Telegram from the Director of Department II to the Ambassador in Beijing regarding the Conversation with Chinese Diplomats in Moscow

15 of April, a telegram from the Director of Department II to the ambassador in Beijing regarding the conversation with Chinese diplomats in Moscow.

Warsaw, 15 April 1972

Secret

Telegram No. 2880

[Ambassador Franciszek] STACHOWIAK – BEIJING

[This information is based on] the conversation between our and Chinese diplomats in Moscow [that took place] (on the Chinese initiative):

1. [The Chinese] expressed interest in [expanding] contacts with us and exchanging the views on international issues.  They declared that, despite the existing [ideological] differences, the PRC continues to be interested in developing relations with Poland based on the tradition of our friendship which ”previously used to bind both of our nations.”  They emphasized the good relations they had with the Hungarians.

2. They were interested in European issues, especially the treaties with the FRG [Federal Republic of Germany] and the CSCE [European Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe].  They were also asking about Poland’s position within the context of [Leonid] Brezhnev’s statements at the XV Congress of Labor Unions. [Trans. note-- The XV Congress of the Labor Unions in the USSR took place in Moscow on 20-24 March, [1972] and Brezhnev made a speech on the first day of the proceedings.]

3. [The Chinese] declared that the PRC was interested in détente in Europe.  They positively assess the tendencies towards integration in Western Europe [which they view] as a willingness to become independent from the US.  They [said that China] has good relations with Western Europe.

4. The situation in Asia, according to them [the Chinese], is very complex: the influences of the US, Japan, and the USSR are being crisscrossed [in the region] while smaller and medium-size countries are trying to free themselves from those influences.  The PRC wishes to normalize relations with Japan, but Taiwan is the obstacle in this process.  They are noticing that Indonesia is becoming interested in normalizing relations with the PRC, but according to them [our Chinese interlocutors], this will require time.  They are not going to recognize Bengal [Bangladesh], because they think that at the time of the conflict’s outbreak this was Pakistan’s domestic issue, and the current situation should be resolved among the three interested parties.

5. According to our assessment, the conversation [with the Chinese diplomats] showed, among other things, the following:

a. China’s increasing interest in European issues.

b. The Chinese are not giving up their differentiation policy towards us.

Wasilewski

Source: AMSZ ZD 25/78, w. 317, t. 1400