Are we real friends? Albania-China relations in the Xi Era
United front work plays an important role in Xi Jinping’s “New Era” foreign policy. Like water on limestone, united front work will seek out the cracks and weak spots in each society. As each society has different fault lines, so the vectors of united front work may be different. Albania is an interesting case study for understanding how CCP united front work adapts, but also, how societies respond to it. Albania and China were famously close in the Mao and Hoxha years, until an ideological split in 1977 ruptured relations.