In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Document No. 32: Transcript of Ceaușescu–Deng Conversation, July 25, 1965 ——————————————————————————————————————————— This account of a meeting between Nicolae Ceaușescu and Chinese Politburo member Deng Xiaoping describes aspects of Soviet policy toward the Warsaw Pact, but also gives telling indications of China’s and Romania’s viewpoints on the subject. Ceaușescu informs Deng that the Soviets want to reorganize the Warsaw Pact’s command structure to tighten its centralized control but that Romania’s position aims at making the alliance into a framework for more genuine collaboration between independent countries. Deng responds that the Chinese fully agree and expresses the hope that Romania could serve as an intermediary between Beijing and the other East European countries. He suggests that Moscow should be made to apologize to the Albanians and allow them to rejoin the Warsaw Pact—which the Romanians subsequently tried to do but without success. The two leaders also discuss Vietnam at some length. Deng informs Ceaușescu that the Chinese are sending a letter to the Soviets concerning problems of Soviet–Chinese cooperation in North Vietnam. One of Beijing’s concerns is that a recent Soviet idea that both North and South Vietnam become neutral countries arose from an agreement between Moscow and Washington, of which the Chinese disapprove , and which Deng sees as evidence of a Soviet desire to isolate China. ____________________ […] Comrade Nicolae Ceaușescu: […] An issue raised by the Soviet comrades was the issue of the Warsaw Treaty Organization. In their view, toward the end of the year, a meeting of the Consultative Committee should take place due to the need to make some improvements regarding the organization of the military high command, with a view to ensuring broader participation by representatives of the other socialist countries in this high command. We told the Soviet comrades that we shall see. Since we have a common high command, it is to be assumed that the leadership of the current high command will also be joint. But the leadership of the current high command is Soviet. We shall see what proposals will be made. We had told them on other occasions that within the framework of this organization one must ensure that each army is independent, that each socialist country has an army of its own. Comrade Ion Gheorghe Maurer: The relationships should be one of collaboration, of cooperation, not of subordination. Comrade Nicolae Ceaușescu: We will analyze the proposals that will be made on that score. Comrade Deng Xiaoping: This means the Soviets want to strengthen their control over the others. Comrade Nicolae Ceaușescu: It is hard to say. The criticisms made so far were only about the fact that this command is Soviet. Naturally, they want to ensure a broader representative basis of the command, but we do not want only that and, mainly, not a [purely] formal representation, but really the organization of the command on 192 a new basis—not as a unified command, but as an organ of collaboration between independent countries. Comrade Ion Gheorghe Maurer: This means that we want to act in such a way that no supranational control over these countries exists. But let us see how things will pan out. Comrade Kang Sheng: On this score I would like to say that a book with the title Military Strategy, edited by [Marshal Vasilii D.] Sokolovsky, was published in the Soviet Union. In the second edition of this book some modifications have been made, but the book is used as basic material in Soviet military academies. In it, it is stated that if there is a war against the imperialists, then all the socialist countries will have to act in common and all the armies of the socialist countries will have to be under the command of the Soviet Union. This is their strategic conception. Comrade Ion Gheorghe Maurer: If each one of us devises such a conception, things will go really well! Comrade Nicolae Ceaușescu: The fact is that this [conception] exists not only in handbooks; actually, in the organization of the Warsaw Treaty Organization and that of the unified command, the armies of the other socialist countries of Europe are subordinated. We want to do away with this state of affairs. Comrade Ion Gheorghe Maurer: This is very important because a big issue arises . The COMECON was such a big issue and maybe it will be again; now comes the Warsaw Treaty Organization, an issue which is emerging. Maybe...

Share