Foreign ministry archives declassified

Archives detailing major developments in foreign affairs between 1960 and 1965, a tumultuous time for China's external relations, were made public yesterday.

Amid acute ideological differences between China and the former Soviet Union during the early 1960s, China on one hand managed to help the former Soviet Union transport aid to Vietnam during the latter's war against the US, while solving disputes with the Soviets on the other.

Why the Chinese side suddenly ceased fire in the China-India border war in late 1962 and how it repatriated Indian prisoners of war and military spies soon after are also revealed for the first time.