bandung conference

Held between 18 and 24 April 1955, the Asia-Africa Conference was a watershed event in anti-colonial politics and modern international relations. Also known as the Bandung Conference, leaders in attendance included Indonesia's Sukarno, India's Nehru and a representative from the People's Republic of China (PRC), Zhou Enlai. Participants advocated self-determination and autonomous government for peoples in the Asian-African region, and sought for the first time to build a collective voice that would command respect amongst the former colonial powers and within the United Nations organization.

In a spirit of cooperation and respect for national sovereignty, participants debated the issue of alignment with either of the Cold War blocs. Conferees condemned colonialism in all its forms, including Soviet policies in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. To improve their relative position in the world economy, Asian and African nations noted their desire to develop economic links within the region and obtain additional financing from international organizations. Western policy-makers were apprehensive about this organized appeal to fully extend established principles of international relations such as non-intervention, and uneasy about new principles such as the equality of races. While no formal organization was established to implement Bandung's objectives, after the Conference the pace of decolonization increased and Third World solidarity grew. Many Southern leaders appealed to the legacy of collective autonomy when then met in Bandung in April 2005 to mark the Asia-Africa Conference's Golden Jubilee.