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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Ivory Coast
Index
Since independence, Houphouët-Boigny has considered the
Soviet
Union and China malevolent influences throughout the Third
World.
Côte d'Ivoire did not establish diplomatic relations with
Moscow
until 1967, and then severed them in 1969 following
allegations of
direct Soviet support for a 1968 student protest at the
National
University of Côte d'Ivoire. The two countries did not
restore ties
until February 1986, by which time Houphouët-Boigny had
embraced a
more active foreign policy reflecting a more pragmatic
view of the
Soviet Union and his quest for greater international
recognition.
Houphouët-Boigny was even more outspoken in his
criticism of
China. He voiced fears of an "invasion" by the Chinese and
their
subsequent colonization of Africa. He was especially
concerned that
Africans would see the problems of development in China as
analogous to those of Africa, and China's solutions as
appropriate
to sub-Saharan Africa. Accordingly, Côte d'Ivoire did not
normalize
relations with China until 1983, becoming one of the last
African
countries to do so.
Data as of November 1988
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