Comment: Why is Romania’s relation with China underdeveloped?

Guest writer Mihai Titienar, a Romanian student in Shanghai, looks into the complicated relation between Romania and China. A few days ago, the 5th Meeting of the Heads of Government of Central and Eastern European Countries and China took place. Dacian Cioloș, Romania’s Prime Minister, announced the setting up of the Center for Dialogue and Cooperation on Energy Projects in Bucharest, emphasizing the importance of stronger ties with China. Last year in September, Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis had a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a UN event and stressed that Romania was devoted to deepening bilateral ties with China. Although progressing very slowly, these declarations show Romania’s interest in improving its relation with China. Unfortunately, this was not always the case. A once flourishing relationship between Romania and China, now needs sweet talk in order to progress closer ties in the right direction. I remember over a year ago I attended a party organized by Romania’s Embassy in Beijing. I was impressed by how large the size of the building was. Personally, I believe that building is symbolic to illustrate how strong Romania and China’s relationship once was. Back in 1949, Communist Romania was the third state to recognize the independence of the People’s Republic of China. Afterwards, the two countries cultivated close relations through their many common interests. One should watch the videos of Mao’s warm welcoming to Ceausescu during his visit to Beijing to get an idea of how intimate the relationship between the two countries were. Their ties were so closely linked that Romania even played a role in the rapprochement between USA and China, as Kissinger mentions in his book “On China”.

Present day, things look very different as the relation between the two countries have faded in the last few decades. Once China’s closest ally in Europe, Romania now struggles to even be considered one of China’s top allies in Eastern Europe, where countries such as Hungary and Serbia receive more attention from China. So why did the two best friends become indifferent to each other? The crux that triggered the inevitable diminish of a once cordial, intimate friendship was Romania’s 1989 Revolution. Not only did this lead to the ousting of Ceausescu, but also everything built between Romania and China was lost in the regime change. Afterwards, in the ensuing aftermath and political change, diplomatic ties with China was arguably moved to the bottom of Romania’s new political elite’s list of priorities. Not to mention, China was still a long way from establishing itself, compared to present day when it claims the second largest GDP in the world. There is an urban legend that I have heard on several occasions, which says that when Jiang Zemin, the leader of the PRC, visited Romania in June 1996 and met Romania’s Iliescu, he spoke in Romanian to Iliescu’s shock. What had eluded Iliescu was that Zemin had studied Romanian for a few months in Romania. If this story is indeed true, I think it is telling for how little interest Romania had for China at that time.