Albania-China ties cut

Press, 14 July 1978, Page 5

Albania-China ties cut

NZPA-Reuter Vienna Stalinist Albania, after 12 months of sniping at Peking’s foreign policy, has announced a final ideological break with its Chinese ally. The tiny Balkan State, the world’s last bastion of hardline Stalinism yesterday accused the Chinese of breaking with Marxism-Leninism, collaborating with imperialists and reactionaries, and failing to support real revolutionaries. The break between 2.5 million Albanians and the 800 million Chinese, their only ally, was no surprise. Although the Albanians were careful to avoid naming the Chinese until yesterday, they had been steadily at« tacking Peking’s policy since July, 1977. The Albanian Government said the Chinese had severed all economic aid and military ties in a note delivered to the Albanian Embassy in Peking last Friday. Albania, a barren mountain country of 28,0005 q km bordering Greece, Yugoslavia, and the Adriatic Sea, has relied heavily on Chinese aid since it broke with the Soviet Union in 1961, also after accusing the Russians of ideological flabbiness. The break has been expected since Albania began attacking Peking indirectly over the “three worlds” theory. Albania claimed China was ideologically wrong in dividing the world into three

groups — super-Powers, industrialised countries, and developing States — without drawing a clear line between imperialists and revolutionaries. Last month, Albania sided with Vietnam against China, and two weeks ago the Government accused China of conniving with United States and Soviet “imperialism” in Africa. AlbaniamChinese relations began cooling after Richard Nixon was welcomed to Peking in 1972, and chilled even further when the postMao Tse-tung leadership clamped down on extremists after the chairman’s death. Enver Hoxha, the Communist Party leader since World War 11, told officials at a rally in Tirana on Monday that the party leadership had “taken decisions to prepare the whole territory for war; a preparation to which you must devote special importance.” Two years ago, Mr Hoxha announced that he had foiled a plot by a former Defence Minister, Beqir Balluku, to stage an apparently pro-So-viet military coup. Mr Balluku was believed to have been executed, and hundreds of suspects were jailed. Since then, Albania has maintained steady attacks against the Soviet Union, but has sought to normalise relations with neighbouring Greece and other west European countries. Its relations with Yugoslavia have steadily worsened.