Sino-Albanian split

Sino-Albanian split
Part of the Cold War
Mao Zedong (left) with Enver Hoxha (right) during a meeting in 1956
Date	1972–1978
Location	Albania China
Caused by	Revisionism, Hoxhaism, Maoism and Imperialism
Resulted in	Worsening of Sino-Albanian diplomatic relations, ultimate termination of trade
Lead figures
Enver Hoxha Mehmet Shehu Mao Zedong Zhou Enlai

The Sino-Albanian split was the gradual worsening of relations between the People's Socialist Republic of Albania and the People's Republic of China in the period 1972–1978.

Both countries had supported each other in the Albanian–Soviet and Chinese–Soviet splits, together declaring the necessity of defending Marxism–Leninism against what they regarded as Soviet revisionism within the international communist movement. By the early 1970s, however, Albanian disagreements with certain aspects of Chinese policy deepened as the visit of Nixon to China along with the Chinese announcement of the "Three Worlds Theory" produced strong apprehension in Albania's leadership under Enver Hoxha. Hoxha saw in these events an emerging Chinese alliance with American imperialism and abandonment of proletarian internationalism. In 1978, China broke off its trade relations with Albania, signalling an end to the informal alliance which existed between the two states.