"cultural Revolution" Third World Factors The First Decade Of Mao Zedong's International Strategy

The idea about China's global strategy was one of the most important contents in Maozedong's strategic thoughts. This article explores his thoughts during the ten years before the Cultural Revolution from a historical perspective. In this period, there was a notable characteristic in Mao's global strategy, which is the strategic factor about the Third World becoming more and more important in Mao's thoughts.First, I analyze the intercommunication mode between the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Third World. The theory about the United Front was used in Mao's global strategy. There were not only some revolutionary passions but also some realistic considerations in Mao's thoughts about the International United Front, which made clear divisions between 'selves', 'friends' and 'enemies'.Second, the paper describes the adjustment in Mao's global strategy in this decade. According to the status transformation of the Third World, we can divide the ten years into three stages. The first stage is from 1956 to 1958, in which Mao began to pay more attention to the Third World. The second stage is from 1959 to 1962, in which China confirmed its Revolutionary Diplomacy and gave all-sided support to the revolution in the Third World. The third stage is from 1963 to 1966, in which Mao divided the Middle Zone and formed his World Revolution Theory gradually and China regarded the revolutions in the Third World as its own duties.Third, the piece investigates Mao's World Revolution Theory, including the components of this theory and China's function and status in the 'global revolution'.Finally, the article discusses the role of the Third World transformation in Mao's global strategy and the effects of Mao's strategic adjustment. In those ten years, the status of the Third World in Mao's global strategy became more and more important. Eventually the Third World became the main force in Mao's 'World Revolution'. The positive effect of Mao's adjustment was that China found some new friends in the changed environment and avoided being isolated from the world. In addition, the change of the strategy prepared for the transformation of China's global strategy in the 1970s. The negative effect was that the radical international revolutionary thoughts interacted with the internal trend of thought. Therefore, the ideology of that time became more and more radical and eventually led to the Cultural Revolution.