|
Romania RELATIONS WITH COMMUNIST STATES
Soviet Union and Eastern Europe
After coming under communist control in 1948, Romania
was
closely aligned with the international policies and goals
of the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union. But after mid-1952,
when
Gheorghiu-Dej had gained full control of the party and had
become
head of state, Romania began a slow disengagement from
Soviet
domination, being careful not to incur the suspicions or
disapproval of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. The
Gheorghiu-Dej
regime strongly supported the Soviet suppression of the
Revolution
of 1956 in Hungary, hoping thereby to enhance prospects
for the
removal of Soviet occupation forces that had remained in
Romania
after the war. In fact Soviet forces were withdrawn in
1958,
enabling Gheorghiu-Dej to take the first significant steps
to
diminish Soviet influence over Romanian foreign policy.
Gheorghiu-Dej rejected Soviet leader Nikita
Khrushchev's plan
to integrate the economies of the Comecon states and
subordinate
national economic plans to an overall planning body.
Gheorghiu-Dej
objected not only to the loss of economic autonomy but
also to the
subservient role Khrushchev envisioned for Romania --
supplier of
raw materials and agricultural products for the more
industrially
developed members. Therefore he proceeded with his own
plans for
the country's industrial development, asserting the right
of each
Comecon state to develop its economy in accord with
national needs
and interests. To lessen dependence on Comecon, the regime
gradually expanded economic relations with noncommunist
states
(see Foreign Trade
, ch.3).
The conflict with the Soviet Union became more acute in
1962,
when Gheorghiu-Dej again rejected the Comecon plan for
Romania and
announced the signing of a contract with a British-French
consortium for the construction of a large steel mill at
Galati.
Romanian-Soviet relations continued to deteriorate as
Gheorghiu-Dej
exploited the Sino-Soviet dispute and supported the
Chinese
position on the equality of communist states and rejection
of the
Soviet party's leading role. In November 1963, Romania
declared its
readiness to mediate the Sino-Soviet dispute, a suggestion
Moscow
found arrogant and hostile.
A statement issued by the Central Committee in April
1964
declared the right of Romania and all other nations to
develop
national policies in the light of their own interests and
domestic
requirements. During the remainder of that year, the
volume of
economic and cultural contacts with Western nations
increased
significantly. Because of the increased tensions in
Indochina that
were developing into the Vietnam War, however, the regime
curbed
its efforts to improve relations with the United States.
Following the sudden death of Gheorghiu-Dej in March
1965,
Ceausescu continued a foreign policy that frequently
diverged from
that of the Soviet Union and the other members of the
Warsaw Pact.
Ceausescu antagonized the Soviet Union by establishing
diplomatic
relations with the Federal Republic of Germany (West
Germany) in
1967 and by refusing to follow the Soviet lead in breaking
relations with Israel in the wake of the June 1967 War.
The 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia by Soviet-led
forces was a
turning point in Romanian relations with Comecon and the
Warsaw
Pact. Some observers maintain that Ceausescu's
denunciation of the
invasion marked the apogee of Romanian defiance of the
Soviet
Union. But Ceausescu was careful not to press the policy
to the
point of provoking military intervention. The regime
interpreted as
a clear warning the enunciation of the Brezhnev
Doctrine--the
concept articulated by Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev that
the
protection of socialism in any communist state is the
legitimate
concern of all communist states.
After 1968 pressures mounted on Romania to cooperate
more fully
in the Warsaw Pact and to agree to a supranational
planning body
within the framework of Comecon. Nevertheless, the
Ceausescu
regime continued to resist the Soviet efforts toward
economic
integration. Several important events during the 1968-70
period
strengthened Romania's international position, namely the
visits of
President Charles de Gaulle of France and President
Richard M.
Nixon of the United States and the long-delayed signing of
a
friendship treaty with the Soviet Union in July 1970.
As of mid-1989, Ceausescu had dealt with several Soviet
leaders during his tenure as head of state--Leonid
Brezhnev, Yuri
Andropov, Konstantin Chernenko, and Mikhail Gorbachev.
Relations
were most strained during the Brezhnev era, which
witnessed the
Soviet-led Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, the
Nixon visit
to Romania, Soviet accusations of a Romanian plot to
organize a
pro-Chinese bloc in the Balkans, and the Soviet invasion
of
Afghanistan.
In 1976 Ceausescu received Brezhnev in Bucharest--the
first
official visit by a Soviet leader since 1955. The final
communique
of the meeting reflected continuing disagreements between
the two
countries, as Romania refused to side with the Soviets in
their
dispute with China. In 1978, after visiting China,
Ceausescu
attended a Warsaw Pact summit meeting in Moscow, where he
rejected
a Soviet proposal that member countries increase their
military
expenditures. On his return to Bucharest, Ceausescu
explained the
refusal by stating that any increase in military
expenditure was
contrary to the socialist countries' effort to reduce
military
tensions in Europe. Perhaps because of Ceausescu's
uncooperative
attitude, a 1980 Romanian attempt to secure supplies of
energy and
raw materials from the Soviet Union and other Comecon
countries
failed when those countries demanded world market prices
and
payment in hard currency. Nor would the Soviet Union
guarantee that
it would increase or even maintain existing levels of oil
exports
to Romania for the following year.
The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan caused Romania to
distance
itself further from Brezhnev. When the UN General Assembly
voted on
a resolution calling for the immediate and unconditional
withdrawal
of Soviet troops, Romania broke with its Warsaw Pact
allies and
abstained. And one month later, at a meeting of communist
states in
Sofia, Romania joined the Democratic People's Republic of
Korea
(North Korea) in refusing to endorse the invasion.
During Andropov's brief tenure as Soviet leader,
relations
remained frigid. The wording of the communique following a
meeting
with Ceausescu in Moscow suggested that Andropov intended
to
pressure Romania to bring its foreign policy into line
with the
Warsaw Pact. The Romanian leadership appeared to suspect
Andropov
of pro-Hungarian sympathies because of his close personal
friendship with First Secretary János Kádár of Hungary.
Romanian
disagreements with the Soviet position on intermediate
nuclear
forces in Europe also surfaced during the Andropov period.
Ceausescu's Moscow meeting with Chernenko in June 1984
was
cordial and promised an improvement in the Romanian-Soviet
relationship. Ceausescu had backed Chernenko over Andropov
to
succeed Brezhnev, and their mutual regard was reflected in
less
divergent positions on international issues. In contrast
with
previous years, Ceausescu began to increase his criticism
of the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the United
States for
the deterioration of international relations.
With the replacement of Chernenko by Gorbachev in 1985,
political relations between Romaina and the Soviet Union
began to
cool again, although the economic relationship improved.
Soviet oil
deliveries rose while Romania became the largest supplier
of oil-
and gas-drilling equipment to the Soviet Union. In other
spheres,
however, relations were tense, as Ceausescu's Stalinist
philosophy
conflicted with Gorbachev's program of glasnost'
(openness)
and perestroika (restructuring). In reaction to the
political changes occurring throughout Eastern Europe in
the wake
of Soviet reforms, Romania moved toward retrenchment.
Ceausescu
rejected the decentralization of economic planning and
management,
the reintroduction of market mechanisms, and private
enterprise as
incompatible with socialism.
Romania also rejected much of Gorbachev's foreign
policy. In
December 1987, Ceausescu failed to attend a Warsaw Pact
summit in
East Berlin, where Gorbachev briefed leaders on his trip
to
Washington. While the Soviets frequently spoke of positive
trends
in East-West relations and progress in arms control,
Ceausescu's
statements took exception. He criticized the rationale for
the
Soviet-United States dialogue, stating that the
international
situation remained complex and fraught with the danger of
war.
Romania increasingly adopted a more hawkish position than
the
Soviet Union and the other Warsaw Pact members on a number
of East-
West issues.
In May 1987, Gorbachev visited Romania, and the two
leaders
publicly aired their differences. Referring to complaints
of
mistreatment of the Hungarian minority, Gorbachev reminded
Ceausescu of the need to demonstrate "tact" and
"consideration" in
nationality policy. He also criticized nepotism in the
Eastern
bloc, without mentioning Ceausescu by name, and complained
about
Romania's unwillingness to expand cooperation with the
other
members of Comecon. In October 1988, Ceausescu visited
Moscow for
official discussions with Gorbachev but failed to improve
the state
of bilateral relations. By that time, the
Hungarian-Romanian
dispute had become an even more serious issue.
Romania's objections to perestroika influenced
its
relations with other East European countries. It appeared
that two
major camps were emerging within the Warsaw Pact, with
Bulgaria,
Czechoslovakia, East Germany, and Romania lining up
against
restructuring and Hungary, Poland, and the Soviet Union
favoring
it. Romania strove to improve its relationship with the
countries
sharing its dislike for perestroika. Bulgaria had
already
established a special relationship with Ceausescu and his
predecessor, Gheorghiu-Dej. Ceausescu and Bulgarian leader
Todor
Zhivkov, the two East European leaders with the longest
tenure, met
at least twice yearly and signed numerous joint venture
and trade
agreements.
Relations with Czechoslovakia improved markedly after
Ceausescu's May 1987 visit, largely because of the
countries'
shared opposition to perestroika. Likewise, even
before
Gorbachev's rise to power, Romanian-East German relations
had been
fostered by certain shared resentments of Soviet actions.
East
Germany's Erich Honecker was the only Warsaw Pact leader
to appear
in Bucharest on the occasion of the celebration of the
fortieth
anniversary of Romania's liberation.
Data as of July 1989
|
