112 { China’s Quest
pronounced propensity to be dogmatic, impatient, irascible, and unyielding,
especially in the face of opposition, alienated the good will of many delegates.”
Nehru’s attitude seemed to many delegates to typify, according to Romulo,
“the affectation of cultural superiority induced by a conscious identification
with an ancient civilization.”^44 Most delegates had gone to Bandung expecting
Nehru to dominate the proceedings, according to Romulo. It was Zhou Enlai,
however, who stole the show. Several years after Bandung, Nehru’s prefer-
ence for non-alignment in contrast to Beijing’s Afro-Asian anti-imperialism
would keep Nehru from sharing the stage with Zhou.Increased Room for Maneuver, but No BreakoutBeijing’s peace offensive of 1953–1957 succeeded in expanding the PRC’s room
for diplomatic maneuver. Beijing established ties with a number of significant
newly emerging Third World countries, positioning itself as a friend of those
countries. This weakened somewhat US efforts to isolate the PRC, and ex-
panded Beijing’s ties beyond the socialist camp. But Beijing’s peace offensive
failed to persuade Washington to distance itself from the Nationalist regime
on Taiwan or to ease efforts to contain the PRC with positions of strength
around its periphery. The basic reasons for this were Beijing’s still-close ties
with Moscow and US fears of Chinese expansionism arising out of Beijing’s
policies in Korea and Indochina.^45 Beijing’s sole significant gain with the
United States was the initiation of direct diplomatic talks via the ambassa-
dorial talks at Geneva (later at Warsaw). This was an important mechanism
which would play a valuable role during the Vietnam War, but which fell far
short of Beijing’s aspirations.
Within China, the relaxation of tensions during the mid-1950s paralleled
the beginning of the construction of socialism. With the First Five Year Plan
(1953–1957), the state-owned and -planned industrial sector grew rapidly while
collectivized agriculture, the second pillar of Stalinist socialism, advanced
step by step via progressively “higher” cooperatives. With the socialist camp
at peace and the PRC a close ally of the Soviet Union, large-scale assistance to
China’s industrialization drive poured in. But even while China’s construc-
tion of socialism was making great strides with generous Soviet assistance,
the seeds for the breakdown of that alliance were already being sown.