Compare and contrast PRC-US relations during the Korean and Vietnam Wars

Thèmes abordés

Vietnam, communism

Résumé du document

Devoir rendu dans le cadre d'un cours anglophone de Sino-american relations, répondant à la demande suivante : Compare and contrast PRC-US relations during the Korean and Vietnam Wars. Create an argument which convincingly accounts for the most important differences and similarities of relations during those wars.

Extraits

[...] By early 1966, the US and the PRC arrive at a tacit agreement or a tacit understanding: something new that had not been made during the Korean War. "Through a series of subtle signals and by the measured pace of American involvement, particularly the bombing of North Vietnam, both powers indicated that a Sino-American confrontation was neither desired nor encouraged" writes Frank E. Rogers. Those contacts between the US and the PRC indicate a desire for closer relations. Even if they did not go further this tacit agreement limiting their involvement, the US would pledge not to invade the North, and the PRC not to intervene with ground troops. [...]

[...] Eventually, in 1966, President Johnson would stop referring to China as "the instigator of the Vietnam war". It would only be referred to as North Vietnamese initiative". On the PRC side, even if skepticism regarding the depth of US gestures remains, it would still pledge not to start a war with the US. As Frank E. Rogers underlines it: "Although China was increasingly concerned about the escalating conflict it made clear to the United States that it did not want to go to war over Vietnam." Thus, the main difference between the two conflicts is that the most recent one learns from the mistakes of the oldest one, that mistake being mostly misperception leading to open and direct confrontation. [...]

[...] Eventually, an intervention in both countries would start a domino theory, under a Communist version, feared by the US. On the PRC side, we can also see that the Sino-American relationship is very much opposed, in a constant confrontation in both conflicts and not close to normalization. Thus, there are many similarities in how both the US and the PRC treat those wars, having direct repercussions on the Sino-American relationship. The latter is obstructed because of different ideologies and profound opposite objective. [...]

[...] From that point of view, we may understand that the US did not see the conflict vital for their interests in Vietnam, just as for Korea, but important enough mostly for their reputation. We may think that the objectives were quite similar for the Korean War. As far as the Sino-American relationship is concerned, from the US point of view, we are quite far away from any normalization of their relationship: it is blocked and extremely tense because of this confrontation. From PRC views, the feeling of disapproval is the same. In both wars, the PRC objective is to reduce US presence even eliminate it. [...]

[...] Compare and contrast PRC-US relations during the Korean and Vietnam Wars. Create an argument which convincingly accounts for the most important differences and similarities of relations during those wars. In the context of the Cold War, the United States of America and the People's Republic of China have often confronted each other ideologically and militarily: two outstanding examples may be the Korean War (1950-1953) and the Vietnamese Wars (1955-1975). While during World War II, the USA and China were allied, their relationship becomes more complex, especially after the Civil War and the defeat of the Nationalist of Chiang Kai-Shek (allied to the USA) and the victory of the Communists led by Mao Zedong in 1949. [...]