The first large-scale Asian–African or Afro–Asian Conference (), also known as the Bandung Conference, was a meeting of Asian and African states, most of which were newly independent, which took place on 18–24 April 1955 in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia. The twenty-nine countries that participated represented a total population of 1.5 billion people, 54% of the world's population.Bandung Conference of 1955 and the resurgence of Asia and Africa , Daily News, Sri Lanka The conference was organized by Indonesia, Burma (Myanmar), India, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and Pakistan and was coordinated by Ruslan Abdulgani, secretary general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia.
The conference's stated aims were to promote Afro-Asian economic and cultural cooperation and to oppose colonialism or neocolonialism by any nation. The conference was a step towards the eventual creation of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) yet the two initiatives ran in parallel during the 1960s, even coming in confrontation with one another prior to the 2nd Cairo NAM Conference in 1964.
In 2005, on the 50th anniversary of the original conference, leaders from Asian and African countries met in Jakarta and Bandung to launch the New Asian–African Strategic Partnership (NAASP). They pledged to promote political, economic, and cultural cooperation between the two continents.
Background Indonesian President Sukarno and Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru were key organizers in their quest to build a nonaligned movement that would win the support of the newly emerging nations of Asia and Africa. Nehru first got the idea at the Asian Relations Conference, held in India in March 1947, on the eve of India's independence. There was a second 19-nation conference regarding the status of Indonesia, held in New Delhi, India, in January 1949. Although Nehru initially attached relatively little importance to Indonesia's calls to convene the Bandung Conference, he showed increasing interest during and after late 1954 due to his concern about American foreign policy as it applied to Asia, his belief that he could secure a guarantee of peaceful coexistence with China, and his desire to avoid embarrassing Indonesia. Decolonization was underway and an increasing number of new nations in Africa or Asia were emerging with, for the first time, their own diplomatic corps and need to integrate into the international system.
Chairman Mao Zedong of the Chinese Communist Party was also a key organizer, backed by his influential right-hand man, Premier and Foreign Minister Zhou Enlai. Mao believed that an anti-colonial nationalist and anti-imperialist agenda was underway in Africa and Asia, and he wanted to make China the leader of these forces.Jung Chang and John Halliday, Mao: The Unknown Story, pp. 603–604, 2007 edition, Vintage Books In his efforts to present China as a model, Mao publicly maintained a friendly, conciliatory tone towards newly independent Asian nations, while simultaneously denouncing the Western colonial empires.
At the Colombo Powers conference in April 1954, Indonesia proposed a global conference. A planning group with the leaders of Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Burma, and Ceylon met in Bogor, West Java in late December 1954 and formally decided to hold the conference in April 1955. They had a series of goals in mind: to promote goodwill and cooperation among the new nations, to advance their mutual interests, to examine social economic and cultural problems, to focus on problems of special interest to their peoples such as racism and colonialism, and to enhance the international visibility of Asia and Africa in world affairs. As many of the participating countries were countries the USA and Soviet Union wanted to influence, they sought to establish a unified non-aligned identity and promote political solidarity independent of both Western and Soviet influence.M.S. Rajan, India in World Affairs, 1954–1956 (1964) pp 197–205.
The Bandung Conference reflected what the organizers regarded as a reluctance by the Western powers to consult with them on decisions affecting Asia in a setting of Cold War tensions: their concern over tension between the People's Republic of China and the United States, their desire to lay firmer foundations for China's peace relations with themselves and the West, their opposition to colonialism (especially France's neocolonialism in North Africa and its colonial rule in Algeria), and Indonesia's desire to promote its case in the West New Guinea dispute with the Netherlands. One of Sukarno's primary goals with the conference was to build support for Indonesia's claim to West Papua and to prevent the Netherlands from transferring sovereignty of West Papua to indigenous Papuans.
Sukarno portrayed himself as the leader of this group of states, which he later described as "NEFOS" (Newly Emerging Forces).Cowie, H.R. (1993). Australia and Asia. A changing Relationship, 18.
On 4 December 1954, the United Nations announced that Indonesia had successfully placed the issue of West New Guinea on the agenda of the 1955 General Assembly.United Nations General Assembly, Report of the First Committee A/2831 Plans for the Bandung conference were announced in December 1954.Parker, "Small Victory, Missed Chance" (2006), p. 156.
Discussion
Major debate centered on the question of whether Soviet policies in Eastern Europe and Central Asia should be censured along with Western colonialism. A memo was submitted by 'The Moslem Nations under Soviet Imperialism', accusing the Soviet authorities of massacres and mass deportations in Muslim regions, but it was never debated. A consensus was reached in which "colonialism in all of its manifestations" was condemned, implicitly censuring the Soviet Union, as well as the West. China played an important role in the conference and strengthened its relations with other Asian nations. Having survived an assassination attempt on the way to the conference, the Chinese premier, Zhou Enlai, displayed a moderate and conciliatory attitude that tended to quiet fears of some anticommunist delegates concerning China's intentions.
Later in the conference, Zhou Enlai signed an agreement on dual nationality with Indonesian foreign minister Sunario. World observers closely watched Zhou. He downplayed revolutionary communism and strongly endorsed the right of all nations to choose their own economic and political systems, including even capitalism. His moderation and reasonableness made a very powerful impression for his own diplomatic reputation and for China. By contrast, Nehru was bitterly disappointed at the generally negative reception he received. Nehru mainly advocated for non-alignment, The Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, and cautioned against military alliances with either side of the Cold War. Senior diplomats called him arrogant. Zhou said privately, "I have never met a more arrogant man than Mr. Nehru."H.W. Brands, India and the United States (1990) p. 85.Sally Percival Wood, "'Chou gags critics in BANDOENG or How the Media Framed Premier Zhou Enlai at the Bandung Conference, 1955" Modern Asian Studies 44.5 (2010): 1001–1027.Sarvepalli Gopal, Jawaharlal Nehru: A Biography, Volume 2: 1947–1956 (1979), pp 239–44.Dick Wilson, Zhou Enlai" A Biography (1984) pp 200–205
China began voicing support for Palestine at Bandung, with Zhou stating, "[T]here was a parallel between the problems of Palestine and Formosa; neither could be solved peacefully unless intervention by outside forces was excluded; China was suffering from the same problem as the Arab countries."
Declaration A 10-point "declaration on promotion of world peace and cooperation", called Dasasila Bandung (Bandung's Ten Principles, or Bandung Spirit, or Bandung Declaration; styled after Indonesia's Pancasila; or Ten Principles of Peaceful CoexistenceBandung Principles - Bandung Spirit), incorporating the principles of the United Nations Charter as well as Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, was adopted unanimously as item G in the final communiqué of the conference. It later became a foundational framework for the Non-Aligned Movement, influencing diplomatic relations among developing nations during the Cold War.: Respect for fundamental human rights and for the purposes and principles of the charter of the United Nations Respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations Recognition of the equality of all races and of the equality of all nations large and small Abstention from intervention or interference in the internal affairs of another country Respect for the right of each nation to defend itself, singly or collectively, in conformity with the charter of the United Nations (a) Abstention from the use of arrangements of collective defence to serve any particular interests of the big powers (b) Abstention by any country from exerting pressures on other countries Refraining from acts or threats of aggression or the use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any country Settlement of all international disputes by peaceful means, such as negotiation, conciliation, arbitration or judicial settlement and other peaceful means of the parties own choice, in conformity with the charter of the United Nations Promotion of mutual interests and cooperation Respect for justice and international obligations
The final Communique of the conference underscored the need for developing countries to loosen their economic dependence on the leading industrialised nations by providing technical assistance to one another through the exchange of experts and technical assistance for developmental projects, as well as the exchange of technological know-how and the establishment of regional training and research institutes.
United States involvement