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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 December 2016
Relying on evidence from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and on the private archives of both Aldo Moro and Pietro Nenni, this article shows that from the mid-1950s onwards, important politicians—Socialist Pietro Nenni, Christian Democrat Giovanni Gronchi and Liberal Gaetano Martino—worked to encourage economic exchanges between Italy and China, and were linked with the concurrent initiatives of economic actors like Dino Gentili and Enrico Mattei. It also reveals that this gradual but steady process placed the China question firmly on the agenda of Italian parliamentary debates and government programmes as early as 1964. Finally, it shows that, while American diplomacy was still dominated by the Vietnam War and opposed any initiative towards Chinese recognition, in 1969–1970 the long process of rapprochement between Rome and Beijing came to an end. Thanks to Nenni's and Moro's diplomatic action, Italy recognized the People's Republic of China (PRC) before the Americans decided to inaugurate triangular diplomacy and reach out to China.
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8 This is the name of the lower branch of the Italian parliament, the other being the Senate.
9 Nenni, Tempo di guerra fredda, p. 622; Luti, Tra politica e impresa, p. 281.
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12 ‘Comet . . . bought fertilizer from the Italian company Marine Trading (its subsidiary in London) resold the cargo from Italy to its Hong Kong subsidiary . . . this cargo, once in Hong Kong, was sent on to Canton. The fertilizer was for agriculture and as such was never stopped by the Italian or by the American government.’ From an interview with Virgilio Dagnino, who collaborated with Dino Gentili in the creation of Comet, quoted in Luti, Tra politica e impresa, p. 101.
13 Gentili to Nenni, 8 September 1953, Archivio Centrale dello Stato (ACS)—Fondazione Nenni, paper series 1944/1979, envelope 26, bundle 1395. As member of NATO, Italy was involved in the trade embargo on China. See Cain, J.F. (1995). ‘The US-led trade embargo on China: the origins of Chincom, 1947–52’, Journal of Strategic Studies, vol. 18, no. 4, pp. 33–38 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
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20 Ibid., p. 58; specifically for Clare Boothe Luce, see pp. 16–19 and 55–67.
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22 Nenni, Tempo di guerra fredda, pp. 682 and 684.
23 Nenni sent Martino two letters on 14 and 15 September 1955, ACS—Fondazione Nenni, paper series 1944/1979, envelope 32, bundle 1580.
24 Martino replied on 15 September, ibid.
25 Martino to the Chamber of Deputies, 27 September 1955, in Discorsi parlamentari, vol. II, pp. 574–575; Martino to the Senate, 11 October 1955, ibid., pp. 601–602.
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42 ASMAE, Gran Bretagna consolati, telegrammi ordinari, 1963, Cattani from Rome, 7 May 1963.
43 Telegramma Saverio Santaniello, Hong Kong, 18 June 1963, ACS, Carte Moro (CM), series 3, bundle 59.
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48 Reply of Foreign Minister Giuseppe Saragat, Senato della Repubblica, Atti parlamentari, IV Legislatura, 14 February 1964, p. 217.
49 Telegramma segretissimo Saverio Santaniello, 23 June 1964.
50 Discussion between Ambassador Cattani and the Assistant Secretary of State, William Tyler, 30 June 1964, ACS, CM, series 3, bundle 61.
51 Telegramma segretissimo by Saragat from Ottawa, 9 November 1964, ACS, CM, series 3, bundle 61.
52 Reply of the President of the Council Aldo Moro, Camera dei Deputati, Atti parlamentari, IV legislatura, 6 August 1964, p. 957.
53 Intervention of the foreign minister in the discussion of the budget of the Foreign Ministry, to the Chamber of Deputies to the Commission of 75, 3 December 1964, ACS, CM, series 3, bundle 61; on the Chinese nuclear explosion, see ASMAE, Gran Bretagna e colonie, telegrammi ordinari, 1964, telegrammi by Bolla from Hong Kong, 17, 21, 22, 23 October 1964; Jing Zhang (2009). ‘In quest of mushroom clouds: perspectives from the Chinese side’, CSSEO Working Paper, no. 148.
54 Memorandum and news of agencies, 3 December 1964, ACS, CM, series 3, bundle 61.
55 ASMAE,1961, telegrammi segreti, ambasciata Washington, telegrammi by Brosio, 9 January, 8 April 1961; Yafeng Xia (2006). Negotiating with the enemy: US-China talks during the cold war, 1949–1972, Indiana University Press, Bloomington; Kissinger, Cina, p. 188.
56 Memorandum Cottafavi, 21 November 1964, ACS, CM, series 3, bundle 61. In 1961, in the attempt to render useless the annual demands from the Asian states on the admission of China, the United States, together with Australia, Colombia, Japan, and Italy, had proposed a procedural motion that declared a decision on making the Chinese seat an ‘important question’ and so to be dealt with by a qualified majority of two-thirds of members present and voting. Vinci to Moro on the Chinese ‘seat’, 2 November 1965, ACS, CM, series 3, bundle 61.
57 Information sent by Moro to Fanfani, telegramma, 26 September 1965, ACS, CM, series 3, bundle 61.
58 The President of the Council, Senato della Repubblica, Atti parlamentari, IV legislatura, 18 February 1965.
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