Sino-East German Relationship Around The 20^th Congress Of The Communist Party Of The Soviet Union

This thesis paper uses recently released historic data about GDR (German Democratic Republic) as well as Sino-Soviet relationship, focuses on the development and changes which happened to Sino-German diplomatic relationship between People’s Republic of China and GDR. The research period lasts from the ending of World War Ⅱ to the beginning of 1960s. The Sino-German relationship around the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union is mainly reviewed. Changes are analyzed with new archive and research publications.When World War Ⅱ finally came to an end, the Soviet Union tried to extend its political and economical influences among Europe and Asia as far as possible. The soviet pattern became standard for all socialism countries. Deeply effected by the Soviet Union, PRC and GDR were both founded in October,1949, then immediately became "socialism brothers" and started a diplomatic communication for four decades. These two countries share interesting similarities:being the socialism part of a separated nation, request of reunification, urgent need of reconstruction anddevelopment. The relationship between PRC and GDR was generally "friendly", "without conflicts" during 1950s, yet sharp contradictions occurred at the beginning of 1960s. The relationship didn’t change all of a sudden. Instead, tracing back to the late years of 1950s, clues for the later changes can be found. The 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was an important incident.Khrushchev’s criticize on Stalin by his secret report and "the peaceful transition to socialism" caused a world-wide earthquake. The leading position of the Soviet Union in the socialist camp was no longer absolute, which gave certain freedom to socialist countries. The 20th Congress led to various discussion and destalinization in both PRC and GDR. While the temporary destalinization in GDR ends up to be a means for Walter Ulbrich to beat his political opponents, China tried different development modes from the Soviet Union theoretically as well as practically. People’s commune, "the Great Leap Forward" and other independent socialist construction means adopted by CPC annoyed Moscow. The Sino-Soviet relation became worse and worse, finally revealed as "the Great Debate"Scholars turn to think that GDR always followed Moscow’s conduction to adjust its attitude toward China. Such assumptions out of ideological status or power politics show more the stand points of researchers than facts. Though the Sino-German relationship did became tense at the beginning of 1960s, GDR at least showed a different attitude toward China in late 1950s, which can be told from the comments of GDR to people’s commune and "the Great Leap Forward". The Soviet Union shadowed communications between PRC and GDR, yet it was not as decisive as people thought. Removing the mask of power politics, the ups and downs of Sino-German relationship were essentially up to the national interests and information resources.