In China's foreign relations, Albania is a unique presence. Despite its location in the distant Balkans, Albania is not of much value to China from a modern geopolitical point of view.
But during the Cold War, Albania has been the focus of China's diplomacy and foreign aid. Over the past decades, China has provided Albania with various material aid worth 10 billion yuan, and was even praised as "the beacon of European socialism" praised by China.
Albania, located in the southwestern part of the Balkan Peninsula, has long been ruled by the Ottoman Turks. After World War I, Albania finally won its independence and established the Kingdom of Albania.
However, the independence did not last long, and during World War II, Albania was occupied by Italy and then Germany. During this period, the Albanian Workers' Party persisted in the war of resistance and finally succeeded in driving out the invaders and establishing a socialist republic.
Despite this, the two countries eventually parted ways for various reasons, and even added bad words, until the end of the Cold War, this special relationship ended with the fall of Albanian socialism**.
The CPSU is the mother who educates us. Although the Red Army hastened the demise of German and Italian fascism during World War II, and was called the "liberator and defender" by Albania, Hoxha's admiration for the Soviet Union was more than necessary, even a little insensitive.
The three most important aspects of the life of the Albanian people are the Soviet Union, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and Stalin. Hoxha's closeness to the Soviet Union was not motivated by personal feelings, but by practical interests.
Since the newly independent Albania was not recognized by the West, the situation of diplomatic isolation left Hoxha with a tight reliance on the Soviet Union. In addition, Albania and Yugoslavia in the north had many contradictions on issues such as ethnicity, borders, and minorities, the most difficult of which was the Kosovo issue, so it needed the support of the Soviet Union even more.
Thus, Albania received significant assistance from the USSR.
After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, the two countries quickly established diplomatic relations. Over the next decade, relations between the two countries were not strained. Although China** began to provide a certain amount of aid at the request of Albania ** in 1954, the main influence on Albania remained the USSR and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
However, after the death of the "respected father" Stalin, the situation changed somewhat subtly. From the Soviet Union to China, at the 20th Congress of the CPSU in 1956, Khrushchev's secret report to Stalin caused a great shock in the socialist camp.
We don't know if Hoxha felt like his faith was breaking down during this time, but it's safe to say that he certainly felt very unpleasant.
Hoxha has always advocated *** for Stalin, in fact, in this way he has also gained his own admiration. This kind of behavior can be said to be an opportunistic shortcut, borrowing the power of the tiger to strengthen its own momentum.
However, when Khrushchev toppled the statue of Stalin, Hoxha's position began to become precarious. This crisis gradually became apparent in the aftermath of the 20th Party Congress, and even within the Albanian Workers' Party, some began to question Hoxha's approach.
Hoxha's response to this was very direct, he called all opponents spies and revisionists, and then decisively shot them. However, while opponents can be easily shot at home, it is more complicated in international relations.
Especially when Khrushchev began to approach Tito in Yugoslavia in a conciliatory manner, this made Hoxha feel extremely frightened.
Despite the fact that Albania was a small country, in the face of the powerful Soviet Union, it still dared to raise its voice and criticize the Soviet Union. And this country that dares to challenge the power is China.
As we all know, after the 20th Congress of the CPSU, relations between China and the Soviet Union began to be tense and contradictions escalated due to criticism of Khrushchev. In the years that followed, the contradictions between the two sides shifted from the table to the table, and open polemics began in the press.
Khrushchev was in a weak position in the pen war, so in 1960 he convened the Romanian Conference in an attempt to organize the socialist camp to besiege China. However, at this meeting, the representatives of Albania dared to oppose the Soviet Union's criticism of China, insisting on their position.
Khrushchev's actions disgraced Albania, and he retaliated with a series of retaliatory measures, including tearing up the agreement, withdrawing experts, stopping aid, and severing diplomatic relations with Albania in December 1961.
For Albania, however, what was lost was compensated on the other hand. As both of them held high the banner of opposing revision, China and Argentina came together, and bilateral relations warmed up rapidly.
The leaders of the two countries have frequently exchanged visits, China's courtesy and publicity to Afghanistan have all been raised, and the visiting important delegations will be received by the top leaders. At the Fifth Congress of the Albanian Workers' Party in November 1966, China sent a congratulatory telegram praising Albania as "a great beacon of socialism in Europe" and saying with passion: "There is a confidant in the sea, and the end of the world is like a neighbor."
Although China and Argentina are separated by thousands of mountains and rivers, they are heart-to-heart. ”
Our friendship is not just superficial, but a revolutionary fighting friendship that has been tested by storms. We know very well that each other is a true friend and comrade, without falsehood and duplexity.
This friendship is sung between China and the Arab States, which makes people rejoice. In the 60s, China fully assisted in the construction of Albania, although China itself was going through difficult times.
After the Soviet Union interrupted its aid to Albania, China still provided it with large amounts of food and foreign exchange assistance, and undertook a number of project packages to help Albania complete its key five-year plan.
This assistance is not only a financial support, but also a strong commitment to friendship.
Since 1966, Hoxha has been full of praise for China's policies and has repeatedly sent high-level delegations to China to ask for additional assistance. In 1968, Albania withdrew from the Warsaw Pact with the Soviet Union invading Prague and actively supported China's return to the United Nations.
To this end, China fully supports Albania's construction and provides comprehensive and substantial assistance, both economic and military. During this period, the economic delegation of Afghanistan came to China twice to sign loan agreements and helped Afghanistan complete the construction of the fourth and fifth five-year plans.
From 1954 to 1978, China provided 75 aid payments to Afghanistan, with an agreement amount of more than 10 billion yuan. Albania has become the country with the largest per capita amount of foreign aid from China, which is equivalent to receiving more than 4,000 yuan per person.
In the 60s and 70s of the 20th century, China's economic conditions were relatively difficult, but nearly 6,000 engineers and technicians were still sent to Albania to assist Albania in establishing 142 complete sets of projects, including steel, fertilizer, alkali, acid, glass, copper processing, papermaking, plastics, military and other industrial sectors, which greatly promoted Albania's industrialization process.
In addition, for the sake of Albania, China has also provided its latest and greatest equipment and machinery to the other side, even more than it can afford. In order to ensure the success of the Albanian project, China has carried out a lot of experiments and trial production work in the country, and has set up a special experimental plant.
Although China's economic assistance to Albania is insignificant, Albania's help to China is very limited, and the quality of its products is not so high that even its own people do not accept it.
For example, Albanian cigarettes are not even smoked by the natives, and even Hoxha himself is an old smoker, but he smokes the special Chinese "Greater China".