Cable from the Chinese Delegation in Algeria to the Foreign Ministry, 'Situation of the Talks between Premier Zhou and Ben Bella on the Morning of the 31st'

Telegram Received at Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Priority: Urgent

From: From Algerian station No. (65) Mao-44

Premier Zhou and Ben Bella’s Conversation On on the Morning of March 31st

To the Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

The two sides continued their talks on the morning of March 31st.

Ben Bella discussed the following:

1. Ben Bella explained the advice he gave to U Thant. He said he was merely passing along information. Algeria stands on the side of China and Vietnam.

2. Ben Bella stated that he cannot be in favor of an unconditional ceasefire by the Vietnamese people. That would destroy morale and allow the imperialist plot to succeed. However, if the war continue to expand, it could lead to a world war. The United States can’t win but it can still cause great destruction. Algeria believes a solution to the present crisis must be found that ensures that the Vietnamese people can remain armed, win victory and gain political power. He asked the Primer about the attitude of the Soviet Union on the Vietnam issue and the results of Kosygin’s visit to Vietnam.

3. Regarding the Asian-African Conference, Ben Bella stated that it should act in accordance with the resolution of the Jakarta Conference. He believes that the central issues are opposing imperialism and colonialism, supporting national liberation movements and safeguarding world peace. He hopes that consensus will be reached on these issues and that the result will be better than the Second Summit Conference of Heads of State or Government of the Non-Aligned Movement and will assume will assume more responsibility. Algeria is not prepared to take the initiative to oppose the Soviet Union’s participation in the meeting, but hopes that it will not participate and is not prepared to take the initiative to ask it to participate.

4. The Congo (Brazzaville) has requested that Algeria, the United Arab Republic, Mali, Guinea, and possibly Ghana provide emergency military assistance and US $4 million in financial assistance. The Arab side lacks foreign exchange and would have difficulty fully satisfying this request. I hope China will also consider offering assistance.

5. From a strategic perspective, Algeria seeks to improve relations with Morocco, but never at the expense of revolutionary principles and territorial sovereignty. Hassan proposed to hold a meeting of the two heads of state on March 28. Now that Morocco has been repressing its people, and in particular executing patriots from Amo, we now propose to change the date of the meeting to April 4. In view of the current situation, Algeria cannot go ahead with the meeting as scheduled.

6. Imperialist influence and economic difficulties have led Morocco, Libya and Tunisia to take a different position from the other Arab countries on the issue of West Germany. This sharpened the contradictions in the political direction between Algeria and them.

7. The United States is seeking tools it can use within the former “French Community" countries. Félix Houphouët-Boigny in Ivory Coast has become the junior partner of the United States. The Nouakchott meeting has two tendencies: Houphouët-Boigny joined Upper Volta, Chad, forming a majority desiring to form a new political group that will try to disrupt the African summit that will be held in Accra. The other faction, influenced by France, is composed of Mauritania, Congo (Brazzaville), Cameroon and Senegal (Senegal's attitude is based on Senghor's personal grievances against Houphouët-Boigny).

The Premier placed great emphasis on and made a detailed analysis of Ben Bella’s view that the Vietnam War might develop into a world war. Responding to questions from his interlocutor, he exposed the conspiracies and tricks of the Soviet Union on the Vietnam issue. The Premier also discussed the position of the Asian-African Conference. Ben Bella said that the conversation with the Premier was very helpful. Regarding financial assistance Congo (Brazzaville), the Premier said that it could be considered.

Delegation

March 31, 1965