Cable from the Chinese Embassy in Romania, 'Some Reflections on Romania’s Approach to Combating Revisionism'

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To the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the International Liaison Department [of the CCP]:

The following are some small reflections of Romania’s present struggle to combat revisionism:

(1) While discussing some of our recent publications with one of his group’s workers named Ban-nai-de [sic], the (quite powerful) Editor in Chief of the illustrated periodical Romania said in a doubtful and not totally agreeable tone, “What does China hope to accomplish by this action?”

(2) Their perspective on Yugoslavia is confusing. “Our perspective on Yugoslavia is the same as the Soviet Union’s,” Ban-nai-de says. “Our editing desk has recently gathered a few people to go to Yugoslavia and investigate. After they return, they will be making a report.”  The perspective of the deputy leader of the Foreign Ministry’s Office of Communications, Xie-er-ban [sic], is also in keeping with Khrushchev’s views. However, across the board, Romania has resisted publicly acknowledging Korea as a socialist state in concrete terms, as well as refusing to publicly announce its views on Yugoslavia. “Romania’s “Protecting the Fatherland” [a periodical] received a letter from a reader, asking for an explanation of the situation in Yugoslavia,” the North Korean embassy’s third secretary said. “The editors had planned to more or less give an explanation, but afterward received notice from higher levels. They decided thereafter not to give an explanation.” The “News and Report Bulletin” [a bulletin on socialist states], published by Romania’s news service, has up until now not covered Yugoslavia. Recently, on the eve of a ping-pong tournament held in Romania, a Romanian manager responded to a North Korean embassy attaché’s question by saying, “It is called an international tournament, not a socialist state tournament, because Yugoslavia and a few other countries are also participating.” Public opinion is even more confused. “Yugoslavia is a half-socialist state,” one professor said.

[Chinese] Embassy in Romania

6 March 1963