Editing History of Albania (section)

=== Albania and China ===
{{See also|Albania–People's Republic of China relations}}

The [[People's Republic of Albania]] played a role in the [[Sino-Soviet split]] far outweighing either its size or its importance in the [[second world|communist world]]. In 1958, the nation stood with the [[People's Republic of China]]<ref>''Albania: From Anarchy to a Balkan Identity'' {{ISBN|1-85065-279-1}}, by Miranda Vickers & James Pettifer, 1999, page 210, "with the split in the world communist movement it moved into a close relationship with China"</ref> in opposing [[Moscow]] on issues of [[peaceful coexistence]], [[de-Stalinization]], and [[Yugoslavia]]'s [[separate road to socialism]] through [[decentralization]] of economic life. The [[Soviet Union]], central European countries, and China, all offered Albania large amounts of aid. Soviet leaders also promised to build a large [[Palace of Culture of Tirana|Palace of Culture]] in [[Tirana]] as a symbol of the Soviet people's "love and friendship" for the Albanian people.

Despite these gestures, Tirana was dissatisfied with Moscow's economic policy toward Albania. Hoxha and Shehu apparently decided in May or June 1960 that Albania was assured of Chinese support, and they openly sided with the People's Republic of China when sharp polemics erupted between the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union. [[Ramiz Alia]], at the time a candidate-member of the Politburo and Hoxha's adviser on ideological questions, played a prominent role in the rhetoric.

Hoxha and Shehu continued their harangue against the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia at the APL's Fourth Party Congress in February 1961. During the congress, the Albanian government announced the broad outlines of the country's Third Five-Year Plan from 1961 to 65, which allocated 54% of all investment to industry, thereby rejecting Khrushchev's wish to make Albania primarily an agricultural producer. Moscow responded by canceling aid programs and lines of credit for Albania, but the Chinese again came to the rescue.

The [[Albania China relations|Albanian-Chinese relations]] had stagnated by 1970, and when the Asian giant began to reemerge from isolation in the early 1970s, [[Mao Zedong]] and the other communist Chinese leaders reassessed their commitment to tiny Albania, starting the [[Sino-Albanian split]]. In response, Tirana began broadening its contacts with the outside world. Albania opened trade negotiations with [[France]], [[Italy]], and the recently independent Asian and African states, and in 1971 it normalized relations with [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]] and [[Greece]]. Albania's leaders abhorred the People's Republic of China's contacts with the [[United States]] in the early 1970s, and its press and radio ignored President [[Richard Nixon]]'s [[Nixon visit to China 1972|trip to Beijing]] in 1972.