‘Our Chinese comrades are determined to split and struggle’. The influence of the Sino-Soviet split on technological cooperation between Hungary and China

Abstract

ABSTRACT Using the case of a 1962 incident involving Hungarian railway experts in China, this article examines the relationship between political disputes and economic cooperation. It seeks to answer the questions of why, how and for how long could economic, and scientific and technological cooperation be maintained between Hungary, a country belonging to the Soviet sphere of interest, and China, which increasingly regarded the Soviet Union as an enemy, in a period of political disputes and deterioration of Sino-Soviet relations. Relying mainly on Hungarian archival documents, including minutes of HSWP Central Committee and Politburo meetings, Ministry of Foreign Affairs reports and analyses, and Ganz-MÁVAG files, the article argues that while the deterioration of Sino-Hungarian political relations went hand in hand with the worsening of Sino-Soviet relations, the break in trade, and scientific and technological cooperation, happened slower. Although, as political disputes escalated, the Chinese made interstate relations with the Soviet bloc countries increasingly difficult, the Beijing leadership sought to maintain partnerships in areas that it found beneficial for China’s economy. As the Sino-Hungarian economic and technological disputes fit into a larger Sino-Soviet political conflict, the article puts the case of Ganz-MÁVAG Locomotive and Railway Carriage Manufacturers and Mechanical Engineers Hungary in context by reviewing the process of deterioration of Sino-Soviet relations and its influence on Sino-Hungarian relations.