Report, Polish Embassy in Bucharest, 'Romania After the Agreements on Friendship with the Soviet Union, Poland and Bulgaria'

Embassy of the Polish People's Republic in Bucharest        

Bucharest, 11 January 1971

Urgent Intelligence Note

Classified

                                                                                                            Copy No 1

Romania after the agreements on friendship with the Soviet Union, Poland and Bulgaria.

The second half of 1970 marked the signing of a friendship treaty between Romania, Bulgaria and Poland. There was a rapprochement between Romania and other socialist countries. After joining the "Interchichim" and after other steps, the Romanian government took a decision in early 1971 to join the Comecon Investment Bank. Romania consequently raised the need of mutual specialization and cooperation in dealing with other socialist countries. After the 40^th session of the Executive Committee of CMEA [Council for Mutual Economic Assistance] the phrase "economic integration" appeared for the first time in the press. The five-year agreements signed with the USSR, GDR and Poland provide a serious increase in turnover, as compared to the period between 1966-1970, namely 40%, 70% and 80%, which has also its political significance.

Relations with the socialist countries show, as a new tendency on the part of Romania and the GDR, comprehensive development of their relations and willingness to bury the past.

At the same time, Romania ostensibly presents itself as a "defender" of the interests of the German Democratic Republic internationally, which is obviously appreciated by the GDR.

The core of these operations are economic reasons as well as the search for an alibi for Romania's relations with the FRG. Following the meeting Zhivkov – Ceaușescu, after signing a treaty of friendship, the Romanian-Bulgarian relations were given new impetus. On the other hand, the “summit meeting” between Hungary and Czechoslovakia did not take place. Despite postponing the Kadar - Ceausescu meeting by the Hungarians, one may expected such a meeting to be held in the first half of this year and that a treaty of friendship will be signed.

A possibility of some improvement in relations with Czechoslovakia can be observed. Rapprochement of Romania to the socialist countries - apart from tactical and economic reasons – was influenced by signing agreements with the FRG by the Soviet Union and Poland. The normalization of relations with the FRG deprives Romania a status of the only interlocutor for the West and forces them to strengthen relations with the socialist countries.

The second aspect of Romanian politics consists in - as it has always been - the parallel development of relations with all socialist countries and communist and workers' parties.

Relations with Yugoslavia are still privileged; in November there was a Ceausescu - Tito meeting, Yugoslav defense minister was invited to visit an exhibition of military equipment in Bucharest, but no-one from the Warsaw Pact countries.

Relations with China have gained new momentum recently and this is reflected in granting Romania a credit of 200 million $ by China  - 100 million in currency and the rest in equipment and devices, to be repaid starting from 1980. At the same time, during all interstate discussions, Romania acted as an attorney of admitting China to the United Nations, supported Chinese assessment of the Indochina situation and expressed views, close to Chinese opinions, on the Palestinian national movement. On the other hand Romania rejected all formulations of the Israeli aggression. Romania developed relations with Albania. In December last year Albanian a delegation of trade unions was paying a return visit in Romania, which was given a particular ceremonial setting, although Albania reacted with reservations to the Romanian initiatives in the Balkans, blocking them and making resumption of relations between the parties conditional upon the RCP's self-criticism for its stance towards Albania during Dej.

The third aspect of Romanian politics is a continued tendency to expand relations with the developed capitalist countries. In October last year, Ceausescu visited Washington, DC, which was treated as an unofficial visit on the occasion of his participation in the jubilee session of the United Nations. During his talks with Nixon and American businessmen, Ceausescu stressed the need to expand mutual cooperation, not excluding, under certain conditions, U.S. investment in Romania. This "economic bridge" would allow Washington and Bucharest to expand relations in other areas.

Finally, the development of relations with Third World countries should be mentioned as the fourth aspect of Romanian politics, mainly in order to ensure the raw material base and market outlets for their products.

This framework also includes Ceaușescu's visit in Morocco in December last year.

The Treaty on economic and technical cooperation, signed on the occasion of this visit, reflects precisely this intention and assumes the development of trade, cooperation in the field of agriculture, industry, construction materials, mining and oil. The only thing concrete was the decision to send specialists to Morocco, at the expense Romania, for cooperation in the field of oil exploration. Generally, one can say that after agreements on friendship with the Soviet Union, Poland and Bulgaria were signed, Romania did not change the existing foundation of its policy, with the exception of the fact that accents and hints of anti-integration, both economic and military,  have been muted.

On the outside, Romania has given priority to its relations with the Soviet Union and the socialist countries. Yet, Romanian politics still exhibits anti-block attitude and its tendency of not restricting itself to a single group, emphasizing at the same time the need to develop bilateral relations, which is supposed to provide Romania with the margin for maneuver. Hence- this continuous walk along the line of the triangle: Moscow - Washington - Beijing. Following the signing of a treaty of friendship with the USSR - Ceausescu's visit to the U.S. and a meeting with Tito, then Deputy Prime Minister [Gheorghe] Rădulescu's travel to Beijing and then Chinese loan for Romania.