McMaster, Patrick (2025) Maoism's window into Africa: China's interest in post-independence Algeria. Chinese Historical Review, 32 (1). 24 - 45. ISSN 1547-402X
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
Early Sino-Algerian relations provide unique insights into China’s Mao-era foreign policy beyond regional geopolitics and peripheral security concerns. The diplomatic relationship traces its origins to the 1954–1962 Algerian War of Independence, during which the People’s Republic of China (PRC) established official contact with and military and financial support for the Algerian independentists. Until 1965, China invested heavily in its relationship with the nascent North African country, whose allegiance became a sought-after prize amid concerns over American imperialism and growing competition with the Soviet Union. This article demonstrates that China’s interest in Algeria during the early 1960s was driven by the PRC’s quest to position itself as the ideological leader of the Third World in an international strategy that sought to undermine the bloc of US-led imperial powers. Algeria was a conduit through which China supported anti-colonial uprisings throughout Africa while simultaneously advocating a radical Maoist doctrine in the context of the Sino-Soviet split. Files from the archives from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, previously declassified and now reclassified, underscore the dual strategic and ideological nature of Chinese foreign policy vis-à-vis Algeria. Algerian government sources and French colonial records highlight the agency that Algeria exercised during this period, astutely leveraging rivalries among China, the Soviet Union, and the Western bloc to maximize material and political gains.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | © 2025 The Chinese Historical Review |
| Divisions: | LSE |
| Subjects: | J Political Science > JZ International relations D History General and Old World > DS Asia |
| Date Deposited: | 29 Jul 2025 10:33 |
| Last Modified: | 29 Jul 2025 10:33 |
| URI: | http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/128948 |
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