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Through a comprehensive analysis of relations between Europe and China during the Cold War, this volume reveals how those interactions quietly reconfigured the global balance of power, helping to forge the contemporary international order. Rooted in a rich array of multi-archival sources, the book brings together an international group of historians to explore China's relationships with both Western European powers and European socialist countries, tracing how China systematically courted Europe to reshape the Cold War order and maneuver between the superpowers.

Beginning with China's diplomatic opening to Western Europe from the 1950s to the 1970s, contributors highlight key turning points in rapprochement with France, Britain, West Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, marked by a shifting mix of ideology, strategic calculation, and detente-era geopolitics. The volume then moves eastward, unpacking China's fraught but ambitious diplomacy with communist Europe, including Hungary, Poland, and Albania, as Beijing sought to contest Moscow's dominance and present itself as an alternative pole of leadership in the socialist world. Breaking new ground by integrating Chinese and European sources and perspectives, this book shows how China and Europe, often considered secondary actors, played crucial roles in reshaping the Cold War system and turning a rigid superpower standoff into a more multipolar world.