Editor's note: This excerpt is from Comrade Erich Honecker's report at the 9th Congress of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany and is edited for clarity and abridged as such, it comes at a time when the People's Republic of China had entered a phase of reactionary, Anti-Soviet foreign policy, committing such notorious acts as supporting the settler-colonial Apartheid regime in South Africa, as well as the Imperialist-lackeys UNITA and RENAMO in Angola and Mozambique respectively. It also comes at a time when China had recently invited Augusto Pinochet to visit Peking to celebrate the coup and massacres of 1973, which martyred Comrade Salvador Allende. China was also still wrapped up in the Cultural Revolution under the grip of the Gang of Four, these historical factors must be taken into account and remembered, equally important is his correct, ominous prediction of what reactionary Chinese policy could mean for the future of Socialism.

Honecker: Strengthening our unity (Socialist unity), naturally presupposes, now as before, to conduct a consistant struggle against (chauvanistic) nationalism, right-wing and "left-wing" revisionism and opportunism of whatever shade. This holds particularly true of Maoism, which has entered a new phase of its Anti-Leninist course.

In China itself, Maoism has effected a further turning away from the principles and experiances of Socialist construction. In its international activities it has openly passed over to Anti-Sovietism and direct co-operation with the most reactionary wing of international monopoly capital. This attitude also becomes evident from the increased hostility towards the first Socialist German workers' and farmers' state. The Chinese course of great-power-chauvinism and Anti-Sovietism is tremendously harmful to the interests of peace and Socialism.

Although the imperialist forces have not succeeded in changing the international balance of power back to their favour with the help of Maoist leaders and to halt the advance of the forces of Socialism, the intentions of the present Chinese leadership remain the establishment of a broad Anti-Socialist, Anti-Soviet front under their hegemony, which is extremely dangerous for the vital interests of the people of the world. Success for the struggle against Imperialism and for peaceful coexistence and social progress throughout the world, therefore requires a consistent fight against the reactionary theory and practice of Maoism.

We must continue, in a spirit of militant commitment to the Marxist-Leninist and Socialist course, to give a firm rebuff to bourgeois and revisionist world outlooks and to wage an all-out struggle against Maoism and those forces who are attempting to halt the world revolutionary process.

Nonetheless, we take the opportunity to declare our willingness to normalize relations with China in line with the principles of equality, respect for sovereignty and territorial integrality, non-interference and other principles of international law. We should also like to stress here, at our 9th Party Congress that if China returns to the policies which are genuinely rooted in Marxism-Leninism and Socialism, and scraps the hostile policy vis-a-vis the Socialist countries and embarks on a road of cooperation and solidarity with the Socialist world, then such a change will be met with due response on our part.