Relations sino-américaines - publié le 26/06/2020

Résumé du document

Devoir rendu dans le cadre d'un cours de Sino-American Relations, répondant à la question suivante : Should the US share any blame for the Nationalists' loss of the Chinese mainland to the CCP? Discuss with reference to at least 3 specific policies or decisions.

Extraits

[...] Indeed, the US may share blame for the Nationalists' loss of the Chinese mainland to the CCP. Yet, it is not entirely the US fault. Indeed, Washington had to deal with the corruption in CKS administration but also incompetent officials and generals. CKS would also be seen by some part of the Chinese population as a dictator encouraging the tax collectors, who were commonly called "blood-sucking devils". This little success of his, the unpopularity of the war, the corruption led to many failures that the Communist propaganda took full advantage of. [...]

[...] (2114 words) References: - Courses of Dr. Lorenzo - CABESTAN Jean-Pierre, « The Many Facets of Chinese Nationalism », China Perspectives [Online] may - june 2005. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/chinaperspectives/2793 ; DOI : 10.4000/chinaperspectives.2793 - DURPAIRE François, Histoire des États-Unis pages 69 à 81 - HUANG Tzu-Chin, « Jay Taylor, The Generalissimo. Chiang Kai-shek and the Struggle for Modern China », Perspectives chinoises [Online], 2010/1. [...]

[...] Yet, it seems that the US are genuinely committed in defending unity against communism in China. In a context of Cold War, as stated by the English writer George Orwell, as early as 1945. In 1947, the doctrine of "containment" is defined by President Truman, against Communism. In his speech to the Congress, on March the 12th of 1947, President Truman says: believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures." Such a policy should give a military and financial assistance from the US to countries determined to oppose communist pressures. [...]

[...] The Communists win the Civil War in years after the defeat of the Axis Forces during WWII. Historian Jacques Portes reminds that, in front of the victory, the US were powerless, "despite the dispatch of eminent representatives such as General Marshall, to prevent the total victory of Mao Zedong's Chinese Communist Party at the expense of their nationalist protégé Chiang Kai-Shek". On October the 1st, the PRC is proclaimed and is considered by a conservative faction of American opinion as a "Loss of China", "whereas the country has never been an American property". [...]

[...] The final decision of Marshall was to cut off aid, because CKS was seen as a leader craving for victory rather than compromise and that cutting aid would force him to compromise and "agree to a coalition government on terms the Communists would accept, and thereby avoid a civil war which the Nationalists would lose." Marshall Plan would be pointing to the Communist menace but would cut off aid to the Nationalists, the only opponent of Communism on the Chinese field. This decision of cutting off aid is obviously a major component of the "Loss of China". The US would not provide enough support to CKS while the SU would give Mao the support he needed, often a clandestine help right after WWII. [...]