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aligned states of Africa and Asia’, as Nutting commented. Nasser managed to

convince the conference to have its headquarters in Cairo. The movement that

emerged later came to be known as the Afro-Asian People’s Solidarity Movement. 326

En route to the conference Nasser, in an Air India plane that was provided for

his journey, had stopped in Rangoon, Burma where he met with People’s Republic of

China’s Premier Chou En Lai. The Chinese understood the need for Egypt to arm

itself and both sides considered the possibility of the Soviets being the suppliers.

The Chinese Premier promised Nasser to look into the matter with the Russians.

Following Nasser’s return to Cairo, China confirmed to the Egyptians Russia’s

willingness to sell arms to Nasser. 327 Previous attempts during Stalin’s era had been

made by the Egyptians to purchase arms from the Soviets but these efforts fell short.

According to Anwar Al-Sadat it was Stalin’s own ‘principles [that] prevented him

from supplying weapons to non-Communist states’. 328 Stalin distrusted countries

outside of the Soviet orbit as Dulles had observed. That approach changed in the

new Soviet Union and a policy of greater tolerance was adopted. 329 The event was a

key turning point in the Cold War politics of the Middle East as Nasser and his

followers outside Egypt began their migration to the Eastern sphere under the

Soviet umbrella. 330 Furthermore, the conference led Nasser to adopt a policy of so-

326 Nutting, Nasser, 100 and 106.
327 Heikal, Sphinx and Commissar: The Rise and Fall of Soviet Influence in the Arab World, 57; Heikal,
Nasser: The Cairo Documents, 54-55; Heikal, Cutting the Lion’s Tail, 69; and Monroe, Britain’s Moment
in the Middle East 1914-1956, 185.
328 A. El-Sadat, In Search of Identity (London: 1978), 128.
329 BDEEP, Series B, Part III, vol. 4, ‘Egypt and the Defence of the Middle East’ 1953-1956. Doc. 602:
FO 371/113676, [Problems raised by the Egyptian purchase of Soviet arms]: FO record of a
conversation in the State Department between British and US representatives, 3 October 1955.
330 Glubb, A Soldier with the Arabs, 379.

© Hamad E. Abdulla 109