bibliography ...................................................................................................................... 37
Appendix ........................................................................................................................... 40
Interviews ..................................................................................................................... 40
Interview 1 ................................................................................................................ 40
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Sworn statement
I hereby solemnly declare that I have personally and independently prepared
this paper. All quotations in the text have been marked as such, and the paper or
considerable parts of it have not previously been subject to any examination or
assessment.
Abstract
Between 1949 and 2014, the Romanian-Chinese bilateral relations fluctuated
over the years, being characterized by both positive and negative periods. The
Romanian anti-communist revolution in 1989 and the fall of communism in Eastern
Europe, had effects on the Romanian-Chinese relations in the context of China
becoming a global power. The focal point of the thesis is to present the main events of
the Romanian-Chinese bilateral relations in the two periods, 1949-1989 and 1989-2014.
Through the presentation of the main events, it is possible to identify the reasons why
the situation changed.
China and Romania had between 1949 and 1989 strong diplomatic relations. In
the context of the socialist world order controlled by the Soviet Union, Romania and
China established a partnership which was an alternative to the Soviet leader.
Geographically very far away from each other, Romania and China shared a common
will to achieve political and economical independency, fact which represented a strong
background to develop diplomatic and economic cooperation. The stable diplomacy of
Romania earned the trust of the Chinese officials, which saw in Romania an excellent
diplomatic partner.
After 1989, Romania adopted the capitalism and entered the transition from
communism to capitalism. The disintegration of the Soviet Union which was the
common enemy, affected the Romanian-Chinese relations, in the context of a shift in
the world order, China becoming a global power and Romania orienting towards the
European Union. Romania was struggling to efficiently position within the United States-
EU-China axis. Unfortunately, Romania did not succeed, as other European Union
countries, to build and maintain relations with all the strategic partners. Therefore, even
though China constantly expressed its will to maintain and develop the relations with
Romania, a gap between the two countries was created. The Romanian anti-communist
revolution in 1989 was a turning point which, regarding the Sino-Romanian relations,
affected the diplomatic relations which furthermore affected the economic relations,
but mainly for the Romanian side considering the fact that the Chinese economy and
4
exports significantly increased from 1990 to 2014.

For this bachelor thesis, the methodology of the light version of historical
analysis supported by the analytical method was employed. The analysis is based on
official writings, written by people who exclusively activated within the Romanian-
Chinese relations and not by people who just have general knowledge about this issue.
Bachelor Thesis Summary in Chinese
“一个不了解自己历史的国家就像是一个不认识自己父母的孩子”。这
句罗马尼亚格言很好地解释了我为何对历史情有独钟。罗马尼亚和中
国的关系是一个具有丰富内涵并十分有趣的研究领域。作为一个学习
中国语言和文化的罗马尼亚学生，我对两国关系一直抱有浓厚的兴趣。
在北京学习一年和在山东潍坊工作三个月的经历，让我近距离地接触
到了中国人民和中国文化。在本篇论文中，我尝试着分析自 1949 年
罗中建交到 2014 年，六十五年间两国政治、外交和经济关系最重要
的方面。
论文旨在通过比较 1949-1989 年和 1989-2014 年的两国关系，阐释
1989 年罗马尼亚革命对双边关系的影响。
正文分三部分：第一部分简要论述了 1949 年前的罗中关系；第二部
分分析了 1949-1989 年罗马尼亚共产党执政期间的两国关系；第三部
分回顾了 1989-2014 年罗马尼亚确立资本主义政治制度后的两国关系。
罗马尼亚 1989 年政治制度改变对双边关系的影响是个值得研究的领
域。
从研究方法上看，我努力对两国政治、外交和经济关系进行客观分析
和历史分析。资料主要来源于罗马尼亚历任驻中国大使等外交官和中
国历任驻罗马尼亚大使等外交官的著作，以及曾与中国有过接触的罗
马尼亚官员、记者和教授的文章和论述。同时，我也通过网络搜集了
不少出现在报纸、文件、报告和采访里的文章。除此之外，我还采访
了各领域的相关专家、人士，为论文提供了更丰富的论据支撑。在中
5
国留学的经历使我有机会认识了许多罗、中两国官员和其他各界人士。
通过与他们的交流，我对罗中关系有了更全面的了解，这些都有助于
论文的写作。
从政治和外交角度来看，1989-2014 期间的中罗关系同 1949-1989 年
相比，发生了非常大的变化。总的来说，罗马尼亚在国际社会中的重
要性减少了许多，然而中国的国际地位有了巨大提高。1989 年前，罗
马尼亚在中俄和中美关系方面发挥着调解员的作用。时至今日，罗马
尼亚的外交和对外政策模糊而不确定。齐奥塞斯库在上世纪八十年代
所推行的使罗马尼亚孤立的政策也使得罗中关系趋冷，至今仍回暖乏
力。罗马尼亚如今处于东西方社会的夹缝之中。罗马尼亚的政治家们
在 1989 年后没有能力管理本国的民主进程和优化国家战略地位。
从经济角度看，罗中双边贸易额发生了很大变化。上世纪六、七十年
代，罗马尼亚在经济领域是中国的榜样，双边贸易额保持高位，并基
本持平。现在，罗马尼亚的经济发展滞后，中国却取得长足进步。
罗马尼亚国内生产总值很低。罗马尼亚非常有限的出口能力导致了罗
中经贸逆差一直存在。上世纪七十年代罗中贸易关系基本平衡。但到
了 2012 年，罗中贸易逆差超过 300 万美元。罗马尼亚最重要的对华
出口产品是葡萄酒。虽然近期签署了一系列的经贸合作条约，但所有
协定都流于一纸空文，没有任何实效。
总之，通过将 1989-2014 年间和 1949-1989 年间的罗中关系加以对
比，可以得出结论，1989 年罗马尼亚革命后的罗中关系在外交和经济
层面都趋于恶化。尽管欧盟大多数国家都非常好地发展了同中国的关
系，罗马尼亚并没有在这方面取得成功。齐奥塞斯库政权的负面影响，
特别是 1981-1989 年间的执政恶果至今仍存在。1989 年革命把罗马
尼亚推向了无休止的过渡时期。罗马尼亚在此期间政策含混，在欧盟、
中国和美国三方的政治博弈中找不到自己的坐标
6
1. Introduction
1.1. Problem statement and research question

“How did the Romanian anti-communist revolution in 1989 affect the bilateral
relations between Romania and China?” The purpose of this paper is to emphasize
which were the main events, from a political-diplomatic and economic point of view,
which affected the bilateral relation after the Romanian anti-communist revolution in
1989, in the context of the changes in the world order. In order to be able to offer an
accurate explanation, it is necessary to present historical events and compare the 1949-
1989 period with the 1989-2014 period, by setting the Romanian anti-communist
revolution in 1989 as a border.
Considering the fact that both the Romanian and Chinese economy adopted the
market economy after 1989, the economic relations between the two countries
disposed of the necessary background to work well and develop further. Moreover,
taking into consideration the close diplomatic relations between Romania and China
between 1949 and 1989, there was also a very good background in order to support the
maintenance and development of this diplomatic relations. Therefore, the Romanian-
Chinese relations should have positively developed after the Romanian anti-communist
revolution in 1989.
However, the current Romanian-Chinese bilateral relation does not function
well. Romania lost the 1st place in the hierarchy of China’s best diplomatic partners in
Europe (Budura, 2008). Moreover, Romania reached an imports-exports deficit of 3.2
billion USD in 2008 (Russu & Bulearcă, 2009) considering the fact that between 1992
and 1995 had a cumulated surplus of 691.3 million USD (Buzatu, 2005) and in 1978 was
exporting in China in value of 1.7 billion USD.
Understanding what happened, there will be an important information
background which will help to the improving of the future methods of dealing with this
bilateral relation, mainly for the Romanian side but also for the Chinese side. Moreover,
this thesis represents a source of information for those interested in the research of the
Romanian-Chinese bilateral relation. From a healthy cooperation with the strongest
economy in the world in 2015 (Stiglitz, 2015) there can only be benefits.
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1.2. Methodology
The methodology chosen for this paper was represented by a light version of
historical analysis with the purpose of comparing and analyzing changes in 2 different
historical periods and with the purpose of emphasizing important historical events and
decisions. The “Analytical Method” was preferred, which “is a form of research in which
events, ideas, concepts, or artefacts are examined through analysis of documents,
records, recordings or other media” (Descriptive Research, pg. 111). The purpose is to
provide a description and interpretation of past events and people. In this paper, the
analysis was mainly qualitative, supported by economic data. However, there was not so
much economic data in order to adopt the quantitative method. The main sources were
documents, books, articles, speeches and interviews written by former and current
Romanian and Chinese officials and diplomats, as well as written by Romanian and
Chinese journalists, professors, experts in diplomacy, economy and international politics.
Most of the sources were official and specialized, being created by people who activated
within the context of the Romanian-Chinese bilateral relation. This way, the chances to
achieve an accurate result significantly increased.
The main events were individually analyzed and then compared, in order to be
able to find results and conclusion. The sources were carefully analyzed and interpreted
with the purpose of emphasizing differences and similarities where needed.
1.3. Theoretical background

The analysis of this paper is based on the theory of the “world order”. According
to Richard Haass, the world order is one of the fundamental concepts of international
relations, as well as a lens through which to view and understand global developments
and foreign policy choices (Haass, 2015). Moreover, Richard Falk defines the world order
as the arrangement of power and authority that provides the framework for the
conduct of diplomacy and world politics on a global scale (Falk, 2015). The term of world
order is associated with the beginning of the modern world, more specifically with the
signing of the Westphalia Peace Treaty negotiated in 1648 (Falk, 2015). According to
Falk, the initial structure of the world order was Eurocentric. Based on a Eurocentric
hierarchy, the non-Western states were dominated by the Western Powers. The so
called “Westphalian Era” was structured on colonial empires dominated by the
international society (mainly monarchies) (Falk, 2015). In those times, the world order
was the law which was setting the worldwide geopolitical power balances.
According to Richard Falk, the American Revolution and the French Revolution
8
shifted the world order and ended the Westphalian autocratic structured monarchies.
The American political independence from the British Empire together with the new
French doctrine based on “liberty, equality and fraternity”, ended the Westphalian
world order of colonialism.
Together with the end of the Second World War, the worldwide society
witnessed a significant weakening of the colonial regimes which was a great opportunity
for the smaller less military powerful and third world underdeveloped countries to stand
up and push forward their claims. The period which followed was characterized by the
third world nationalism.
From the perspective of the new world order, China has developed at an
unprecedented pace. According to David Smith’s opinion, we live in the era of “the
Dragon and the Elephant” or in the era of “Chindia”. The balance of the geopolitical
power is strongly influenced by the huge development of China and India. David Smith
considers the Beijing-Washington-New Delhi axis to be the future core of the new world
order (Smith, 2007). Therefore, to better understand the analysis in this paper, the
reader must permanently take into consideration the past and current world order
structure and how roles have changed over the years.
To best understand the analysis and the conclusion of this paper, it is also
necessary to be aware of certain definitions. This paper analyzes two periods, from
political-diplomatic and economical points of view. The capitalism is defined as “an
economic system based on the recognition of private property rights, where prices are
dictated by supply and demand and where the means of production and distribution of
goods and services derive privately owned resources, or capital, operating within an
unregulated market.” (Glossary of Political Terms). The communism is “a doctrine based
on revolutionary Marxian socialism and Marxism-Leninism” (Merriam-Webster
Dictionary). Moreover, the communism is defined as “a theory or system of social
organization in which all property is owned by the community and each person
contributes and receives according to their ability and needs” (Oxford Dictionaries). The
standard communist regimes are characterized by a centralized economy. According to
Merriam-Webster dictionary, the socialism is defined as “a way of organizing a society in
which major industries are owned and controlled by the government rather than by
individual people and companies”.
According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, diplomacy is defined as “the work of
maintaining good relations between the governments of different countries, which
requires skill in dealing with others without causing bad feelings”.
The mixed economy is defined as “an economic system which embraces some
9
aspects of free enterprise together with elements of socialism”. To understand the

analysis in this paper, it is very important to know these definitions.
1.4. Limitations
As a bilateral relation between two countries is a very complex issue which
involves aspects of national security, many official data and analysis are concealed and
not available for research. Therefore, in order to analyze this kind of issue, it is
necessary to collect official data, which is limited. For instance, interviews are strictly
limited because the most of the mass of population and mass media are not specialized
in politics, diplomacy and economy. The answers to interviews would not offer
competent responses. Many potential interviewees avoided to answer certain questions,
motivating that they were not qualified to answer questions about this topic.
Moreover, it is necessary to take into consideration the subjectivity of the
information provided by diplomats and officials. The neutrality of the author is very
important as he has to approach a detached way of data analysis, in order to achieve an
accurate outcome.
2. Historical Background
2.1. First contacts

The very first one to introduce knowledge about the Chinese culture to the
Romanians was the famous Moldavian chronicler Grigore Ureche (1583-1647) in the XVII
century. In his book named “Letopisețul Țării Moldovei” (The Chronicle of the Moldavian
country-my translation) he dedicates an important part to the Chinese culture. He
writes about the wealth and about the huge area inhabited by the Chinese people. He
characterizes the Chinese people as being very hard-working and skilled and writes
about the Chinese products very appreciated in those times, such as the Chinese silk,
the Chinese porcelain and the tasty Chinese rice. Another famous Moldavian chronicler,
Miron Costin (1633-1691), writes about the Moldavian king Vasile Lupu (he ruled
between 1634 and 1653) and characterizes his clothes as being decorated with “fine
Chinese pieces of art” (Buzatu, 2005, pg. 64, my transl.) brought from Constantinople.
Another important episode in the history of the Romanian-Chinese relations is
represented by the exchange of official letters between the King of Romania, Carol I (he
ruled between 1866 and 1914) and the Qing Dynasty Emperor Guang Xu (he ruled
between 1875 and 1908). In those times Romania achieved its national independecy.
The official exchange of letters between the two kings was a result of Romania’s
campaign of being worldwide recognized as a new state and of establishing diplomatic
10
relations with the other countries. Therefore, on the 13th of January 1881, the Chinese
Emperor answered the letter received from Carol I, writing that “the emperor of China
congratulates Romania and sends his best wishes for the prosperity and the wealth of
the Romanian people” (Buzatu, 2005, pg. 62, the archive of the Romanian Foreign
Minister, vol. 93, pg. 269-270).
2.2. Nicolae Milescu Spătarul (1636-1708), the first Romanian

who visited China
The episode when the illustrious Moldavian traveller and diplomat Nicolae
Milescu Spătarul visited China, is considered by many writers and historians to be the
most important interraction between the Romanian and Chinese cultures, before the
establishment of official diplomatic relations in 1949.
According to the Romanian diplomat Nicolae Stancu, Nicolae Milescu Spătarul
and Marco Polo are considered to be the pioneers of China’s interraction with the world
(Dumitrescu, Velişcu, Ivaşcu, & Ţighi, 2009, Nicolae Stancu). In 2004, during an official
visit in Romania, the former Chinese president Hu Jintao (胡锦涛) stated that the roots
of the Romanian-Chinese friendship can be found centuries ago, in the beginning of the
XVII century, when the Moldavian Nicolae Milescu Spătarul travelled in China and wrote
“The description of China”. Hu Jintao also stated that the Moldavian diplomat was the
first Romanian to have relations with China (Dumitrescu, Velişcu, Ivaşcu, & Ţighi, 2009,
Nicolae Stancu). Moreover, the Romanian diplomat Nicolae Stancu stated that in the
XVII century, the illustrious scholar Nicolae Milescu Spătarul did a description which
even today deserves to be analyzed. He did a complex and comprehensive description
of the Chinese territory and the Chinese people, of the language, culture, religion,
history and ethnography. In the Chinese archives he is mentioned with the name Nicolai
Grigorevici Spatarul (米库辣葛窝里雷齐斯帕法里 – Mikula Gewolileiqi Sipafali)
(Dumitrescu, Velişcu, Ivaşcu, & Ţighi, 2009, Ding Chao). The former Romanian diplomat
and ambassador Ion Buzatu considered that in the moment when Nicolae Milescu
Spătarul arrived in China, he fulfilled three important roles: a worthy Romanian, a skilful
Russian ambassador and a great scholar of his times.
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2.3. The Romanians and the Chinese start to discover each other
after 1949
In the beginning, there was little knowledge about the Chinese culture in
Romania and about the Romanian culture in China. To better emphasize this situation, it
is important to present the episode about Jiang Qing (江青), Mao Zedong’s wife, a
woman who played a very important role during the Cultural Revolution. In the 60’s,
following a treatment and relaxation program in Crimea, one of Soviet Union’s most
important holiday destination, Jiang Qing interacted with several important members of
the Romanian Communist Party, who respectfully saluted her. Afterwards, when she
found out that the people who saluted her were coming from Romania, Jiang Qing
stated that she has never heard about this country before (Buzatu, 2005). Moreover, as
His Excellency Mister Ion Buzatu states in his book, Romania’s capital Bucharest was
often confused with Hungary’s capital Budapest, even during official meetings.
Therefore, the significant lack of mutual knowledge represented a very important
motivation for both countries to start discover each other. Being members in the same
worldwide socialist alliance, Romania and China were characterized by a “huge hunger
of achieving knowledge” (Buzatu, 2005, pg. 103, my translation). The governments of
the two countries were willing to spend important amounts of money and resources in
order to achieve their purpose.
From 1949, the official proclamation of the People’s Republic of China until
1989, the fall of Nicolae Ceaușescu’s regime and in the same time the fall of
communism in Romania, the Romanian-Chinese relations were characterized by a fast
and unprecedented trend which never occurred between the two countries before.
Despite the huge geographical distance between the two countries and the significant
differences in language and culture, Romania and China managed to create a strong
partnership. The new political circumstances and changes in both countries at the end
of the Second World War together with the worldwide political, economical and social
situation, encouraged the creation of the Romanian-Chinese relations, which did not
develop linearly, but followed certain steps during the period (Buzatu, 2005). During the
Second World War until 1949, the Sino-Romanian relations were characterized by a
total stagnation (Buzatu, 2005). The capitulation of Germany on the 9th of May 1945 and
the capitulation of Japan on 15th of August 1945 (Buzatu, 2005) represent two major
events in the history of the two countries. Regarding the Sino-Romanian diplomatic
12
relations, these two events represented the corner stone for establishing bilateral
relations between Romania and China.
3. 1949 - the beginning of the Romanian-Chinese diplomatic

relations
3.1. The official signing of diplomatic relations agreement
On the 1st of October 1949, the Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong (毛泽东)
officially proclaimed the foundation of the People’s Republic of China. Regarding the
Sino-Romanian relations, the decade which followed (1949-1959) is considered to be
the decade of consolidation of the Sino-Romanian relations. Mister Ion Buzatu, former
diplomat, ambassador and cultural attaché of Romania in China, names this interval
“the red period of solidarity based on the international communist proletariat” (Buzatu,
2005, pg. 102, my translation). The Romanian-Chinese relations developed and were
facilitated by the solidarity of the International Socialist System. Besides Romania and
China, the International Socialist System was composed of the Soviet Union, People’s
Republic of Poland, Socialist Republic of Cechoslovakia, German Democratic Republic,
People’s Republic of Hungary, Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, People’s Republic
of Albania, People’s Republic of Bulgaria, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,
People’s Republic of Mongolia, Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The basic criteria of the
solidarity of all these countries was the unconditional loyalty towards the Soviet Union
and towards the socialist ideology imposed by the Soviet Union. Therefore, the Sino-
Romanian relations were following the same trend. The facts that united Romania and
China in the beginning (as time went on things changed) were the unconditional loyalty
to Stalin and the Soviet governement and the war against the imperialism of the
Occidental countries (mainly the United States of America). Moreover, it was
compulsory to respect the Soviet ideology and methods in all areas of activity.
Oficially, the relations between Romania and China began on the 3rd of October
1949, when “the Foreign Minister of the People’s Republic of China, Zhou En-Lai,
received a note from the Foreign Minister of the People’s Republic of Romania, Ana
Pauker, notifying the decision of the People’s Republic of Romania to establish
diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China” (Snyder, 2009, Xinhua News
Agency, Beijing 5th of October, pg. 15). On behalf of the Romanian government, Ana
Pauker stated that “the Government of the People’s Republic of Romania, after
examining the proposal contained in the Proclamation of the Central People’s
Government of China, dated 1st of October, has decided to establish diplomatic relations
13
between the People’s Republic of Romania and the People’s Republic of China. We
firmly believe that the relations will make special contribution to the consolidation of
the democratic, peaceful and socialist block, led by our common great friend the Soviet
Union and to its undertakings of fights against imperialism and for peace, national
independence and democracy” (Snyder, 2009, Xinhua News Agency Beijing 5th of
October, pg. 16). The official letter sent by Romania’s Foreign Minister, Ana Pauker, was
received by the Chinese part in a positive manner. Immediately, on the 5th of October
1949, the Chinese Foreign Minister Zhou En-Lai replied: “I, on behalf of the Central
People’s Government of the People’s Republic of China, have the honour of having
received Your Excellency’s cable, dated 3rd of October, notifying the decision of the
Government of the People’s Republic of Romania to establish diplomatic relations. I
notify Your Excellency hereby, that the Central People’s Government of the People’s
Republic of China warmly welcomes immediate establishment of diplomatic relations
and decides to exchange diplomatic representatives”(Snyder, 2009, Xinhua News
Agency Beijing 5th of October, pg. 16). Therefore, on the 5th of October 1949, Romania
was officially the third country in the world after the Soviet Union and Bulgaria, to
officially recognize the foundation of the People’s Republic of China (Tomozei, 2014). As
Romania’s Foreign Minister stated, the Romanian-Chinese relations were based on “the
consolidation of the democratic, peaceful and socialist block, led by our common great
friend the Soviet Union”. The main reason for the establishment of Sino-Romanian
relations was the share of common socialist ideology within the geopolitical context.
After the official establishment, the Sino-Romanian relation reached the
following step. Both countries decided to mutually accreditate ambassadors and to
establish embassies in Bucharest and Beijing respectively. On the 10th of March 1950
Romania’s embassy in Beijing was inaugurated followed by the inauguration of People’s
Republic of China’s embassy in Bucharest, on the 11th of August 1950 (Buzatu, 2005).
The first ambassador of Romania in China was His Excellency Teodor Rudenco who
presented the accreditation documents on the 10th of March 1950. The first ambassador
of People’s Republic of China in Romania was His Excellency Wang Youping, who
presented the accreditation documents on the 11th of August 1950 (Buzatu, 2005).
14
4. Diplomacy and politics
4.1. The Sino-Soviet divergence

One who opposed the ascension of the Chinese communists was also a
communist, the Soviet leader I.V. Stalin. During the Yalta conference in 1945, Stalin
concluded an agreement with the American President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Through
that agreement, they established that China needed to remain a nationalist country,
governed by Chiang Kai-Shek (Budura, 2008, pg.8).
In august 1945 the Soviets signed a “Friendship Treaty” with Chiang Kai-Shek’s
nationalists. The treaty included a very unfavorable clause for the Chinese part, which
canceled all China’s claims over the lost territories conquered by the expansionist Tsarist
Russia in the XVII and XIX centuries (Buzatu, 2005, as cited in Observer Newspaper,
London 1945). The Sino-Soviet divergence had roots in the 1930’ and 1940’s, when
Stalin was treating Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communist Party with superiority and
disrespect. Therefore, Mao noticed Stalin’s behavior and diplomatically started to avoid
the directions coming from Moscow. Even though Mao was a pro-communist, Stalin
never believed in him. Stalin supported Chiang Kai-Shek (蔣介石- Jiǎng Jièshí) and his
regime until the last days of power (Buzatu, 2005). To emphasize Stalin’s negative
attitude against Mao and the Chinese Communist Party, it is important to remind an
episode about the German invasion in the Soviet Union. On the 20th of June 1941, Mao
Zedong and Zhou En-Lai received classified information from their spies in Tokyo,
forwarding it to the Soviets. The classified information announced the launching of
“Barbarossa” campaign and the invasion of the German army in Russia, on the 22 nd of
June 1941. When Vyacheslav Molotov, the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs,
presented the received information to Stalin, the Soviet leader treated it with
arrogance and antipathy because he knew it was coming from the Chinese (Buzatu,
2005).
In the 1970’s and 1980’s there was a huge pressure from Moscow with the
purpose to force all the socialist countries to follow the Soviet orders. Trying to protect
its national interest, the communist China was on the verge of starting a war with the
Soviet Union. China was challenging the world order in the socialist block and the Soviet
Union definitely disagreed.
4.1.1. The Romanian position within the Sino-Soviet conflict

First of all, Romania’s relation with the Soviet Union was not one of the best.
The new People’s Republic of Romania which followed the abdication of King Mihai I of
Romania (On the 30th of December 1947, the Romanian communist leaders Petru Groza
15
and Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej together with other communist troops surrounded the
Royal Palace in Bucharest and forced King Mihai I of Romania to abdicate) was for a long
period invaded by the Soviet army which entered the country in 1944 immediately after
Romania joined the Allied forces. According to Felicia Gherman, there was a big
difference between the ways the communist regimes were established in Romania and
China. If in Romania the communist regime was imposed by the Soviet army which
occupied the country, in China the communist party fought against Japanese invaders
and against Kuomintang regime’s abuse and injustice, therefore gaining the support of
the population. This was one of the reasons which, between 1949 and 1989 but also
after 1989, created a hostility of the Romanian society against the Soviet Union
(Gherman, 2015).
Another reason for the Soviet-Romanian conflict was the Bessarabia problem.
Bessarabia (the territory on the east side of the Prut river, today known as the
independent Republic of Moldova), was lost by the Romanians in the Second World War
when it was occupied by the Soviet Union. The Soviets were insisting that the
Romanians and the Moldavians were of different origins. Moreover, according to
Moscow, it was considered that the Romanian language was different from the
Moldavian language and that the Moldavian language was “an ancient branch of
Romanian” (Watts, The Soviet-Romanian clash over history, Identity and Dominion). All
these Soviet theories were rejected by the Romanians as it was historically
demonstrated and known that Moldova was just a region of Romania and the people
inhabiting Moldova were speaking the same language as the other Romanians, the
Romanian language. From the Romanian officials’ point of view, the soviets were
inventing fake theories in order to justify their occupation over the Moldavian territory
(Watts, 2013).
A second reason of the Soviet-Romanian conflict was that Romania was not a
country of Slavic origins. Officially considered to be of Latin origins, Romania was in the
eyes of the Soviet Union a barrier which hindered Soviet Union’s mission to approach
Yugoslavia and Bulgaria, two Slavic socialist countries in the south of Romania (Watts,
2013).
During the period after the Second World War the worldwide underdeveloped
and less military powerful countries were characterized by a strong nationalism.
Romania and China were challenging the socialist world order dominated by the Soviet
Union. Involving in the Sino-Soviet conflict, Romania was seeing in China a partner to
fight the Soviet dominance. In February 1964, Romania officially involved in the Sino-
Soviet conflict. The Romanian Communist Party sent official messages to the central
committees of the Soviet and Chinese communist parties and proposed them to
16
“immediately cease the conflict between two sister countries as they are and use official
negotiation to solve the disagreements” (Buzatu, 2005, pg. 111, my transl.) Also,
Romania offered to mediate the conflict between the two countries. The Soviets and the
Chinese accepted Romania’s offer to mediate the conflict. Therefore, in March 1964, a
Romanian delegation led by Ioan Gheorghe Maurer went to China for an official meeting
with Mao (Buzatu, 2005). Afterwards, the Romanian delegation travelled to Crimea for
an official meeting with President Nikita Khrushchev. The Romanians offered
Khrushchev a detailed presentation of their discussion with Mao. In the end, China
appreciated Romania’s efforts to mediate the conflict. In fact, China started to see in
Romania an important partner regarding the conflict with the Soviets.
On the 1st of October 1964 in Beijing, with the occasion of the National Day of
China, there was another important meeting between a Romanian delegation formed of
foreign affairs specialist Ioan Gheorghe Maurer, Emil Bodnăraș and a Chinese delegation
formed of Mao Zedong, Zhou En-Lai and Deng Xiaoping. Bodnăraș, a security and
military problems specialist, was an older friend of the Chinese as he had a close
relationship with Mao’s security chief Kang Sheng whom he met in the middle of the
1930’s while participating at a Soviet School for sabotage and partisan war (Watts L. L.,
2013, pg. 159-166). Mao appreciated Romania’s independent position and sent a clear
anti-Soviet message as he reminded about the Soviet occupation of Basserabia.
Afterwards, the Romanian delegation departed to Russia where they met President
Khrushchev, presenting him Mao’s messages.
4.2. The Prague Spring

Ion Buzatu considers the Prague Spring to be the beginning of the apogee of the
Sino-Romanian diplomatic relations, between 1968-1978. In the night between 20th and
21st of August 1968, the armies of the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Poland, East Germany and
Hungary invaded Cechoslovakia as a consequence of the Cechoslovakian independent
economic and political reforms. Czechoslovakia dared to challenge the structure of the
world order and to achieve its political independece. As a result of the military
intervention, the government led by Alexander Dubcek was deposed. Because of its
independent policies and the strengthening of the diplomatic relations with China,
Romania was also threatened to be invaded. Romania was also seen as a threat to the
Soviet ruled world order. The Soviet army was prepared to invade Romania with the
purpose to retransform it in a loyal Soviet satellite.
Back then, the head of the Romanian Communist Party was the young Nicolae
Ceaușescu who oficially came to power in December 1967, when the veteran party
militant Chivu Stoica resigned from the position of State Council Chairman and
17
nominated Ceaușescu to replace him (Tismaneanu, 2008). Led by a great ambition of

self-affirmation at a worldwide level, Ceaușescu held a famous speech on the 21st of
August 1968 from the balcony of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist
Party in Bucharest, stating that: “The incursion in Czechoslovakia of the troops
belonging to the five socialist countries represent a big mistake and a serious threat to
peace in Europe and for the destiny of socialism in the world. It is inconceivable in the
present day world, when people rise to defend their national independence and their
equal rights, that socialist states infringe on the liberty and independece of another
state. There can be no excuse, and there can be no reason to accept, even for a single
moment, the idea of a military intervention in the domestic affairs of a fraternal socialist
state” (Petrescu, 2009, as cited in Scînteia No. 7802, 22nd of August 1968) Therefore,
with the occasion of an official meeting at the Romanian embassy in Beijing, prime
minister Zhour En-Lai announced China’s solidarity with Romania and military support in
case of an invasion. Zhou En-Lai also stated that “the entire Chinese people categorically
supports Romania” (Buzatu, 2005, pg. 116, my transl.). Moreover, the United States,
through the message of President Lyndon Johnson, firmly oposed the beginning of a war.
The two messages got to the ears of the Soviet leaders and as a result the Soviet Union
did not invade Romania. From a geopolitical perspective, the Beijing-Bucharest axis was
seen as an alternative to the Soviet domination by the Western countries.
5. The Sino-Romanian relations during Nicolae Ceaușescu’s

regime
5.1. Romania and the Sino-American conflict
From his official coming to power in 1967 until his death in 1989 (he was
executed on the 25th of December 1989, event that coincided with the fall of
communism in Romania), Nicolae Ceaușescu was one of the most important leaders of
his time. Due to his independent political strategy, the Western capitalist powers
considered him to be a very important partner within the Eastern Communist Block.
Ceaușescu’s speech in 1968 against the Warsaw Treaty Countries invasion in
Czechoslovakia boosted his political career and offered him high appreciation from the
Western powers. Therefore, in August 1969, the American president Richard Nixon
visited Ceaușescu in Bucharest. It was the first visit of an American president in a
socialist country after the Second World War (Buzatu, 2005).
During Ceaușescu’s regime, Romania took the initiative to mediate the Sino-
American conflict. Bucharest was struggling to convince Washington to revise its anti-
18
China policy. Romania and China were searching for an outside partner who could offer
help in their effort for achieving independency from Moscow regarding internal and
foreign affairs. One very important moment was the discussion between the Romanian
prime-minister Maurer and the American ambassador in Bucharest, Crawford. Maurer
told Crawford that the United States should not have this kind of attitude towards China,
the biggest country in the world (Watts L. L., 2013, pg. 159-166). In 1967, in the context
of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, Bucharest was mediating the Sino-American
approach at the request of President Lyndon Johnson (Watts L. L., 2013, pg. 159-166).
Moreover, during his visit in Romania in 1969, President Richard Nixon renewed his
predecessor’s request from July 1967 to grant Romania’s right to mediate the Sino-
American relations. Nixon immediately received a positive answer from Bucharest
(Watts L. L., 2013, pg. 159-166). The Americans did not expect and were surprised when
the Chinese Communists came to power in China. The Americans were supporting
Chiang Kai-Shek (蔣介石- Jiǎng Jièshí) and the Kuomintang (KMT-国民党). Moreover,
America’s support to Taiwan and South Korea created a significant hostility between the
Chinese and the Americans.
In 1971, on the occasion of Romanian President Ceaușescu’s visit in the United
States, President Richard Nixon officially thanked him for Romania’s contribution to the
normalization of the American-Chinese relations (Budura, 2008, pg. 33). The Romanian
officials managed to strategically position the country within the Beijing-Washington
axis. This way, Romania was always prepared to resist to a possible Soviet invasion.
5.2. Romania, the first country in the hierarchy of China’s best

friends
Due to the normalization of the Sino-American relations and also the
normalization of the Sino-Japanese relations in 1971, China gained the status of a
worldwide political and military power. Therefore Romania officially became the first
European diplomatic partner, followed by Vietnam and North Korea (Budura, 2008, pg.
33). From this moment on, the Romanian-Chinese relations improved a lot in all areas of
activity. The political dialogue and the economic cooperation were boosted. The period
between 1970 and 1980 represented the best period in the history of Romanian-
Chinese relations. Therefore, what was an ideological relation based on the loyalty
towards the Soviet Union and Stalin’s government in 1949, transformed in a relation
based on the idea of achieving independency from Moscow. Ceaușescu’s policy to
disagree the interference in other countries internal affairs linked perfectly with China’s
will of achieving independency, mainly in the context of the Sino-Soviet conflict.
In September 1975, being very sick, the Chinese Premier Zhou En-Lai received in
19
hospital Ilie Verdeț, who was a high official in the Romanian Communist Party. Verdeț
was the last official received by Zhou En-Lai before his death. This historical fact
emphasized the deep appreciation of the Chinese Premier for Romania (Budura, 2008,
pg. 36). During that visit, Zhou En-Lai told Ilie Verdeț that “the Chinese people will
always support the Romanian people and will always support Romania’s fight to achieve
its national independency and sovereignty” (Budura, 2008, pg. 36, my transl.). The fight
for independency and sovereignty within the socialist world order ruled by the Soviets,
supported by the common socialist ideology, were the foundations for the Romanian-
Chinese relations.
6. Economic Cooperation
6.1. The development of the Chinese economy and Deng
Xiaoping’s reforms
According to American data, from the 1st century of our era until 1840 (when
England forced the defeated China to cede territories and pay war compensation), China
was responsible for 25-33% of the world GDP. After 1840 China’s worldwide GDP
contribution decreased to 3-4% (the so called “century of shame”). It stayed like this
until the end of 1978. (Dumitrescu, Velişcu, Ivaşcu, & Ţighi, 2009, Ion Dorobanțu). Until
1979, under the leadership of Chairman Mao Zedong, China had a centrally planned
economy specific to all socialist countries. Everything was controlled by the state which
was imposing production goals which needed to be achieved by the industry. The
private property was forbidden and everything was collectivized into large communes
(Morrison, 2014).
The history of the Chinese economy changed in 1978, when the Third Plenum of
the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party adopted Deng Xiaoping’s
economic proposals, which started to be implemented in 1979 (Morrison, 2014).
According to Morrison, with an average annual gross domestic product growth of
approximately 10% from 1979 to 2013, it is estimated that 500 million people in China
have been raised out of extreme poverty. Therefore, shortly after Mao’s death in 1976,
the new President Deng Xiaoping stated that: “Black cat, white cat, what does it matter
what color the cat is as long as it catches mice?” (Morrison, 2014, pg. 2)
20
Chart 1, source: (Morrison, 2014, pg. 4)
Chart 2, source: (Morrison, 2014, pg.13)
21
Due to the economic reforms at the end of the 1970’s, the real GDP (chart 1)
and the annual foreign direct investments (chart 2) have increased significantly due to
China’s opening to the world. It was the beginning of a significant shift in the structure
of the world order. China was beginning its path towards entering the group of the
world great powers. Deng Xiaoping and his regime understood that the economy must
be independent from the ideology and China needs to cooperate with both communist
and capitalist states.
6.2. The Romanian economy between 1949 and 1989

After 1949, Romania gradually transformed from an agrarian economy to a
heavy industrialized economy. If in 1981 China was beginning its amazing economic
development, Romania’s economy was beginning its fast decline, as a consequence of
Ceaușescu’s stubbornness which isolated the country. The Romanian government
decided in 1980 to pay all Romania’s national debt to the International Monetary Fund,
ahead of schedule (Verdery, 1991).
“From the late 1940’s to the mid 1970’s the poor southern periphery of Europe
saw an unprecedented pace of industrialization” (Ban, 2012). According to Daniel Chirot,
all European communist economies have stressed industrial growth. “Romania since
1958 has done so to an extraordinary degree. Romanian industrial production has
grown proportionately more rapidly than that of any other European country” (Ban,
2012). According to europeaneconomics.wordpress.com here are some facts about the
Romanian economy during the communist period:
 “Between 1950 and 1973 Romania joined Yugoslavia and Bulgaria in achieving
average annual growth rates that were above both the Central European and
the West European average.”
 68 % growth rates per decade between 1950 and 1974; Romania had the same
economic growth rhythm as Germany and Yugoslavia.
 The percentage of investment in industry grew from 18% of GDP during the
1951-1955 to 34% during 1971-1975.
 Between 1950 and 1968, Romania had 545 industrial index points, higher than
378 in Spain and 362 in Greece.
 By 1983 the Romanian engineering sector was ranked the 10th largest in the
world.
 The share of manufacturing in exports grew from 7% in 1950 to 60% in 1989.
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6.3. The Sino-Romanian economic cooperation

Between 1949 and 1989, Romania managed to partially exit the Soviet influence
and therefore built a strong economic relation with China, creating an alternative to the
Soviet domination. In the opinion of Chinese officials, Romania was a window of China
towards Europe. Officially, the most important economic cooperation started in 1964,
when the Romanian Communist Party Secretary Nicolae Ceaușescu signed an economic
agreement with the Chinese part, which was mainly about delivering Romanian petrol
to China. Before the signing of the treaty in 1964, Romania helped the development of
the Chinese petrol industry in the 1950’s sending specialists and machinery. It was a
situation where Romania, a country with a much more developed economy and industry
was helping China to develop its economy and industry. Considering the Soviet pressure
within the Socialist Block, both China and Romania had limited possibilities of economic
cooperation.
On the 28th of June 1970, China offered Romania an irredeemable financial aid
in value of 52 million Yuan (approximately 25 million USD) (Budura, 2008). In May 1970
Romania suffered from devastating floods and the aid received from the Chinese was
used to get out from the complicated situation. It was the only moment in the history of
Romania when the country received such a big irredeemable financial aid from a foreign
country (Buzatu, 2005).
Between 1971 and 1972, the young Jiang Zemin (江泽民; President of China
between 1993 and 2003) was leading a group of Chinese experts who contributed to the
installing of new Chinese machinery in the Romanian factories and supervised the
production of Romanian merchandise which was afterwards sold on the Chinese market.
Later on, from the position of President of People’s Republic of China, Jiang Zemin
always supported the Romanian-Chinese relations (Buzatu, 2005).
On the 27th of November 1974, for the first time in history, the Romanian Air
Transport Company (TAROM) and the Civil Aviation Administration of China (C.A.A.C. 中
国民用航空局) established a direct route from Bucharest to Beijing (Buzatu, 2005).
In 1978, at the apogee of the economic cooperation, the economic exchanges
reached 3.6 billion USD. Romania exported goods and services in value of 1.7 billion USD
(power equipments, petrol, cars, trucks, boats, pipes, fertilizers and more) and imported
Chinese goods and services in the value of 1.8 billion dollars (iron alloys, natural rubber,
cotton, wool, clothing, metallurgical products) (GAVRILEŢ, pg 3-4, my transl.).
As soon as the Cultural Revolution ended in China in 1976, Romania became one
of the main examples to follow for China, because the Romanian economy was already
much more developed than the Chinese economy. The national income per capita in
1977 was 1160 USD in Romania and 154 USD in China (Dumitrescu, Velişcu, Ivaşcu, &
23
Ţighi, 2009, Liu Yong). The balance was in favor of Romania.

Between 1951 and 1980, the Romanian industry increased 32 times (Dumitrescu,
Velişcu, Ivaşcu, & Ţighi, 2009, Liu Yong). According to New China News Agency, Romania
reached in 1976 a level of half ton of steel and one ton of cereals per capita. The New
China News Agency considered that the Romanian experience deserved to be analyzed
(Dumitrescu, Velişcu, Ivaşcu, & Ţighi, 2009, Liu Yong).
As a conclusion, Romania’s economy was much more developed in the 1960’s
and the 1970’s than the Chinese economy, as China just exited the Cultural Revolution
and was trying to redesign the economical structure with the purpose of opening to the
west. Initially an ideological based friendship, the Sino-Romanian relations developed
and created important economic and strategic cooperation for mutual benefits. This
development was characterized by both countries’ idea to support national economic
and political independency. Besides the fact that the Romanian leaders supported China
regarding the conflicts with the United States and the Soviet Union, Romania was also
contributing to the development of the Chinese economy. On the others side, China was
for Romania a very important strategic and military partner. According to Viorel
Isticioaia-Budura, the head of the Asia and Pacific Department within the European
External Action Service and former Romanian ambassador in Beijing, Romania was after
the Soviet Union the second modernization partner of China (托莫泽伊, 2013, pg. 27-
40).
6.4. The beginning of the decline (the end of the 1970’s and the
1980’s)
Until the fall of Mao Zedong and the coming to power of Deng Xiaoping, the
Romanian-Chinese economic relations were very good. The decline begun in the 1980’s
when the two countries started to follow opposite paths regarding the economic
development. Deng Xiaoping’s reforms at the end of the 1970’s, did not change only the
structure of the Chinese economy but also redesigned China’s perspective towards the
Western capitalist countries and shifted the structure of the world order. Deng Xiaoping
promoted the idea that the political orientation was not the most important one, but
the economic efficiency. The new stable legislation was an efficient background for
economic development.
On the other side, Nicolae Ceaușescu’s Romania was a closed country, becoming
more and more isolated from other foreign countries, both capitalist and socialist.
According to Ion Buzatu, Romania was in that period “an ideological and economical
prison” (Buzatu, 2005, pg. 125, my transl.) Ceaușescu regime’s decision to pay the
national debt (approximately 14 billion USD) created total isolation as the industry was
24
expressly concentrated on paying the national debt. The lack of vision and thinking in
perspective transformed the Romanian industry into a non efficient one, which was
rapidly degrading. As a consequence of the intensive exports in order to pay the
national debt, the Romanian market was suffering of huge shortages, fact that created a
huge dissatisfaction among the population (Goldman, 1997). Because all the Romanian
high quality products were exported to the Western countries, China was receiving low
quality exports, fact that created a huge dissatisfaction in Beijing (Buzatu, 2005).
Moreover, Ceaușescu disliked the new Chinese reforms and his regime even started to
censor positive information about the successful Chinese reforms, as being harmful for
the Romanian society (Buzatu, 2005). The communist regime in Bucharest did not
understand that ideology and economy must be separated. Despite more and more
significant ideological differences, the official visits between Romania and China
continued, but without any achievements. Ceaușescu visited China in 1982, 1985 and
1988. On the other side, the new Chinese leaders Li Xiannian, Hu Yaopang and Zhao
Ziyang visited Romania in 1984, 1986 and 1987 (Buzatu, 2005).
Furthermore, because China was gradually improving diplomatic relations with
the worldwide powers, Romania was not seen any more as an entrance door for the
Chinese towards the West. As a consequence of Ceaușescu’s disastrous economic and
political reforms and his refuse to cooperate with the West, Romania’s importance in
the worldwide diplomacy significantly decreased.
During those times the balanced changed. According to chart 1 and chart 2, in
the moment when the Chinese economy started to develop, Romania started its decline.
The fact that the 2 countries chose different paths had negative impacts on the
diplomatic relations which furthermore negatively influenced the economic exchanges.
7. Romanian-Chinese relations after the anti-communist

Romanian revolution in 1989
7.1. Diplomacy and politics

7.1.1. The impact of the Romanian revolution
The Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu was executed on the 25th of
December 1989, event that symbolized the fall of communism in Romania. During the
Romanian revolution in December 1989, over 1100 people died and over 3300 people
were wounded (Buzatu, 2005). According to Felicia Gherman, the fact that the
Romanians executed their leader in the Christmas day of 1989, created a strong
25
negative impact in the eyes of the Chinese people. Felicia Gherman stated that the
execution of Ceaușescu had the same impact for the Chinese as if Mao Zedong was
executed during the Chinese New Year. After this event the Chinese started to be more
careful about the relation with Romania.
On the 27th of December 1989, immediately after Ceaușescu was executed, the
Chinese President Yang Shangkun (杨尚昆) together with the Foreign Affairs Minister
Qian Qichen (钱其琛) sent an official letter to Ion Iliescu (the leader of the Romanian
National Salvation Front which was the structure which came to power after
Ceaușescu’s death) stating that “China respects Romanian people’s will to choose their
political regime and hopes to maintain and develop the bilateral relations between the
two countries” (Buzatu, 2005, pg. 128, my transl.).
7.1.2. The Sino-Romanian relations enter a new era

The letter sent on the 27th of December 1989 by the Chinese President Yang
Shangkun (杨尚昆) to the new Romanian leader Ion Iliescu represented a very
important sign that China agreed with the changes which occurred in Romania. With the
purpose of continuing the cooperation for mutual benefits, China accepted the new
democratic regime in Bucharest. The maintenance of the Romanian-Chinese relations
should not have had any impediments. Therefore the official diplomatic dialogue was
relaunched and the official visits restarted. Due to the restart of the official visits, there
were signed several treaties of bilateral cooperation, based on a new legislation and
abolishing any ideology (Buzatu, 2005). The socialist ideology was a central pylon of the
Sino-Romanian relations before 1989. Therefore, Deng Xiaoping’s “black cat, white cat”
theory was supporting China’s understanding about the fall of communism in Eastern
Europe. China was willing to economically cooperate with Romania, even though the
structure of the Bucharest regime changed drastically. The fall of communism in Eastern
Europe created a shift in the world order and the Chinese immediately understood.
Romania was therefore assured by the Chinese that politics must not influence the
economic cooperation.
7.1.3. Bessarabia, Taiwan and Hong Kong

In the beginning of the 1990’s the Soviet Union disintegrated fact that
represented a huge opportunity for the 15 republics which were part of the Soviet
Union to achieve their national independence. Regarding Bessarabia, as it was later
demonstrated, the Romanian leaders did a big mistake and recognized the
independence of Bessarabia which became the independent Republic of Moldova. In the
unstable context of the beginning of the 1990’s, Romania decided to establish
diplomatic relations with the Republic of Moldova as it did with any other foreign
26
country. This decision was confusing for China, as the Romanian leaders always stated
that Bessarabia was a part of Romania and they pleaded for unification (Watts, 2013).
Before 1989 China supported Romania’s opinion about Bessarabia, therefore the new
situation created confusion between the Romanians and the Chinese. After the
establishment of the new Republic of Moldova, China did not hesitate to establish
diplomatic relations with the new country.
Regarding Taiwan, the position of the new democratic Romanian leaders was a
bit confusing in the beginning. People’s Republic of China strictly rejects the idea that
Taiwan is a different country than China. Moreover, China will terminate any diplomatic
relations with the countries which establish separate diplomatic relations with Taiwan
(Buzatu, 2005, pg. 131, my transl.). The publication of the article named “The Chinese
Syndrome” (Romanian: Sindromul Chinezesc) by the Romanian publicist C. Avramescu
who pleaded for a separate diplomatic relation between Romania and Taiwan and
insisted for the visit of Emil Constantinescu (President of Romania between 1996 and
2000) in Taiwan, created diplomatic misunderstandings between Beijing and Bucharest
(Buzatu, 2005). In the end, the Romanian government joined the Chinese perspective
and issued a document which stated that: “Romania reaffirms the existence of a single
China, Taiwan being an inseparable part of China. The Chinese government is the only
legitimate representative of the Chinese people. Romania will never establish separate
diplomatic relations with Taiwan” (Buzatu, 2005, pg. 132, my transl., as cited in the
archive of the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 1997)
On the 1st of July 1997 Hong Kong officialy entered under the Chinese
sovereignity, event which was a great success for the Chinese diplomacy. As a
consequence of its unstable view towards the international diplomacy and especially
towards Republic of Moldova, the Romanian officials were not invited among the other
40 countries officials who participated at the ceremony on the 1st of July 1997 (Buzatu,
2005). Hong Kong for China was almost the same situation as Republic of Moldova for
Romania, two territories lost by the mother countries which have been trying to recover
them. China succeded but Romania did not.
The Romanian revolution was a turning point. The instability and the
uncertainty of the Romanian external policies created a gap between Romania and
China. Facing a new way, the Romanian officials hesitated when they firmly had to
decide the future of the country. Being geographically and strategically positioned
between West and East, it was a huge struggle to decide which way to go. If before 1989
Romania involved in the Sino-American and in the Sino-Soviet conflicts supporting the
Bucharest-Beijing axe as an alternative to Moscow, after 1989 the situation changed.
The common enemy, the Soviet Union, disappeared, China opened to the world and
27
Romania lost its role as the gate for China towards Europe. The Romanian diplomacy
was trying to find new ways of cooperating with the West, but in the same time
neglecting the relation with China, even though China expressed its support for the new
capitalist Romania.
7.1.4. Romania’s position regarding the human rights in China

The human rights in China have always represented a sensitive and complex
issue. According to the Human Rights Watch website, here are some of the main human
rights problems in China: the press, the internet, the print publications and academic
research are censored by the government; a huge number of people suffer from
relocation and rehousing against their will; Tibet, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and other
ethinc minorities areas suffer from highly repressive policies imposed by the Chinese
government; people with disabilities are discriminated. The government justifies these
measueres as being a protection for social stability (Human Rights Watch, 2014).
Therefore, the United States of America and the European Union kept putting pressure
on the Chinese government regarding the human rights issues.
Romania’s position regarding this problem fluctuated over the years. Exiting the
communist block in 1989, Romania turned and opened towards the West of Europe. For
a period, the Romanian officials used the diplomatic method of abstention regarding the
international votes about the Chinese human rights. Using this method, Romania tacitly
supported China. However, starting year 2000, Romania changed its perspective and
totally joined the American and the European Union perspective, voting against China.
Romania’s change of opinion starting with 2000 was justified by the beginning of the
procedures for joining the European Union (Romania joined the European Union on the
1st of January 2007). Therefore, by voting against China, the Romanian officials tried to
impress the Western European Union countries with the purpose of a better
cooperation regarding the European integration. The Chinese government was
disappointed by the fluctuations of Bucharest and classified Romania as an unstable and
opportunist country (Buzatu, 2005).
Romania’s hesitation regarding the West-East axis definitely affected the
diplomatic relation with China. Again, the lack of vision and uncertainty of the Romanian
officials were the reasons for a worsening of the relations with China. Between 1981
and 1989 and in the beginning of the 1990’s, Romania lost its diplomatic influence, first
of all as a consequence of Ceaușescu’s stubbornness and decisions and after 1990 as a
consequence of political uncertainty and lack of vision. Therefore, all these affected not
only the political relation between Romania and China, but also the economic one. An
unstable diplomatic relation was a negative background for economic relations.
28
7.2. Economic cooperation

Bilateral trade volume Romania-P.R. China between 1991 and 2008 expressed in
millions of United States Dollar.
Year Total Export Import Balance

1991 294,6 139,7 154,9 -15,2
1992 304 230,4 73,6 +156,8
1993 497,3 410 87,4 +322,6
1994 335,7 275,6 60,1 +115,5
1995 261,8 179,1 82,7 +96,4
1996 208,1 92,9 115,2 -22,3
1997 185,8 58,1 127,7 -69,6
1998 200,3 22,8 177,5 -154,7
1999 181 36 145 -109
2000 258,7 85 173,7 -88,7
2001 342,4 89,1 253,3 -164,2
2002 608 216 392 -176
2003 831 248 583 -335
2004 1012 158 854 -696
2005 1484 165 1319 -1154
2006 1916,4 173,69 1742,71 -1569,2
2007 1826,3 156,7 1669,6 -1512,9
2008 3800 270,17 3529,83 -3259,66
Chart 3, source: from 1991 to 2001 (Buzatu, 2005, pg. 137)
from 2002 to 2008 (Russu & Bulearcă, 2009, pg. 50)
After 1989, Romania has exported in China timber and wooden made products,
base metals, junk iron, synthetic fibers and a limited number of Dacia cars. On the oher
side, after 1989 China has exported in Romania textile articles and clothing, footwear,
food, chemical products, organic chemical products, stationery, toys, electrical
appliances, computer technology (Buzatu, 2005, pg. 136, my transl.). According to the
Romanian diplomat and former ambassador Ion Buzatu, between 1990 and 2000, China
invested 43,2 millions USD in Romania, being on the 18th place in the hierarchy of
foreign direct investments. On the other side, Romania invested just 1,3 millions USD
(investments accomplished by only 2 Romanian companies).
In 1994, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001, China supported Romania by offering 5
bank deposits (each of them without interest or sometimes very low interest) (Buzatu,
2005).
29
The Bucharest-Beijing direct flying route established in 1974 ceased to work in

2003 as it became unprofitable (www.digi24.ro). The disappearance of the direct flying
route was an important sign that the Romanian-Chinese relations worsened.
According to chart 3, since 1996, the Romanian Imports-Exports deficit has
drastically increased from 22.3 millions USD in 1996 to aproximately 3.2 billions USD in
2008. Therefore, the Chinese exports in Romania gradually increased, fact which
demonstrates the success of the Chinese reforms in economy. On the other side, the
Romanian exports to China fluctuated and even though between 2004 and 2008 there
was an increase in the exports, it was definetely not eneough to cover the huge deficit
for the Romanian economy, fact which demonstrates Romania’s economic inefficiency
and stagnation mainly triggered by post-1989 uncertainty. All these economic results
were a consequence of Romania’s incapacity to efficiently reposition within the new
world order, so that to be able to cooperate with both West and China.
7.2.1. Romania, one of the EU and CEE10 (Central Eastern European) countries
Chart 4 ,source: Sarmiza Pencea-Windows of opportunity in China-CEE Economic

Relations, pg. 7
Regarding the CEE10 trade with China, Romania ranks on the 5th place, after
Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia (Pencea). In 2012, 70%-75% of Romania’s
foreign trade was with the European Union. Regarding Romania’s non-EU trading
partners, China ranks 3rd after Turkey and Russia (Pencea). The Romanian-Chinese trade
in 2012 is characterized by a huge deficit for the Romanian part, with about 500 million
USD exports to China and 2.7 billion USD imports from China (over 5 times larger
30
imports) (Pencea). According to the trade flows graph above, the Romanian deficit is
slowly decending: 2.2 bn. Euro in 2010, 2.1 bn. Euro in 2011, 1.7 bn. Euro in 2012.
Acording to Sarmiza Pencea, the reduction of deficit is a result of the global downturn,
not an improvement of the Romanian economy.
Sarmiza Pencea states in her analysis that, as a consequence of the
underdeveloped direct connections between the Romanian and Chinese companies,
many Romanian goods reach the Chinese market by third party intermediaries. For
example, “Romanian wood was re-sold to China by arab traders, Romanian ships were
re-sold to China by Dutch companies, Romanian machine-tools reached China through
German societies, while Romanian garments got into the Chinese market through Italian
firms”. On the other side, Chinese exports are partially channelled to Romania through
Hungary (Pencea, pg. 8). If in 1980 the GDP/capita was 2048 USD in Romania and 313
USD in China (calculated in current USD), in 2011 the GDP/capita was 2633 USD in
Romania and 2640 in China (IMF, 2015). These values emphasize the stagnation of the
Romanian economy and the huge development of the Chinese economy. The former
European Deputy Victor Bostinaru, declared in 2012 that Germany and France payed
much more attention to the relation with China than Romania (托莫泽伊, 2013, pg 172-
177).
Therefore, considering the aproximately 2.2 billions USD deficit that Romania
had with China in 2012 and that 70%-75% of Romania’s trade was with the European
Union in 2012, means that the Romanian revolution was a turning point after which
Romania did not know how to efficiently position itself within the new world order, and
mainly oriented towards the European Union. It seemed that Romania’s foreign trade is
based on political orientation, at least concerning the relation with China. If before 1989
Romania was the most important partner for China in Europe, after 1989 the Western
countries became the main trading partners. Moreover, the lack of strategy and the
ineffectiveness of the Romanian economy channelled the Chinese exports in Romania
through other EU countries, this way Romania losing money.
7.2.2. Wine, the most exported Romanian product in China
According to Tiberiu Haliţă, the director of the Romanian-Chinese House (罗马

尼亚中国之家) the wine represents one of Romania’s main products exported in China.
The Romanian wine producers first entered the Chinese market in 2009 with the
ocassion of an international wine fair (China Economic Review, 2010). Romania is
“among the top ten countries in the world in terms of area of wine cultivated but in
terms of exports the country occupies only the the 32th place worldwide” (Topor,
31
Căpuşneanu, & Puţan, 2012, pg. 404). The fact which pushed the Romanian producers
towards the Chinese market was the domination of France, Italy or Spain on the EU
market. In 2010, in the hierarchy of Romania’s wine export destinations, the Chinese
market was on the second place with a percentage of 18% of the total wine exports,
after the German market which was the main destination for the Romanian wine
exports with a percentage of 25% of total wine exports (Topor, Căpuşneanu, & Puţan,
2012). With a wine consumption growth rate of 15% between 2006 and 2011, the
Chinese market officialy became Romania’s main wine export destination in 2012
(Agerpres, Asian market is strategic target of Romanian wine producers, 2013).
8. 1949-2014, 65 years of bilateral diplomatic relations

“We jointly consider that, during more than half a century, no matter what the
changes of the international situation and of the internal situation of either country /.../
the Romanian-Chinese friendship has remained unflagging and it has even become
firmer over time. This year we celebrate 65 years since the establishment of diplomatic
ties between China and Romania” (Agerpres, 2014), this was a part of Chinese Premier Li
Keqiang’s (李克强) speech, during the China-Central and Eastern European Economic &
Trade Forum held in Bucharest in 2014.
During the bilateral meeting in 2014, Romania and China signed the following
bilateral agreements:
 An agreement of cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy (Agerpres,

2014). Romanian Authority for Nuclear Activities is planning to build an
electricity production unit in value of 350 million USD, three Chinese companies
showing interest about this project (Stanciu, 2014).
 The Romanian Vice-Premier Liviu Dragnea and the Chinese Vice-Premier Yi
Huiman signed a financial cooperation agreement between the Romanian
government and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.
 Aurel Niculescu, the general director of Hunedoara Power Plant and Xin
Chunsheng, the chairman of China Electric Engineering Corporation signed a
contract for upgrading group 4 of the heating plant based in Deva (Romania)
and building de-sulfuring facilities (Agerpres, 2014).
 Mayor of Craiova (an important city in the south-west of Romania) signed an
agreement with China Development Bank and Shandong Ningjian Construction
Group with the purpose of building residential districts (Agerpres, 2014).
32
 Romanian and Chinese governments signed a cultural agreement for years

2013-2016 with the purpose of establishing the Romanian Cultural Institute in
Beijing and the Chinese Cultural Center in Bucharest (Stanciu, 2014).
 The two parts signed an official agreement regarding the export of Romanian
cattle for breeding and pork to China (Stanciu, 2014).
 Romania and China signed an agreement in order to support the establishment
of a center of the Chinese company Huawei Technologies in Bucharest.
9. The perspective of the Romanian-Chinese relations

“There is no need for a new Bucharest-Beijing axe”, these were the words of
the liberal candidate Klaus Iohannis (the current president of Romania) during the
presidential debate against the social-democrat Victor Ponta in November 2014 (Andrei
& Simina, 2014). According to the European Commission, EU has become China’s biggest
source of imports and the trade between EU and China is well over 1 billion euro every
day. Romanian people and politicians are still influenced by the past and do not
understand that economical relations are not based on ideologies anymore. Even
though the EU has a successful trade partnership with China, Romania is still positioned
in the lower part of the rankings. Romania needs to reposition itself within the new
world order and redesign its perspective towards China, which is today a global power.
According to the declaration of Klaus Iohannis above, it seems that the current
Romanian president is satisfied with the current situation of the Sino-Romanian
relations, even though there are many issues to reconsider for the future.
According to the China Radio International journalist Felicia Gherman, China is a
strong centralized state which has a very good institutional memory. Even though the
new Chinese leaders do not have the same vision on Romania as the older ones, they
are certainly aware of the former Romanian-Chinese relations. The history of the Sino-
Romanian relations represents a great argument for the consolidation of the bilateral
relations. An economic cooperation with China can develop the Romanian economy.
Today, in comparison with the beginning of the 1970’s, the balance between Romania
and China changed. Romania became the underdeveloped country which needs help
from China. For sure, China expressed its willingness to further develop the relation with
Romania.
In 2011, the Romanian Premier Victor Ponta declared that Romania, in
comparison with other countries, has a sentimental and political advance regarding the
relation with China (托莫泽伊, 2013, pg. 52-54).
The former European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development
33
Dacian Ciolos, declared that because he was Romanian, he was able to easily build
friendship relations with Chinese officials. He also declared that China wished to be
more involved in Romania’s economic development, but unfortunately many times the
Chinese part did not find lasting partners. China needs imports in order to be able to
feed its own population, because China has does not have the capability to feed its own
citizens exclusively from domestic agriculture. Therefore, Romania needs to take
advantage of its agricultural capacities and export to China. Romania has the possibility
to export a large variety of agricultural products, not only wine (托莫泽伊, 2013, pg.
125-127).
The current Romanian Ambassador in China, His Excellency Doru Costea, stated
that there were 3 strong arguments to support the further development of the
Romanian-Chinese relations. The first argument was that the two countries have a very
good historical background regarding the mutual cooperation. The second argument
was that both countries shared common values, fact that created a significant solidarity
among people. The third argument was the common interests. Doru Costea declared
that at present times countries cannot live alone anymore, and therefore countries
must cooperate. To cooperate does not mean to look at each other, but it means to look
in the same direction, fact that already happens regarding Romania and China,
according to Ambassador Doru Costea (托莫泽伊, 2013, pg. 186-190).
Even though the Romanian president had a bit ambiguous declaration about the
Romanian-Chinese relations, there are other Romanian officials, who are willing to
improve the Sino-Romanian relations, considering the fact that, as they declared, there
is a very good historical background and both countries share common interests for
mutual development. However, it is not enough to talk, it is necessary to have firm and
practical decisions
10. Results
Regarding the Romanian-Chinese relations, from a political-diplomatic point of
view, the relations worsened after 1989. The main reasons for the positive development
of the bilateral relations between 1949 and 1989 were the common ideology and both
countries fight to achieve politic and economic independency from the Soviet Union.
The decline was started by Ceaușescu’s stubbornness starting with 1981 because he did
exactly the opposite of Deng Xiaoping, isolating and not opening Romania. The
Romanian leaders did not understand that the economic cooperation must be separated
from ideologies. Before 1989, Romania had a stable diplomacy very appreciated by the
Chinese. After 1989, Romania found itself in a transition from communism to capitalism,
34
trying to forget everything linked to the communist past and struggling to impress the
European Union. Romania’s fluctuating attitude towards Bessarabia, Taiwan and Hong
Kong decreased China’s trust. If in 1975, Zhou En-Lai insisted that the last official he
wanted to see before his death was Romanian, in 1997 the Romanian officials were not
even invited to participate at the entrance of Hong Kong under Chinese sovereignty.
Even though the Chinese officials understood and agreed the political changes in
Romania, the uncertainty and the incapability of the Romanians to efficiently and
diplomatically position within China-EU axis, neglected the relation with China and
affected the Romanian-Chinese relations.
From an economic point of view, the situation worsened a lot, especially for the
Romanian side. If in the 1960’s and in the 1970’s the Romanian economy was a model
for the Chinese and was much more developed and in 1978 the imports-exports ratio
was almost equal (just 100 million USD deficit for Romania), in 2008 the deficit was
approximately 3.2 billion USD and in 2012 2.2 billion USD. The Chinese exports kept
increasing but Romania’s economic capacity significantly decreased, and what left was
oriented towards the EU. If in the 1960’s and the 1970’s, Romania was exporting
important technology to China, in 2014 there is a big difference, Romania’s most
important export good being the wine. The declining of the Economic cooperation is a
consequence of the failure of the political and diplomatic relations between Romania
and China after 1989 and also of the transition from communism to capitalism. Even
though the Chinese officials expressed their wish to maintain and further develop the
relations with Romania, the answers coming from Bucharest were unclear. After 1989,
the economic cooperation is mainly done by China, Romania contributing much less.
Romania is dependent on the EU market, fact demonstrated by the fact that Chinese
exports reach Romania through other EU countries and Romanian exports reach China
through other EU countries.
35
11. Conclusion
The Romanian anti-communist revolution in 1989 represented for Romania a
turning point, after which Romania did not know exactly where to position itself within
the new world order, considering the fact that China became a global power. The
ambiguity of the Romanian officials concerning China decreased China’s trust in
Romania and as a result the economic cooperation was also affected. The
disappearance of the common enemy, the Soviet Union, represented the disappearance
of one of the most important pylons of the post 1989 relation. In order to revive the
bilateral cooperation with China, Romania needs to rethink its position within the new
world order, within the new geopolitical context, China being a global power and
Romania being a member of the European Union. Romania needs to find a way to
efficiently cooperate with the current 3 main strategic partners: the European Union,
China and the United States. The Romanian diplomacy needs to have firm and clear
actions without any signs of ambiguity.
36
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39
Appendix
Interviews
Interview 1
Felicia Nina Gherman, journalist and media expert working for the Romanian
Department at China Radio International
The beginning of the Romanian-Chinese diplomatic relations
1) Considering the official proclamation of People’s Republic of China on the 1 st of

October 1949, why do you think Romania reacted so fast and was the third country in
the world to officially recognize the new China?
In 1949, Romania was under total control of Moscow. The Romanians were
following any initiative of the Soviets. Regarding China’s official recognition, it was the
same situation. Moreover, besides the following of the Soviet actions, the Romanians
were also aware of China’s important worldwide economic and politic position.
2) Why do you think, in 1949, the Chinese Prime Minister Zhou En-Lai, on behalf of the
Chinese government, accepted the invitation of the Romanian Foreign Minister Ana
Pauker, to establish diplomatic relations between the two countries?
After the proclamation of People’s Republic of China, the new state was officially
recognized only by the socialist states. The new Chinese political regime needed support,
considering the fact that the opposition was already established in Taiwan and had
Western support. The new Chinese regime was encouraging bilateral relations with
sister-countries, in order to drag China out of the underdeveloped political and social
situation in which it was. China needed new technology in order to redesign its economy
to reach modern standards. It was known the position of the former Chinese
emperors:”China can support itself, there is no need for outside help”. Of course, the
war which just finished in those times contributed to the bad situation in which China
was.
3) It is a true fact that before and today, there was and it is a huge cultural difference
between Romania and China. Also, the geographical distance between the two
countries cannot be forgotten. Taking into consideration all these aspects, which do
you think were the main pylons which supported the creation of the Romanian-
Chinese diplomatic relations?
40
The establishment of the Romanian-Chinese bilateral relations in 1949 and the

consolidation and development from 1949 to 1989 based on: the cooperation against
the common enemy, the USSR; the same political identity; the absence of any territorial
claims and misunderstandings; the economic and cultural exchanges; tourism.
4) In the very beginning of the Romanian-Chinese diplomatic relations, in your opinion,

which do you think it was Romania’s impression about China and China’s impression
about Romania?
In my opinion, I think the impressions which countries have about each other
depend a lot on the geographical position. The closer they are, even having common
borders, the more negative the opinion about each other, because of the former
conflicts, in the past. Therefore, if the distance is bigger, the mutual impressions are free
from any negative stereotypes which strongly influence the image of the neighbor. This
is the same situation considering Romania and China. Not having any territorial, political
or economical conflict, the two countries had a positive impression about each other
which contributed to the consolidation of the bilateral relations.
The Sino-Soviet conflict
1) It is a true fact that in the beginning, after Romania abrogated the monarchy and
became a republic in 1947, the Romanian-Soviet relations were considered to be good.
Afterwards, the relations between Bucharest and Moscow became colder. Why do you
think this happened?
The evolution of the Romanian-Soviet relations depended on the social-political
transformation which Romania faced after 1944. Especially after the establishment of
the Petru Groza government facilitated by the Soviet pressure, on the 6th of March 1945,
Romania totally acceded to the Soviet policy becoming in those times just a loyal
follower of the Soviet orders coming from Moscow. Since the early establishment of
Petru Groza’s government, the Soviets had controlled all the fundamental sectors of the
Romanian state: economic, military, secret service, political, cultural etc. The
penetration and the enslavement of the Romanian economy were done through the so
called “Sovrom” mixed companies. The so called “cooperation” and “fraternal countries
help” had actually the purpose to rob the Romanian economy. In those times Romania
confronted with the biggest dispossession of national resources and technology in
history. About this episode, the former famous Romanian politician Constantin I.
Brătianu stated in 1945: “If the Germans took the eggs from our Chickens, the Russians
first ate our chickens and then demanded us to give them eggs”. If in the beginning the
Romanians working in the Romanian Secret Service were used by the Soviets, then they
41
were replaced by N.K.V.D. agents, instructed by the Soviets. Regarding the Romanian
military elite, they were all removed and replaced with people totally loyal to Moscow.
Culturally, the promotion of several nullities to the rank of academicians (Mihai Roler for
instance), inevitably created a huge dissatisfaction among the Romanians. Therefore,
the Romanian officials started to realize that Romania needed to exit the Soviet
influence and re-earn, as much as possible, its independence regarding the internal and
foreign policies.
The death of I.V. Stalin in March 1953 created an appropriate political
background. The so called “Soviet satellites” in the Eastern Europe had then the
opportunity to try to exit the Soviet influence. Therefore, the “Sovroms” were dissolved
in 1954. The Romanian officials started to purify the Romanian Secret Service and to
eliminate the Soviet agents. The Romanians were trying to eliminate everybody linked
and loyal to Moscow. However, a complete purification of the Romanian Secret Service
and of the military institutions could not be accomplished because the Soviet Union was
still supervising everything what happened in Romania.
2) The Soviet Union supported the Chinese Communist Party to come into power. As it
happened between Romania and the Soviet Union, why do you think the Sino-Soviet
relations also became colder in time?
In general, there were the same reasons as regarding the Romanian-Soviet
relations. Being a victorious country in the Second World War, the Soviets started to
control many countries on the Globe. Therefore, the relations between the Soviet Union
and the other communist countries were characterized by a total subordination and
obedience of the smaller satellites. Who was not totally following the Moscow orders
was harshly attacked and threatened in order to re-become loyal to the Soviets.
Therefore, when Mao realized that the Soviet Union’s purpose was to
economically, politically and military subjugate China, rapidly reacted starting the fight
for independency. The initial ideological conflict rapidly degenerated in a military
conflict, with the Soviets invading China (the same situation as the Soviet invasion in
Hungary in 1956 and in Czechoslovakia in 1968). However, China was much stronger
than Hungary and Czechoslovakia. Even though the Soviets had a superior army and
military technology, they did not manage to succeed.
The Chinese-Soviet conflict also had another effect. The Chinese officials
understood that only cooperation with the Western Countries and the United States can
provide them with the newest military technology in order to help them defend against
the Soviets. Consequently, Richard Nixon visited China in 1972, fact that signaled the
early beginning of China’s opening towards the West, and of West towards China.
42
3) Which do you think was the opinion of the Soviet Union about the Romanian-Chinese
relations, between 1949 and 1989? How about the Romanian-Chinese relations after
1989?
The Soviet Union always tried to impede the consolidation of the Romanian-
Chinese bilateral relations because of the following reasons:
Both Romania and China were struggling to exit the Soviet influence. Romania
and China were in the same historical situation, both countries having territories stolen
by the Tsarist Russian Empire and then the Soviet Union. Romania and China could
support each other in order to regain the lost territories. A Romanian-Chinese approach
could lead, as it happened, to the mutual strategic support against the Soviet Union.
The consolidation of the Chinese-West approach triggered the huge economic
and military development of China, resulting in a significant reduction of China’s
economic and military dependency to Moscow. Therefore, due to this reduction, the
Chinese officials gained freedom regarding their decisions, so that the Chinese politics
did not need the approval from Moscow anymore.
After 1989, Russia had the same position regarding the Romanian-Chinese
relations. The Russian secret services continued to have a strong influence on the
Romanian society. Many former secret service agents were reactivated and promoted in
high official positions. Considering the increasing tension between the Occident and
Russia, Romania as a member of the European Union and NATO, should have continued
the diplomatic policy had until 1989 as a mediator between China and the West.
Therefore, after 1989, the Russian did everything they could in order to stop the
development of the Romanian-Chinese relations, in all areas of activity.
4) Do you think that Romania and China, through the creation of the Bucharest-Beijing
axe, were trying to get out from the Soviet influence and domination?
China and Romania supported each other in order to resist the Soviet
dominance. One of Soviet Union’s policies was to isolate and discredit the countries
which wanted to exit their influence. The same happened with China. The Soviet Union
tried to convince the surrounding countries to be hostile to China. Therefore, the Soviet
Union tried to include Mongolia in the Warsaw Treaty countries. Thanks to Romania’s
strong opposition, the Soviets did not manage to offer Mongolia the Warsaw Treaty
rights. Moreover, the Soviets started to support Taiwan. This support initiated in 1967,
meant “the exchange of secret information and the coordination of propaganda” (Larry
L.Wats, Ferește-mă Doamne de prieteni).
43
Romania was the country which mediated the American-Chinese approach. In

1967, president Lyndon B. Johnson asked the Romanian Prime-Minister Ioan Gheorghe
Maurer the official support regarding the American-Chinese approach. In October 1965,
Maurer told the American ambassador that the Americans should not ignore China,
which is a much less dangerous and aggressive country than the Soviet Union. Through
this mediation, China supported Romania to continue its exit from the Soviet influence.
During the Chinese Cultural Revolution, Romania served as a mediator between
China and the West, considering the fact that in those times China retreated all its
ambassadors.
Cultural and economic cooperation
1) Which do you think are the main cultural similarities between China and Romania?
Which do you think are the main cultural differences between China and Romania?
In my opinion, the most important similarities are the millenary traditions,
hospitality, generosity, simplicity, the way to deal with difficulties, honesty, the will for
peace through promoting mutual understanding and cooperation.
The differences are the cultural diversity and the way both countries consider
the past, the present and the future and how they react regarding this time axis. One of
the most important parts of the Chinese evolution is the harmony. This harmony
characterizes the way how the present is constructed, always keeping in mind the past.
The Romanians tend to forget the history, both positive and negative aspects. On the
other side, the Chinese always built their present and future respecting the past. The
Chinese have the great ability to see in perspective, to see the whole picture, not just
certain parts of it. On the other side, the Romanians were and are characterized by the
incapacity of thinking in perspective.
2) What do you think Romanians like the most about the Chinese? What do you think the
Chinese like the most about the Romanians?
The Romanians appreciate the Chinese for their patience, perseverance,
efficiency. The Romanians appreciate the fact that the Chinese are able to plan their
development plans for longer periods and that they consider the accomplishment of
their plans a high priority. On the other side, the Romanians start again from zero every
4 years, when the governments change. Every new government destroys what the
former government did, starting again an unending loop.
The Romanians admire the “Chinese economic miracle” accomplished through
44
their work power and dedication. The Chinese, who know Romania before 1989,
appreciate Romania’s cooperation with China. Many of the Chinese people were
shocked to find out that the former Romanian dictator, Nicolae Ceaușescu, was
executed by his own people in the Christmas day (25th of December 1989). Many
Chinese cannot, even today, understand this fact. The Chinese also do not understand
why after 1989, the relations between the two countries became significantly colder. In
my opinion, we can definitely not blame the Beijing authorities for this situation. The
Chinese tried after 1989 to revive the Romanian-Chinese bilateral relations, but the
answers from Bucharest were always confusing and inaccurate. The way the Romanians
reject communism should not be a reason, considering the fact that the other European
countries, both capitalist and former socialist, all have better relations with China, fact
which bring mutual benefits.
3) Can you please give me an example of Romanian and Chinese people (leaders, official
etc.), who throughout the years supported the Romanian-Chinese diplomatic relations?
Gheorghe Gheorghiu- Dej, Nicolae Ceaușescu, Emil Bodnăraș, Ion Gheorghe
Maurer, Corneliu Mănescu, Mao Zedong, Hua Gofeng, Deng Xiaoping, Zhou En-Lai.
4) Which do you think were the main fields of cultural cooperation between the two
countries, before 1989?
Immediately after the establishment of People’s Republic of China in 1949, in
1950 five young Romanians including Romulus Budura (former Romanian Ambassador in
China and a famous Romanian sinologist) and his wife Anna Budura, travelled to Beijing
in order to study the Chinese language and culture. In the same time, five young Chinese
travelled to Bucharest to study at the University of Bucharest. This way the student
exchanges between the two countries began. In the 1950’s and in the beginning of the
1960’s, the Chinese students were coming to Romania to study the Romanian language,
petro-chemistry, medicine, agronomy. Furthermore, Romanian intellectuals visited
China and wrote books and articles about China. The early Romanian sinologists
translated several famous Chinese writings. Also, Chinese intellectuals visited Romania
and translated famous Romanian writings in Chinese. The Chinese people know and
appreciate Romanian artists, such as Mihai Eminescu, Mihail Sadoveanu, Nicolae
Grigorescu, Ciprian Porumbescu. Moreover, Romanian movies were in those times
highly appreciated by the Chinese people.
5) Regarding the economic cooperation, which do you think were the main goods traded
between the two countries, before 1989?
In 1978, at the apogee of the economic cooperation, the economic exchanges
reached 3.6 billion USD. Romania exported goods and services in value of 1.7 billion USD
(power equipments, petrol, cars, trucks, boats, pipes, fertilizers and more) and imported
45
Chinese goods and services in the value of 1.8 billion dollars (iron alloys, natural rubber,
cotton, wool, clothing, metallurgical products)
6) Is it true that between 1949 and 1989, Romania supported and helped China to
develop its economy?
Yes, through the export of products which supported the development of the
Chinese industry, such as: energy equipment, electro-technical equipment, petrol, cars,
trucks, ships, pipes, fertilizers. Moreover, Romanian specialists and engineers were sent
to China to support the development of the Chinese industry. About this, I will give you
a very good example. Before 1949, the foreigners stated that there was no petrol in
China. But in the following 20 years things changed. A complete system of petrol
industry was created. Currently, the Hebei area is well known for the Chinese petrol
industry. In order to accomplish my research regarding a future project, I travelled to
Hebei and I was surprised to meet one of the oilmen who in 1978 worked on 12 of 15
Romanian installations built in that area. There were 100 oil probes which were
extracting petrol from 6000 meters depth. He told me, visibly emotionally affected, how
beautiful was the period when the Chinese collaborated with the Romanians and how
significant and fundamental was the Romanian help for the development of the Chinese
industry. He also stated that it wasn’t just a technical support, but also a sentimental
one.
After 1989, the fall of communism in Romania
1) How do you think the Chinese perceived the execution of the Romanian dictator
Nicolae Ceaușescu and the fall of communism in Romania?
To kill your leader, without a proper judgment, in the day of the most important
religious holiday of your culture, definitely negatively influenced the Chinese impression
on Romania. In my opinion, it is the same as killing Mao during the Chinese New Year.
There was also a big difference between the ways the communist regime was
established in Romania and China. In China, the communist party fought against
Japanese invaders and against Kuomintang regime’s abuse and injustice, therefore
gaining the support of the population. On the other side, in Romania, the communist
regime was imposed by the Soviet army which occupied the country. The communism
was associated with the Soviet occupier, with all the murders, abuses and the robbery of
the national treasure. It was obvious that the Romanians, with the first occasion which
was the revolution in 1989, were willing to abolish an unwanted regime which was
established by a different country.
46
2) Do you think that after 1989, the Romanian-Chinese relations became better or worse?
How do you think the Romanian anti-communist revolution in December 1989
influenced the Romanian-Chinese bilateral relation? Please argue your answer.
Regarding this questions, there are many aspects to consider. As I said before,
one of the main aspects to consider is how the communist regimes were established in
China and Romania. Another aspect is the strong influence of the Russian secret agents
on the Romanian society, in all areas of activity. In 1989, many Russian secret agents
were reactivated and promoted to very high official positions in the state. Following the
orders coming from Moscow, they blocked any attempt which Romania had to approach
China. Moreover, Romania was accepted in the European Union more as a market for
the Western products and less for any other reasons. As a consequence of these events
and with the contribution with several corrupt Romanian leaders, Romania was
discouraged to maintain and consolidate the bilateral relation with China. Moreover,
there was also the lack of perspective, bad will, and the corruption of the all Romanian
leaders after 1989.
The conclusion is that after 1989 the Romanian-Chinese relations gradually
decreased. Even though there were constantly positive reactions from Beijing, the
Romanian leaders did not have the capability to understand the signals sent from Beijing.
3) What do you think about the economic cooperation between Romania and China after
1989?
China is Romania’s main trading partner in Asia. After 1989, Romania has been
facing a gradually increasing imports-exports deficit. According to Nicolae Gavrileț, in
2002 Romania was exporting in China in value of 216 million USD and was importing in
value of 392 million USD (1.81/1 surplus in favor of China). Three years later in 2005,
Romania was exporting in value of 165 million USD and was importing in value of 1.31
billion USD (7.99/1 surplus in favor of China). In 2008, the Romanian exports almost
doubled reaching the value of 270 million USD, while the Chinese imports were in value
of 3.53 billion USD (13.06/1 surplus in favor of China). These statistics signal the fact
that the bilateral cooperation needs to be intensified, from an economical, trading and
scientific points of view. The current cooperation is far from the one before 1989. The
huge trading deficit that Romania has can be corrected by a mutual effort to identify
new trading opportunities, in multiple areas.
4) What do you think about the cultural exchanges between Romania and China after
1989?
Regarding the post-1989 cultural cooperation, the true potential was not
47
reached. I believe that we do not do enough to promote our country in China. For
instance, look at the very fast development of the Confucius Institutes in Romania.
Romania’s presence in China is almost inexistent. Maybe, as it was announced, the
Romanian Cultural Institute will be established this year (2015) in Beijing. This institute
could revive the cultural cooperation between Romania and China. The purpose of this
institution is to promote the value of the Romanian culture, art, civilization and
important artists in China. Furthermore, there is also the purpose of introducing in
Romania as many Chinese famous operas as possible.
5) How do you think the entrance of Romania in the European Union in 2007 influenced
the Sino-Romanian relations?
The Romanian integration in the European Union stimulated the Romanian
exporters (which are not so many) to mainly export to the European market. If until
1989 the Romanian-Chinese relations were complex and dynamic, after 1989 the
Romanian economy mainly oriented towards the EU. One of the most important
reasons which supported this aspect, is the obsession of the Romanian society to
abandon everything linked to the communism, even the positive aspects (the
cooperation with China, a loyal and honest partner).
6) Now days in Romania, many people have the tendency to view Romania’s relations
with other communist countries with suspicion. Do you think that the Romanian-
Chinese relations are affected by Romanian people’s fear about communism?
Yes, the Soviet style communism which was imposed in Romania against
Romanian people’s will, created a collective negative image. This fact though, should
not impede us to be pragmatic and to develop relations with a dynamic country, with a
huge economic development and a huge market. All the Western powers fight to
maintain positive relations with China.
48
7) Considering the last Romanian presidential elections on the 16th of November 2014, a
huge number of people elected the liberal Klaus Iohannis instead of the social-
democrat Victor Ponta, because they considered Victor Ponta to be a pro-communist
as a result of Victor Ponta’s good relations with the Chinese officials. What do you
think about this?
The reason for the massive anti-Victor Ponta votes was not his sympathy
towards China, but the pro-Russian mentality which is condemned by the majority of
the Romanians. Recently, the Romanians constantly manifested deep anti-Russia
sentiments. The Romanians together with the Poles are considered to be the most
Russo-phobic countries in Europe. This is one of the reasons why people voted against
the social-democrat Victor Ponta, and not his good relations with China.
The future of the Romanian-Chinese relations
1) How do you see the evolution of the Romanian-Chinese relations in the future?
China of the XXI century is an unavoidable global actor. Over 30 years China has
had economic growth and millions of people were saved from poverty. China has built a
very strong middle class. Currently, millions of Chinese tourists are all over the world.
China has a huge money reserve and huge potential of investments. The Beijing
authorities have a global strategic plan, in which Romania should find its position,
considering the positive traditional relations between the two countries. The bilateral
relation needs to be revived and upgraded to a new level. China moved away from
Romania because of Romania’s financial incapacity and the opportunities for major
projects. Romania needs to re-earn its worldwide credibility and become a very
important partner for China in Central and Eastern Europe. Romanian officials must be
able to see China’s true capacity. Only if these conditions are fulfilled, the future of the
Romanian-Chinese relations can be positive.
2) Do you think that the solid cooperation between Romania and China between 1949
and 1989 will support the continuation of the Romanian-Chinese diplomatic relations?
China is a strong centralized state which has a very good institutional memory. It
is Romania’s mission make itself worldwide known and credible. The new Chinese
leaders do not have the same vision on Romania as the older ones, but they are
certainly aware of the former Romanian-Chinese relations. Now days the Chinese talk a
lot about a new project named the “New Silk Road”. Romania could play an essential
49
role in this project. Romania could be an entrance gate, an opening, for this new “Silk
Road”.
3) Do you think that the future economic relations between the two countries will get
better or worse?
For sure, the Chinese part showed its interest to develop the bilateral relations
with Romania. Unfortunately, there was a lot of “diplomatic ballet” on the Bucharest-
Beijing axe, as I like to name it. There are Romanian delegations which come to China
every year, considering broad areas of discussion. More seriousness is needed in order
to transform the discussions into real projects.
4) Do you consider that the European Union has an interest to block the trade between
Romania and China?
According to the European Union’s interest, the major infrastructure,
construction and investments projects in Romania must be done through European
companies. Moreover, the EU wants only European products on the Romanian market.
Therefore, there has been a pressure from the EU towards the Romanian decision
makers in order to offer all the major projects to the European companies. When the
Romanian politicians negotiated Romania’s integration in the EU, they did not follow the
national interest. They mainly followed the orders coming from Brussels. Therefore,
Romania was treated as a market for the European products and not as a partner. The
attitude of the Romanian leaders to unconditionally respect the orders coming from
Brussels, confirmed the servile image of the leaders ruling a country with a subjugated
economy.
5) Which do you think should be the main areas on which the economic relations of the
two countries should be based?
The most important one is the infrastructure. Because of the incapacity of the
Romanian politicians to conclude contracts for building and modernizing the Romanian
infrastructure, Romania is currently the country with the most underdeveloped
infrastructure in the European Union. Therefore, the investments of the Chinese
companies represent a priority. Another important aspect is tourism. Romania must
attract as many Chinese tourists as possible and vice-versa. In my opinion, Romania
does not know to take advantage of its balneary tourism. 31% of Europe’s mineral
springs are in Romania.
Finally, I consider the agriculture very important. Romania should consider the
Chinese experience and results in the area in order to modernize its technology and
make it more efficient.
50
Contact Details:
Felicia Nina German, Journalist and Media Expert,
Radio China International, Romanian Department,
E-mail: Felig2000@yahoo.com
Phone Number: 0086 1343 6872 895
0040 7447 78810
51

Romanian-Chinese Bilateral Relation: Tudor Nemeș

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University of Southern Denmark-Campus Sønderborg

Faculty of Humanities-BA in Business, Language and

Supervisor: Professor Qi Wang

Department of Design and Communication

University of Southern Denmark

7.1. Diplomacy and politics ........................................................................................... 25

exports significantly increased from 1990 to 2014.

Bachelor Thesis Summary in Chinese

1.1. Problem statement and research question

1.3. Theoretical background

aspects of free enterprise together with elements of socialism”. To understand the

2.1. First contacts

2.2. Nicolae Milescu Spătarul (1636-1708), the first Romanian

3. 1949 - the beginning of the Romanian-Chinese diplomatic

4. Diplomacy and politics

4.1. The Sino-Soviet divergence

4.1.1. The Romanian position within the Sino-Soviet conflict

4.2. The Prague Spring

nominated Ceaușescu to replace him (Tismaneanu, 2008). Led by a great ambition of

5. The Sino-Romanian relations during Nicolae Ceaușescu’s

5.2. Romania, the first country in the hierarchy of China’s best

Chart 1, source: (Morrison, 2014, pg. 4)

Chart 2, source: (Morrison, 2014, pg.13)

6.2. The Romanian economy between 1949 and 1989

6.3. The Sino-Romanian economic cooperation

Ţighi, 2009, Liu Yong). The balance was in favor of Romania.

7. Romanian-Chinese relations after the anti-communist

7.1. Diplomacy and politics

7.1.2. The Sino-Romanian relations enter a new era

7.1.3. Bessarabia, Taiwan and Hong Kong

7.1.4. Romania’s position regarding the human rights in China

7.2. Economic cooperation

Year Total Export Import Balance

The Bucharest-Beijing direct flying route established in 1974 ceased to work in

Chart 4 ,source: Sarmiza Pencea-Windows of opportunity in China-CEE Economic

7.2.2. Wine, the most exported Romanian product in China

According to Tiberiu Haliţă, the director of the Romanian-Chinese House (罗马

8. 1949-2014, 65 years of bilateral diplomatic relations

 An agreement of cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy (Agerpres,

 Romanian and Chinese governments signed a cultural agreement for years

9. The perspective of the Romanian-Chinese relations

(n.d.). Descriptive Research. Retrieved from http://www.mu.ac.in/myweb_test/Research%20Methadology-

Falk, R. (2015). World Order. Retrieved from Encyclopedia Princetoniensis:

Mack, L. (n.d.). Chinese Communist Party. Retrieved from Chinese Culture:

Pencea, S. (n.d.). WINDOWS OF OPPORTUNITY IN CHINA - CEE ECONOMIC. Retrieved from

Stiglitz, J. (2015, January). The Chinese Century. Retrieved from VF News:

Yong, L. (2005). China-Romanian relations during 1950’s-1960’s. University of Bucharest. Bucharest:

Yong, L. (2006). Sino-Romanian Relations 1950's-1960's. Bucharest: Romanian Academy.

托莫泽伊, 丹. (2013). 北京谈话. Sibiu, Romania: Lucian Blaga University.

The beginning of the Romanian-Chinese diplomatic relations

1) Considering the official proclamation of People’s Republic of China on the 1 st of

The establishment of the Romanian-Chinese bilateral relations in 1949 and the

4) In the very beginning of the Romanian-Chinese diplomatic relations, in your opinion,

The Sino-Soviet conflict

Romania was the country which mediated the American-Chinese approach. In

Cultural and economic cooperation

After 1989, the fall of communism in Romania

The future of the Romanian-Chinese relations

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