p In Peking they are going to all ends in their efforts to spread the idea that all the “coloured” and “poor” nations should unite against the “white” and “rich” nations, among whom they shamelessly bracket the USSR and other European socialist countries. In various Asian and African democratic organisations Chinese delegates have insisted that the Asian and African peoples should defend their special 239 interests, on the basis of which they must set up their exclusive associations.

p At a preparatory meeting in Djakarta for the Afro-Asian Journalists’ Conference the Chinese delegation opposed the equal participation of representatives of Soviet Asian republics. The same political line was pursued by the Chinese leaders at other international conferences. For example, when representatives of 22 Asian and African countries met in Djakarta in April 1964 to discuss the question of convening the Second Afro-Asian Conference on the level of heads of state and government, some of the delegations proposed inviting the Soviet Union on the grounds that the USSR was the most consistent champion of the interests of the Afro-Asian peoples and its participation would lend the conference more weight. The delegate of India, Singh, said he felt that being an Asian power the Soviet Union had every right to attend the conference, especially as ever since the Bandung Conference it had steadfastly been on the side of the Afro-Asian peoples and had rendered them extensive assistance. The Chinese delegate, Chen Yi, however, opposed this motion, arguing that the Soviet Union was not an Asian power.

p Chou En-lai and Chen Yi undertook two tours of Asian and African countries in an effort to prevent the USSR from being invited to the conference and to direct the preparations in such a way as to enable Peking to play first fiddle at the conference and gain recognition for China’s hegemony. When in Peking they finally realised that the leaders of most of the Asian and African countries would not accept the Chinese view they wrecked the conference even before it could start, grossly insulting the heads of state and government of the Afro-Asian countries.

p Finding they could not use the Afro-Asian solidarity movement, the Mao group began to undermine this movement from within. This activity reached a high point at the Eighth Session of the Afro-Asian Solidarity Organisation Council.

p In view of the provocative behaviour of the Chinese Maoists, many leaders and organisations in that movement spoke against the Afro-Asian Solidarity Conference being held in Peking as had been decided at the Fourth Conference in Winneba, Ghana, in May 1965. In early February 1967 the Cairo newspaper Al Masaa reported that more than 240 twenty countries had notified the Secretary of the AfroAsian Solidarity Organisation that they would not attend the conference if it was held in Peking. But the Secretariat, as the Organisation’s Rules demanded, did not examine this question, deferring it to the Nicosia session of the Organisation’s Council that was held in February 1967.

p Peking refused to attend the Nicosia session but sent its representatives in the guise of Hsinhua News Agency correspondents. At the press conferences they reeled off long monologues about the "struggle with modern revisionism" and the "attractive force of the thought of Mao Tse-tung" and tried to brainwash or even, as was reported in the press, bribe some of the delegates. They spread slanderous rumours, hindered the proceedings at the session and, in the end, the Cypriot delegate, who presided over the session, had no alternative but to request them to leave the hall.

p After a series of setbacks in its efforts to undermine the Afro-Asian solidarity movement from within, Peking decided to oppose it with the aid of its puppets. It set up " international organisations" composed chiefly of dmigres residing in Peking and political allies of the Maoists in splinter groups in a number of countries.

p The Maoists seized control of the Secretariat of the Association of Afro-Asian Journalists, in which practically no journalists remained. In 1966 the Mao group split the AfroAsian Writers’ Organisation and set up the Standing Bureau of Afro-Asian Writers in Peking. Acting in opposition to the Nicosia decisions, the Maoists announced the establishment of a Chinese Preparatory Committee for the Fifth Afro-Asian Solidarity Conference in Peking.

Peking thus came into direct conflict with most of the democratic organisations in Asian and African countries.