China’s Cold War Science Diplomacy offers compelling corrections to two persistent stereotypes about the early People’s Republic of China (PRC, 1949–1976): first, that the PRC was almost entirely isolated from the international community, particularly in matters related to the exchange of scientific and technological information; and second, that the Mao Zedong years were little more than an aberration in China’s historical development, one that was quickly counteracted by Deng Xiaoping’s Reform and Opening beginning in 1978. Marshaling a wide array of sources from China, the United States, and the United Kingdom, Gordon Barrett effectively refutes these assumptions, describing instead how PRC scientists were able to maintain international ties and intellectual engagement throughout the Cold War period. While these relationships necessarily reflected the shifting political and ideological goals of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), they nevertheless reveal how PRC scientists pursued personal, professional, and scholarly exchanges as part of a wider platform intended to showcase “New China” through international science diplomacy.
Barrett’s analysis proceeds chronologically, describing how the PRC’s science diplomacy efforts changed shape as the regime’s political objectives and international alliances shifted. In the 1950s, as Chapter 1 recounts, PRC scientists were hamstrung by having been shut out of many international organizations as a result of the United States’ alliance with the Republic of China (Taiwan). One society in which they were able to participate was the World Federation of Scientific Workers (WFSW). Taking part in WFSW-sponsored meetings and conferences enabled PRC-based scientists to maintain contact with their international colleagues, stay current on technical developments in their fields, and promote the accomplishments and legitimacy of the PRC on a global scale. Reflecting the politically moderate stance of the PRC at the time, membership in the Federation also provided Chinese scientists an opportunity to foster ties with European socialists and pursue cross-bloc communication in scientific affairs, thereby increasing the PRC’s international standing within the wider socialist world.
