III.The Historical Significance of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence
The CPC Central Committee first formally announced the principles of New Chinawith regard to the establishment of diplomatic relations soon after the People‘s Liberation Army crossed the Yangtze River.As the spokesman of the General Headquartersof the Chinese People ’s Liberation Army ，on 30April Mao Zedong promulgatedthe principles for establish diplomatic relations with foreign countries：New Chinawas willing "to consider the establishment of diplomatic relations with foreigncountries ；and such relations must be based on equality ，mutual benefit ，mutualrespect for sovereignty and territorial integrity and ，first of all ，on no helpbeing given to the Guomindang reactionaries."24We do not know the detailed processof drafting and announcing this statement ，but it could have been a response tothe American search for contacts with the Chinese Communists，and a tactic forruling out military intervention from foreign countries.In other words ，it wasmade for the final victory of the Chinese revolution.
Diplomatic relations were established with eleven countries ，all of them withinthe Soviet camp ，within three months of the founding of New China.The numberhad reached seventeen after eight months.However ，by 1955when the Asian-AfricanConference was convened ，only a further five had been added ，increasing thenumber to twenty two.These included five northern and central European countriesand five Asian nations.Under such circumstances，it would have been very difficultfor China to score greater diplomatic victories if it had not made adjustments toits foreign policies.One of the preconditions for making adjustments in this areawas to step beyond the limits of the two-camp theory and deepen knowledge of therelations between states.
The Chinese Communist leadership adopted very revolutionary criteria when theyclassified the states in the world.In their eyes ，all the states outside theSoviet camp were either imperialist or under the control of imperialist or reactionaryforces.According to the views expressed by Mao Zedong in his work `"On the People‘s Democratic Dictatorship ，"New China did not need to urgently establish closerelations with these countries，and the Chinese leadership showed more concernfor the working people in these countries.
At the Conference of Trade Unions of Asia and Oceania convened in November 1949，Liu Shaoqi clearly defined many of the states as "colonial or semi-colonial nations，"and spoke glowingly of the revolutionary situation and the development of armedstruggles in Asian countries.He also declared that the victory of the Chinese revolutionwas both an inspiration to and an example for the "war of national liberation"inthese countries ，and that New China would shoulder "heavy responsibilities‘’to aid revolutions in other countries .25
Once New China openly declared its obligation to aid the revolutionary movement，especially the armed struggles in a number of countries ，it would have been difficultto develop normal relations with the governments of these countries.Although thedecisions to aid Vietnam against France and Korea against America were made mainlyout of considerations for the national security of China，some Asian governmentssaw them as an embodiment of China‘s revolutionary stance and as policies for aidingthe revolutionary Movement，and thus regarded China with apprehension.Clearlythe diplomatic principles formulated against the background of victory in the revolution，the world outlook they embodied ，and the inherent momentum of revolutionary movements，had become the main obstacles to the development of diplomatic relations with othercountries.